Are you considering picking up an iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S? You might want to hike over to the nearest Target location.

According to a recent report from 9to5 Mac showing the above image from a tipster located in Orlando, FL indicates both the 16GB and 32GB iPhone 4S models are available for $174.99, and $274.99. The $25 mark down applies to the 8GB iPhone 4 as well, which can be had for $74.99.

The deal appears to be going on in Orlando till the end of the month. With 37 million iPhone 4Ss sold already I can’t imagine retailers are sitting on massive amounts of inventory they need to push, which is why the Target deal is somewhat surprising.

Although, the recent release of the new iPad has led to price cuts of the iPad 2 with numerous locations selling one or more models cheaper than the already reduced prices. Micro Center has the iPad 2 16GB Wi-Fi model for $359.99 which is $40 cheaper than the recently reduced price of $400.

Keep an eye out for deals like above, and look for Apple and second-hand retailers to have a large supply of refurbished iPad 2s for sale in the near future as well.

Stay tuned for more information by following us onFacebook, Twitter, and/or subscribing to our RSS feed.

[Source: 9to5Mac]

Samsung may be keeping the Galaxy S III on the hush hush, but that hasn’t stopped the press images from leaking all over the web. While it is entirely debatable that the majority of these leaks are indeed fakes, the latest one has caught our attention, with the signs suggesting that this particular leak may be the real deal after all.

The recent image spotted courtesy of a Reddit user who uploaded it recently. The image itself shows what appears to be Samsung’s new flagship Android smartphone, with the suggestion that it will be announced during a Samsung Unpacked event in London, England on May 22nd.

Samsung has been unusually coy over its latest handset. After receiving flak for the delay between announcement and US release of the Galaxy S II, Samsung is preferring to take the Apple approach of only announcing the product when it is ready to ship in mass. This has led to an unusual vacuum of information, and one which has been filled by countless rumors.

One tidbit that lends credence to this photo more than others is the inclusion of the name of a PR firm, Weber Shandwick, on the images. Weber Shandwick is a firm that Samsung has used in the past, and it was the firm behind the CES 2010 Samsung press event. If this image is indeed a fake, someone has gone to a lot of trouble to add a little authenticity.

Still, it wouldn’t be the first time now, would it? Stay tuned for more information by following us on Facebook, Twitter, and/or subscribing to our RSS feed.

PayPal officially announced the mobile payment solution with the free “PayPal Here” reader and accompanying free iOS and Android application.

PayPal’s system can accept all major credit cards and offers a few more ways to get paid outside of credit cards. Merchants can accept direct PayPal payments and checks, yes hand written checks, in addition to credit cards. The funds (except for payments via check) are available the same day in the user’s PayPal account.

With the PayPal Here card reader and application PayPal has positioned themselves in direct competition with Square’s reader and accompanying iPad and iPhone applications. The application also manages to undercut Square’s transaction fee by .05% coming in at 2.7% per transaction.

The ability to create invoices and track cash payments is standard fare but the odd triangular design of the reader itself is an interesting choice to say the least. But, it appears the Pay Here app allows merchants to add items to a simple inventory list. It’s no where near squares digital storefront, but definitely encouraging to have the added functionality this early.

The reader or the accompanying app are not yet available, but for those who are interested can sign up for notification as soon as they become available. The additional payment methods definitely make PayPal Here an enticing offer.

Stay tuned for more news and info on this topic by following us on Facebook, Twitter, and/or subscribing to our RSS feed.

[Source: PayPal]

C Spire Wireless is now offering iPhone 4S for only $149.99, a $50 decrease from their original pricing. Getting with C Spire does come with a major prerequisite – living in a certain location, but if you’re good with that then getting an iPhone 4S for only $149.99 with a two year contract is going to be simple. The 32GB and 64GB iPhone 4S models also have $50 deducted from their prices ($249.99 and $349.99 respectively).

C Spire has a CDMA cellular service provider that utilizes EV-DO 3G just like Verizon and Sprint do with their iPhone 4S. This means if you go out of range of C Spire’s network, you’ll pick up roaming from Verizon or Sprint. Citing C Spire’s Web site, the company offers plans that start with $25/month and go up to $100 a month for unlimited data, streaming, texts and voice.

While the $149.99 iPhone 4S may seem like a good deal, the contract still locks you in for two years and makes you pay much more than meets the eye.  If you can get in the range of C Spire’s network, then their pricing may be worth a new iPhone 4S with the discounted price.

Stay tuned for more news and info on this topic by following us on Facebook, Twitter, and/or subscribing to our RSS feed.

[Sources: 9to5Mac]

We previously heard some rumors about the possibility of a new development team working on releasing a new SIM interposer solution similar to the popular Gevey SIM. This would provide iPhone 4S users with the elusive unlock if it was to surface. If the recent video released on YouTube by the folks over at ApplenBerry is true, it would seem that the release of the new Gevey Ultra S will eventually provide unlock satisfaction to the owners of a GSM iPhone 4S.

The video demonstrates the team installing a SIM card in an iPhone 4S using the new Gevey Ultra S interposer. This allows previously unavailable network connections to be made on an iPhone 4S running iOS 5.0 and iOS 5.0.1 with modern firmware versions 1.0.11, 1.0.13, and 1.0.14. The Gevey Ultra S is also being advertised as a true plug and play SIM-unlocking interposer which is compatible with all of the GSM iPhone 4S devices. The tool is said to have a lower power consumption than previous offerings and doesn’t require any physical modifications to the SIM itself.

Product Description:

No Need to Dial International Emergency Number 112

There is now no need to dial the international emergency number (112) during installation or when rebooting your iPhone 4S. Our learning technology allows for true plug-and-play iPhone 4S unlock solution. Beware of solutions that require you to CONNECT to an emergency number. This violates telecommunication abuse policies and lead to service cancelation on some networks.

Decrease Power Consumption

The F981 chipset in our new GEVEY™ Ultra S is engineered to operate under the 3- volt standard. That means your battery will last just as long as it would without the GEVEY™ Ultra S. Beware of counterfeit solutions claiming to use a similar chipset. We’ve invested the time and money to engineer our new GEVEY™ Ultra S with better power efficiency. This kind of technology can’t be duplicated or implemented on cheaper chipsets.

GEVEY™ True Plug-and-Play Unlocking SIM Interposer

Now you can unlock your iPhone 4S with the re-engineered GEVEY™ Ultra S SIM interposer. Our new technology takes advantage of a new exploit that fully unlocks your iPhone 4S. It’s true plug-and-play functionality, so just pop it in and unlock your phone with the original sim card. If you don’t have the original sim card, additional programming may be required. Further instructions will be sent with your GEVEY™ Ultra S package.

Untethered Unlock with no Jailbreak Needed

With our new GEVEY™ Ultra S, you won’t have to connect to any external device to unlock your iPhone 4S. Even better, jailbreaking is not necessary so you won’t void your Apple warranty.

Compatible with all GSM iPhone 4S SIM Cards

The new GEVEY™ Ultra S is now a single interposer that works for all networks. It actually “learns” your network, so there is no need to select a specific GEVEY™ Ultra S for your service carrier. A new GEVEY™ Ultra S comes in learning mode, but after inserting the GEVEY™ Ultra S and your SIM card in your iPhone 4S, our technology learns your network types and settings for a true plug-and-play unlock solution.

One caveat of this exploit is that, if for some reason you need to change your current SIM with a SIM card from a different carrier, you will need to reset your GEVEY™ Ultra S with the reset SIM included with your genuine GEVEY™ Ultra S. Beware of other solutions that claim to circumvent this issue. It is simply not possible when taking advantage of this new exploit in the iPhone 4S firmware.

Complete Unlock with all 2G and 3G Data Services

Purchase genuine GEVEY™ products and completely unblock all 2G and 3G data- transfer functionality. By default, your network carrier has blocked data network settings inside your iPhone 4S firmware. You will need to use the original network carrier’s SIM to activate your iPhone, and our GEVEY™ Ultra S will unlock all functionality available by your network.

Be aware that some telecommunication carriers restrict data services to network phones only. Unfortunately, this limitation is unrelated to SIM cards and phone locking technology, so there is no phone unlocking solution that can guarantee connectivity to every data network. Check with your intended carrier to confirm data networks like 2G and 3G services are allowed on out-of-network phones.

No SIM Card Cutting or Physical Modifications

The new GEVEY™ Ultra S is engineered using the F981 chipset, which is more expensive but performs a whole lot better than cheaper solutions. We don’t manipulate, polish, or sand down cheaper microchips to make our SIM interposer small enough to fit, and there is no need for you to cut your SIM card or modify your iPhone 4S in any way.

Beware of counterfeit GEVEY™ products claiming to use the F981 chipset and selling for less than our rock bottom pricing. Most people won’t be able to tell the difference by visual inspection, but some cheaper, larger chips used in these solutions are sanded, cut, or polished to fit in your iPhone 4S. These solutions expose sensitive electronic components and are notoriously prone to overheating, short-circuit, and breakage.

Guaranteed Better Reception than Last Generation Unlocking Solutions

Now that we no longer take advantage of the old exploits, we’ve re-engineered the GEVEY™ Ultra S for enhanced signal strength with strong, consistent voice and data communication. Now there is no compromise in reception when choosing genuine GEVEY™ products.

Stay tuned for more news and info on this topic by following us on Facebook, Twitter, and/or subscribing to our RSS feed.

A recent report from Digitimes claims that the Android’s new OS dubbed “Jelly Bean” is scheduled to launch at some pint in the second quarter.The publication feels confident enough to quote a number of Taiwanese suppliers claiming that we will see a range of tablet devices and notebooks which are capable of running dual operating systems.

The publication also claims that vendors will be able to add Android 5.0 to a Windows 8-based tablet or notebook, allowing users to switch between the operating systems without a reboot.

Google could be looking at Android 5.0 Jelly Bean as a way to resurrect its notebook/netbook ambitions. Google already has a netbook OS, called Chrome, but it has failed to really grab any share. It is available in a handful of inexpensive netbooks from manufacturers such as Samsung.

The latest version of the Android operating system, known as Ice Cream Sandwich, was announced in May of last year before being showcased on the Galaxy Nexus smartphone later in October. Four months down the line and it seems that only approximately 1% of Android devices are running versions of Android 4.0, bring about big concerns and showing that the adoption of the latest OS has been a lot slower than expected.

With Microsoft getting set to release its brand new Windows 8 operating system in the third quarter of 2012, the speculation suggests that Google are looking for an end of quarter two release for Jelly Bean to provide competition for Windows 8.

Considering that the hardware requirements for Windows 8 would prevent users from installing a second OS on ARM-based PCs due to a locked Secure Boot system. What’s not known is if Microsoft’s manufacturing partners would have permission to ignore that when designing machines. What’s also interesting is that no mention of smartphones is made with respect to Android 5.0. Google specifically designed Android 4.0 to combine the best features of Android 3.2 with Android 2.3 and create a master platform that works equally well on smartphones and tablets. So far, only one Android 4.0 smartphone is available, though Android 4.0 tablets are expected to arrive soon. Android 4.0 has barely had a chance to get a foothold in the market.

Google also pushed its I/O developers conference back by six weeks, to the end of June rather than the middle of May. Does Google need this extra six weeks to finish work on products that will be announced at I/O?

Stay tuned for more news and info on this topic by following us on Facebook, Twitter, and/or subscribing to our RSS feed.

Indian government is planning a law that will require all phones to display how much electro-magnetic radiation they generate. Radiation is measured in SAR (Specific Absorption Rate) and the Indian limit has been lowered to match the USA’s 1.6W/kg, whereas before it followed the European ceiling of 2W/kg. But even handsets that meet this criterion may have to declare their SAR level, and also carry a message asking people to keep their calls or short or use SMS instead — implying that the Indian government regards radiation as dangerous at any level.

All the mobile handsets that will be manufactured, sold or imported from other countries in India will have to be checked for compliance of the SAR limit. The companies manufacturing handsets in India will be required to self-declare SAR value of each handset.

In case of imported handsets, apart from self-declaration of SAR value, manufacturers will have to specify the SAR information in their documentation and an appropriate authority will verify them.

A final list of SAR values of different mobile phones will be uploaded on the DoT and TEC websites. So far, India along with Europe, Japan, Taiwan and Australia have followed ICNIRP standards, while markets such as the United States, Canada and South Africa follow IEEE standards.

The government also wants the instructions in the consumer handset booklet or user manual to contain five new safety precautions, these include:

• Use a wireless, hands-free system with a low power Bluetooth emitter;
• Ensure that cellphone has a low SAR;
• Keep voice calls short or send text messages instead – an advice that applies especially to children, adolescents and pregnant women;
• Use cellphone when signal quality is good; and finally
• People with active medical implants should preferably keep mobile handsets at least 15cms away from the implant.

[Source: Time of India]

There were several rumors regarding the possibility of Apple’s next smartphone featuring NFC technology in the months leading up to Apple’s iPhone announcement in the fall. Many competitors in the market have had the wireless payment technology for some years but it really only started to gain some traction recently. As you can all tell, the rumors were ended up being false, since there isn’t any kind of NFC chipset in the iPhone 4S.

This doesn’t mean that Apple is completely looking over the technology though. The company was recently awarded a patent regarding Near Field Communications in mobile devices. According to the folks over at Patently Apple, Apple recently won its first NFC patent related to retail transactions. Their patent document explains a method of establishing a master/slave relationship amongst two smartphones, both of which use NFC. The whole procedure described in the patent sounds very similar to many of the rumors that were flying previously.

The patent seems to specifically narrow in on the technology being used in retail situations. What this means is that Apple may be amidst an NFC-based mobile payment system. It is quite possible but nothing is certain as of yet. Patent details can be found below (courtesy of Patently Apple):

Apple also recently updated its retail experience by opening up the option of utilizing Apple’s EasyPay application. The updated version of this application allows users to scan products that they plan to buy at Apple stores allowing you to read reviews and check prices, than ultimately give you the option to pay via credit card (allowing you to skip the long lines). The EasyPay application might be the foundation of something much bigger that Apple plans to venture in.

Would you like to see Apple using NFC technology in the next iteration of the iPhone? Share your thoughts below!

Source: Patently Apple

If you don’t already have an iPhone 4S, your wait will still apparently be long according to The Wall Street Journal. Anxious Verizon Wireless customers are reporting more than three weeks for their purchase to arrive. AT&T customers are waiting an average of 21 days as well, and Sprint customers have roughly a two week time period. This new report continues to prove previous claims of Apple experiencing a demand which was slower than expected for their iPhone 4S wrong. Apple stock previously went down due to these claims despite the initial success of the device.

According to the WSJ, the initial sales of the iPhone 4S were quite opposite of the rumors, calling them “unexpectedly strong” in the first month. According to AT&T president of emerging devices, Glenn Lurie, “We are having some supply issues in the sense that demand’s huge. We have had just record-breaking sales on it.” Verizon seemed to make comments similar to this, where a spokeswoman mentioned that the demand “continues to build” for the iPhone 4S. The Big Red also mentioned that it is working with Apple to increase inventory.

Apple’s own retail stores are experiencing a similar story as they are seeing daily stock-outs of their iPhone 4S. Furthermore, the Cupertino giant is in the midst of the fastest worldwide roll-out ever, with a very strong international demand as well. Apple continues to stay on its record setting pace with the iPhone 4S after selling more than 4 million iPhones in its first weekend. That specific weekend alone doubled the company’s previous record of 1.7 million iPhone 4 units in the summer of 2010.

Tim Cook previously mentioned in the company’s quarterly earnings conference call in October how he was confident that a new record for the iPhone 4S will be set in the current holiday quarter. Currently the previous record came in the company’s June quarter of this year, when Apple moved a total of 20.34 million iPhones.

With the holiday season around the corner, will you be getting an iPhone 4S for yourself or someone you know? Do you already have an iPhone 4S? Share any thoughts and comments below!

Source: Wall Street Journal

Apple recently released iOS 5.0.1 and the jailbreak community has been advised to not upgrade. Pod2g recently found an exploit that may help to provide an untethered jailbreak and this exploit is patched on iOS 5.0.1. If you like many are seeking to use an untethered jailbreak, it would be wise to stay on iOS 5.0 because thats where the untethered jailbreak will be. For those of you who accidentally upgraded or unknowingly upgraded to iOS 5.0.1 you may be wondering how to downgrade back to iOS 5.0. In this case, you may downgrade if you have an SHSH previously saved. To do so, follow the procedure outlined below:

Required Files and Software

• Latest version of TinyUmbrella (Mac) (Windows)
• Redsn0w 0.9.9b8 (Mac) (Windows)
• iOS 5.0 Saved SHSH (needed from before)
• iTunes (latest)
• iOS5 IPSW (iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPad, iPod Touch 3G, iPod Touch 4G)

Downgrade iOS 5.0.1 To iOS 5.0 With Saved SHSH

1. Connect your iPhone to your computer and open TinyUmbrella.
2. Click on Save SHSH (the iOS 5 SHSH will only show if you have it saved previously). Once saved, close TinyUmbrella.
3. Open RedSn0w 0.9.9b8 and go to Extras > SHSH Blobs > then click Submit (it will open a window). Here, browse to the Saved SHSH file (which is in the directory C:/User/Acount Name/.shsh folder. (the saved SHSH file for iOS 5.0)
4. After submitting it, you will see the Blobs Submission Report.
5. Now click on Stich, give it the same SHSH file (which you previously submitted) and give the SHSH file, then the iOS 5.0 IPSW file. Wait for it to complete.
6. Now open TinyUmbrella and go to the Advanced tab. Here, check all the boxes and then close it.
7. Now restore the Stiched IPSW file with iTunes in DFU mode.

Voila – you’re done! At this point we would recommend staying on iOS 5.0 and waiting for further news from the jailbreak community devs.

For those of you who do NOT have an SHSH file saved, you are currently out of luck. If you are on iOS 5.0.1, your current option is to jailbreak utilizing RedSn0w 0.9.9b8 or Sn0wbreeze 2.8b11. This jailbreak will be a tethered jailbreak, which means that you will have to connect your iOS device to your computer and “just boot” utilizing the software for every time you need to boot. You can download BigBoss’s Semi-Tether package from Cydia to help ease the pain of a tethered jailbreak. The Semi-Tether allows you to boot your iOS device and use all the stock applications until you can “just boot” with your computer as opposed to being stuck on the boot logo. As of right now, it is a decent alternative to allow you to use your iOS device for main functions.

Stay tuned for more information as it surfaces by following us on Facebook, Twitter, and/or subscribing to our RSS feed.