Full disclosure: We've been seeing the gold iPhone rumors for weeks now, but have largely been brushing them aside. Fake Apple rumors are as easy to come by as tangled EarPod cords this close to a new product launch, and this one in particular seemed too outlandish, too... tacky. But gold iPhone reports have reached that saturation point where they can't be ignored anymore. Especially considering how much sense it all makes.

Gold Pieces

Patient Zero for the gold iPhone rumor appears to be an obscure Japanese parts shop called Moumantai, which posted images of a purported gold iPhone 5S nano-SIM tray

The leak was easy enough to dismiss; Apple parts are frequently aped by third parties, and this was back in April, well before the iPhone rumor mill started up in earnest. And, again, a gold iPhone seemed like too extreme a departure.

It was easy to dismiss, and so people dismissed it, just as they dismissed a June report from sometimes-reliable (they were the first to say the iPad mini would be called that) Japanese blog Macotakara that a gold iPhone was en route. Then again, it seems like Macotakara may have just been going off of a BGR report that showed the same leaked gold nano-SIM tray as before.

See? Not much to go on. Until August came around.

On August 8th, a third-party parts supplier called Luna Commerce published the following images of components apparently built for a "champagne"-colored iPhone:

Again, third-party suppliers are notoriously unreliable; these could be knock-off parts in anticipation of a gold iPhone, or just a publicity grab.

Component leaks, the ones that turn out to be accurate, have a momentum to them. They trickle, then they flood. Right now, with the gold iPhone, we're somewhere in between. But parts are just part of the equation.

Where your ears really start to perk up on Apple rumors are when people with excellent Apple track records start weighing in. That's worth more than any number of easily faked parts. And this past week, that chatter has escalated to the point where you can't ignore it anymore. Rene Ritchie of iMore-who was more on top of last year's iPhone and iPad mini release than anybody-suggested last week that he'd heard that a gold iPhone was coming from various sources. MG Siegler, whom it should be noted currently works for competitor Google Ventures, has described the gold iPhone as a certainty.

There's not enough to go on here that says a gold iPhone will definitely appear on Sept. 10th alongside the budget iPhone 5c. But when you take it in combination of Apple's past-and future-it starts to make perfect sense.

All That Doesn't Glitter

There's a sense that a gold iPhone would be too extreme a departure for Apple, a company that's held fast to its black and white iDichotomy for as long as anyone can remember. That's false. In fact, an injection of color is precisely what Apple would do at a time like this.

When the iPhone 5 was released, the overwhelming criticism was that it was boring. And it's true, it was. But it was boring in a way that worked distinctly to Apple's advantage. It was a departure from the iPhone 4/4S, but in a way that it was still very recognizably an iPhone. That's important when you're selling a smartphone as status symbol.

If the iPhone 5 was boring, the iPhone 5S will put you in a coma. By all accounts-and by pure logic, given Apple's obsession with supply chain efficiencies-it will look exactly the same as the iPhone 5. It will probably add a fingerprint scanner, a feature not immediately visible and not likely to be used by most of Apple's customers. Otherwise, it will by outward appearances be the exact same phone.

That's a problem, if you're Apple, and not one solved by an infusion of the cheaper, colorful iPhone 5c. An iPhone 5S in a new color, though? That's a clear and present way to show that you've got the best, the latest, the most expensive. In an age when smartphones are increasingly commoditized, a new iPhone is one of the few ways to stand out in a crowd. Apple knows this. Or at least, desperately hopes that it's still true.

It happened with the iPod touch. It happened with the iPod. It happened with desktop Macs. And it'll happen with the iPhone.

But Why Gold?

S A new color, sure. That makes perfect sense. But gold? Surely Apple has better taste than that. Right? Perhaps not surprisingly, wrong.

Let's start with precedent. We think of Apple as having an aesthetic beyond reproach, but they're more than capable of the rare misfire. A company that's capable of unleashing this iMac on the world is capable of anything:

Even beyond that, though, Apple's dallied very specifically with gold before. If you blinked you might have missed it, but for a brief period the original iPod mini was offered in a color much like the one we might expect to see from the gold iPhone.

There are two useful takeaways from the gold iPod mini. The first is that it's not gold in the Scrooge McDuckian sense. It might more charitably be described as champagne. Which is still not to say it's particularly attractive, but hey.

The second takeaway is that the gold iPod mini was yanked from shelves earlier than its compatriots, and that the color never again appeared in an Apple product. In other words: No one bought it.

But a lot has changed since 2004, and the iPhone is not the iPod mini.

Assuming we're correct that Apple has decided that it needs to breathe new life into the iPhone line-but at minimal risk to itself-it turns out that gold is a perfectly natural choice from an efficiency standpoint. As iMore explains:

According to our own Ally Kazmucha, who's no stranger to the process, gold is among the easiest colors to anodize onto an iPhone. It involves simple chemical reaction, with the possible addition of dye depending on the exact color they want to produce.

So! A gold iPhone can be achieved without a tremendous amount of strain on Apple's supply chain. That's a start. But even more important might be that a gold iPhone would be targeting an entirely different set of buyers.

Wagons East

The fact is, if Apple's making a gold iPhone-which, again, is still in doubt!-it doesn't care if you buy one. Not unless you happen to live in the most populous country in the world. The gold iPhone, if it exists, is Apple's love letter to China.

Apple's had some success in China over the last several years, but its influence is waning. In July, the company reported (PDF) that its revenues from China had fallen 14 percent year over year, and nearly by half between Q2 and Q3 of this year. Why the drop? According to Simon Cousins, CEO of China-focused PR and communications company Illuminant, it's lost its cache.

"Most Chinese customers who would desire an iPhone already have one," explained Cousins, "and many have moved onto the Galaxy Note" and other phablet-type devices. Samsung has nearly 20 percent of China's smartphone market, while Apple is lingering at less than 5 percent. The biggest market in the world, and they're barely registering.

In fact, the success Apple has had in China has been almost in spite of itself; black and white are generally colors to avoid there as they seem overly funereal. Novelty matters nearly as much as status. The iPhone is many things, but it is no longer novel, and it is only black and white.

Gold, though? According to Cousins, "there's no other color you can choose."

That's because while many urban Chinese consumers might-as we may here-see a gold iPhone as tacky or nouveau riche, those people already have iPhones. Or have at least considered them. But, as Cousins told us, there's a huge untapped market for Apple that would find gold incredibly appealing:

"A ton of different colors have different meanings at different times of the year, but nothing trumps gold as a symbol of wealth and privilege. I would think that Apple's looking at first-time iPhone users... in rural or remote areas, in smaller cities."

For hundreds of millions of Chinese consumers who may not have considered an iPhone before, a gold iPhone 5S would offer a compelling combination of novelty and prestige. If the more affordable iPhone 5c doesn't get their attention, surely this would.

Waiting Game

So does a gold iPhone 5S make sense? Sure! At least, it doesn't make any less sense than other recent Apple rumors that have panned out. It seems like the right time to introduce a new color. Gold is practical both from a manufacturing and sales standpoint. And uglier things have come out of the Cupertino braintrust without too much fallout.

What's important to remember if the gold iPhone does appear is that it doesn't matter what you think of it. It's not for you. But it could be the door to making Apple dominant in one of the only parts of the world that's managed to spurn its advances so far.    

Apple has finally revealed its new iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C.

The first one is iPhone 5C which will replace the existing iPhone 5. The iPhone 5C gets most of the iPhone 5 tech but with new design and more color options.



The 5C comes in five colors- yellow, green, pink, blue and white, all will have black front. We have already seen these in leaked images before.




Coming to the hardware specs, the iPhone 5C uses same A6 processor as the iPhone 5, it comes with same 4 inch retina display.




Full Specs of iPhone -

Apple A6 processor
4″ Retina Display
8MP iSight Camera with BSI sensor, Hybrid IR filter and 5 element lens
Facetime HD camera
LTE, 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0
iOS 7

The price for iPhone 5C will be $99 for 16GB and $199 for 32GB version with a 2 year contract.

Google Nexus 7 2013 edition which was announced last month is now available in LTE version on Google Play Store in USA.

Till now the new Nexus 7 was available in 16GB and 32GB Wi-Fi variants for $229 and $269 from Play Store in the USA, now the 32GB LTE version is also available for $349.




The Nexus 7 2013 LTE model comes unlocked but includes a T-Mobile SIM card. It will be available from T-Mobile stores also from next month.

Nexus 7 2013 specs -

7″ Full HD IPS Display
Android 4.3 Jelly Bean OS
Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Quad-core Krait processor
2GB RAM
16/32GB storage
5MP rear camera with Full HD video recording
1.2MP front facing camera
optional 3G/4G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, Wireless charging
3950mAh battery    

The iPhone 5S is made of high-grade aluminum with chamfered edges and comes in three colors – Gold, Silver and Black.




It comes with faster Apple A7 processor which is first 64 bit chip to be used on a smartphone. The new iOS 7 uses 64 bit architecture including all Apple apps. The processor is said to be over twice as fast as A6 processor and Graphics are said to be up to 56x faster. The new GPU supports OpenGL ES 3.0 also.

Camera-

The 5S comes with a new iSight five-element Apple lens with f/2.2 aperture and 15% larger sensor. It uses 15micron pixel size for better image quality. While taking images, it takes multiple pictures and picks the sharpest of them.

The flash is dual-LED with two tones – cool white and warm amber, the camera combines both to balance the color tone when using flash.
The camera can also capture slow motion videos at 720p resolution and 120fps. It captures panorama pictures at up to 28MP resolution.

Touch ID -

As rumored, the iPhone 5S comes with a finger print reader and the feature is called Touch ID. The Touch ID sensor which is built into ring around home button senses at 500 ppi and even scans your sub-epidermal skin layers.



Touching the home button will unlock the phone, using the fingerprint scanner. The fingerprint is safe, not saved on Apple servers or available to other apps.

Pricing

The iPhone 5C will be priced at $199, $299 and $399 for the 16GB , 32GB and 64GB version respectively on a 2 year contract. It will go on pre-order on September 13th and on sale on September 20th in US, Australia, Canada, etc. Other countries will get it by December 2013.

The Obama administration has ordered that a proposed ban on the sale and import of certain Apple products be scrapped. The order represents government intervention in a bitter patent row between the iPhone maker and rival Samsung.
In a letter to the US International Trade Commission (ITC), US trade representative Michael Froman said he had decided to disapprove the body's earlier ruling – which would have banned older iPads and iPhones due to patent infringement. As such, Apple would be free to continue to sell the items.
The letter stated that the decision was made after "extensive consultations" and was based on Froman's "review of the various policy considerations … as they relate to the effect on competitive conditions in the US economy and the effect on US consumers".
The move overturns a June decision by the ITC which found in favour of Samsung in an increasingly bitter spat between the two tech firms over patent rights. The trade body concluded that certain Apple products – including older iPhone and iPad models made to run on AT&T and T-Mobile USA networks – had infringed a Samsung patent relating to the ability of devices to transmit services simultaneously through 3G wireless technology. Apple complained that the trade ban imposed by the ITC was inappropriate.
Despite finding against the ban, the Obama administration signalled that Samsung could seek other redress. Froman wrote: "My decision to disapprove this determination does not mean that the patent owner in this case is not entitled to a remedy. On the contrary, the patent owner may continue to pursue its rights through the courts."
The two smartphone makers have lodged a series of legal complaints regarding alleged patent infringements in recent years. Last year, Apple was awarded more than $1bn in damages after Samsung was ruled to have copied critical features of its mobile products.

Can't decide between HTC One's native spin on Android and the Google Edition's vanilla build? Now you don't have to: MoDaCo.Switch is now officially available for public beta testing. True to its name, this custom firmware allows users to reboot the phone and switch into a different version of Android, making it easy to enjoy both Sense 5 and Google's stock AOSP Android build independently. It's more than a simple dual-boot, however, MoDaCo.Switch shares apps and data between both builds, which makes using them together a less jarring experience. The Beta still has some limitations of course; MMS and call log data isn't shared between ROMS and there seem to be some issues with fast boot. Still, if you're willing give it a spin, hop over to the adjacent source link to get started.

Nokia Lumia WP8 owners have it pretty good on Foursquare thanks to AR and other exclusive features -- but that doesn't mean lower-end device owners are being shirked. The app is now available on the Asha 501, something Nokia and Foursquare promised when it hit the S40 feature phone and its huge user base. Despite the Asha's lack of a GPS, owners of the sub-$100 device will get all of Foursquare's main features -- like check-ins, mayorships and badges -- since the app can use a network connection to figure out where you are. It'll likely arrive on other Asha devices soon as well, so if you're looking to rule your local haunt as mayor, better grab it fast.

If you own an iDevice, and don't know Djay by Algoriddim, then frankly you should. Even Apple loved it enough to feature it in its own marketing materials and give it a design award. Now, it's back with a remix, or more precisely, version two. Djay 2 brings with it a bevy of new features, including: a built-in sampler, HD waveforms, slip mode (scratch without ruining your mix) and enhanced support for hardware controllers (details listed in the press release below). There are also some neat UI tweaks, not only to let you access the new HD waveform view (similar to that of Traktor DJ), or use a single deck portrait view for increased visibility, but other neat details such as "grooves" in the virtual vinyl that match the flow of your tracks (for spotting the breakdowns). There's a demo video past the break, but if you're the hands-on type, you can skip straight through to the App store and get it for yourself. Like the fees for the DJs who will be spinning with it, the prices are low right now ($0.99 for iPhone, $4.99 for iPad during launch week), but expect them to go up once your buddies hear about it.

Amazon won't be winning any awards for its clumsily-named Cloud Drive Photos app, but with this latest update, it could win over the affection of its user base. Whereas last time we left Cloud Drive Photos, Amazon's focus was, well, all about photos, this time the app spotlight falls on video for the first time. Now, users will be able to auto-save, secure, manually upload or download and stream any video from Amazon's cloud that falls within the service's 2GB or 20 minute-clip limit. Photos aren't entirely left out of this version 1.7 bump, though, as images viewed while in landscape will now scroll by as larger previews. Thrilling stuff, non? Here's to hoping the next inevitable update obliterates the company's silly naming scheme for something more succinct -- perhaps, just Cloud Drive? Nah, that'd make too much sense.

Looks like Verizon isn't the only carrier that's in line to receive the anticipated BlackBerry A10. In the latest leak from Tinhte.vn, the smartphone is shown off in a hands-on video wearing AT&T branding on the rear. A quick removal of the A10's back cover reinforces the claim of a beefy 2,800mAh battery and 5-inch HD AMOLED display (unlike the LCD panel on the Z10), along with slots for both micro-SIM and microSD cards. Touring the device, micro-USB and micro-HDMI ports are both visible on the phone's left side -- another similarity to the Z10 -- along with BlackBerry's traditional three-button volume rocker on the right, and a both a power button and headphone jack on the phone's top. You can see the comparison between BlackBerry's current flagship and the A10 in the hands-on video, but you'll need to learn Vietnamese to gain much in terms of impressions.
 

Google officially announced its latest version of Android today and, like clockwork, it's now made it available for download through the Android Open Source Project. That covers those with a Nexus 4, Nexus 7, Nexus 10 or Galaxy Nexus (GSM version-only), all of whom can find what they need to start the update process to Android 4.3 (still going by the Jelly Bean moniker) at the source link below. Feel free to leave your impressions of the new OS in the comments below.

While there wasn't a lot of doubt on what LG would unveil at its August seventh event, the corporate has created it official: a brand new invite and teaser video (both once the break) expressly state that we'll see the G2 at the the big apple town gathering. The invite tells the media that it'll be the "first within the world" to ascertain the smartphone, and shows the device's signature (if oft leaked) back-mounted volume buttons. At this rate, there will not be any real mystery left to the G2 by the time LG executives desire the stage -- still, we'll attempt to feign surprise at the launch.