Despite problems with Maps and complaints about the new Lightning connector, there is increased demand for the iPhone 5 than the iPhone 4S this time last year, a new survey finds. Conducted by 451 Research and ChangeWave Research, the survey of 4,270 primarily North American consumers, the survey shows that despite the attention given to these issues by the press, they barely seem to concern customers. In all, 32% of those surveyed said that they were likely to get the iPhone 5, up from 22.5% for the 4S a year ago. Of those unlikely to buy the phone, 61% responded that their current phone was good enough.

When it comes to Maps, the survey asked iPhone 5 and iOS 6 users if they had found any porblems in their use of Apple Maps, with 90% of respondents saying that they did not have any problems. In fact, only 3% of respondents reported their Maps experience as a very big problem. When asking those unlikely to buy the iPhone 5 for the reason why, 0% said it was because of reports of problems with Maps.

Additionally, iPhone 5 buyers were also asked about the Lightning connector. While a sizeable portion of respondents, 37%, did say that the change in connector was a problem, the majority did not, with 31% saying it was "Not Much of a Problem, and 26% saying "No Problem at All."

None of this is to say that there are not problems with Maps, because there are, and in many cases they are serious ones. Apple needs to fix them as soon as possible and they are working to do just that. We can't also say that the new Lightning connector isn't an inconvenience to those who already have a lot of accessories. But what this does tell us is that sometimes these issues get blown out of proportion. We can't say with a lot of confidence that this is going to keep a lot of people from buying iPhones.

It also tells us that despite what some people in the tech press say, onsumers don't seem to think that the iPhone 5 is boring at all. Every year, each new iPhone is more popular than the one that preceeded it, and that pattern shows no sign of slowing down. In fact, it seems to be speeding up.

Source: 451 Research

While App.net (ADN) may be pretty new, it doesn't mean many users aren't already on it, including iMore and our staff. Even though the service hasn't been around for very long, there are already some choices when it comes to choosing an ADN iPhone app.

Netbot, Felix, and Rivr are all fully functional ADN apps for iPhone but is one better than the other, and more importantly, which one should you use? Follow along and we'll help you decide.

Netbot vs. Felix vs. Rivr: Interface and design

If you've ever used Tweetbot, you'll feel right at home with Netbot. The app functions almost exactly in the same way except it's feeding App.net information instead of Twitter. Swiping sideways on posts will show conversations and tapping on them will give you a menu showing different ways you can interact with the post.

There are five main sections along the bottom of Netbot that you can navigate through - stream, mentions, profile, and two customizable tabs. The last two tabs can be set up as either favorites, search, or mute filters. Holding down on either of the two tabs allows you to instantly swap them out for another option.

You compose a new post by tapping the blue compose button in the upper right hand corner. The upper left hand corner contains a button that allows you to view a drop down of all of your accounts as well as access settings. From settings you can customize sounds, font sizes, username displays, and individual account settings involving upload and read it later services.

Felix handles functions from an interface perspective differently and gives access to quick toggles you may use frequently right within your stream. While viewing your stream, you'll notice a couple options underneath each post and they are reply, repost, and favorite. Tapping any one of those will allow you to access that function. The only down side of this is that it's easy to hit the repost button on accident. While it's nice to have it there, it would be even nicer to have a confirm button pop up after tapping it. You can circumvent this for now by changing the repost function's behavior in settings to Repost with comment.

Along the bottom you have a navigation bar that consists of your main stream, mentions, compose, the global stream/stream, and dashboard. The main stream will show all the posts from users you follow, mentions will show all the posts any other user has mentioned you in, and the global stream shows all App.net posts across the entire service. The last tab, your dashboard, functions somewhat as a profile. You'll see your bio and information at the top and some functions underneath them that you can interact with. The Go to Person function allows you to quickly jump to any person's profile or stream as long as you know their handle. The Go to Hashtag function lets you jump to posts about a certain hashtag across the entire ADN service.

Underneath that you'll find statistics on yourself and basic information that you'd expect to find such as your own stream, mentions of you, follower and following count, starred individual posts, and a list of people you've muted. A little lower down you'll also see access to settings and information and a logout button. From here you can enable/disable push notifications, change what mentions you get notified for, and change a few other basic settings and thread styles. It's exactly what you'd expect to find in the settings panel of a social app.

Rivr doesn't use the same method of navigation as either Netbot or Felix. Instead of having tabs along the bottom, your stream will take up the entire screen and you can choose to pull out navigation only when you want to. To do so, tap the menu button in the upper left hand corner of Rivr. From here you can jump to any section of the app you'd like. Your usual suspects are found right here including your stream, mentions, favorites, global stream, profile, search, topics, and settings.

Your profile section doesn't show a wealth of information which is a down side I've found to Rivr but not a total buzzkill. You'll see your picture, bio, follower and following count, and a look at your own stream.

Each section in Rivr follows the same interface. You'll always see your cover photo at the top with a list of posts, mentions, or reposts below that. To compose a new post of your own, just tap the "+" sign in the upper right hand corner from any screen. This is where Rivr gets interesting. You can compose a plain text, picture, now listening to, location, or mood post. A navigation panel will pull out from the right side. Just tap on the type of post you'd like to compose and you'll be taken there.

When you see a post from someone else you'd like to interact with in Rivr you can just tap on it and your options will slide out from the right side of the screen. You can reply, quote, star it, view the entire conversation, or automatically repost it.

When it comes to interface and design, while Netbot will be an automatic choice for Tweetbot fans, Felix is a breath of fresh air. If you want a change of pace but still desire a visually pleasing app, Felix is what you'll want. Everything from the menus to the gradients are done beautifully. While Rivr is a perfectly functional and well laid out app, the interface is somewhat boring.

Netbot vs. Felix vs. Rivr: Posting and interacting with content

Netbot supports most of the functionality you'd expect to find for ADN including posting, reposting, quoting, favoriting, tagging, hashtags, image uploading and more. To compose a new post, tap the blue compose button in the upper right hand corner and you'll be taken to the compose screen. Clicking the gear button will allow you to access any drafts you have saved, clicking the button with the person on it will insert an @ sign and once you start typing someone's name, Netbot will automatically pull from your followers. You can also use the tag button in the same way to insert common or popular hashtags. The photo button does exactly what you'd expect, lets you take or insert an existing photo.

If you come across a post that appears to be a reply from something else, you can swipe across the post to the right in order to see the entire conversation. Swiping towards the left shows you full detail and any conversation below it. If you find a post that you want to do more than just view, tapping on it gives you more options. You can reply to it, repost it, star it, or chose the further action button. The further action button has more options including sending it to a read it later service, copying a link to your clipboard to the post, copying the entire post, or e-mailing the post. The last button with the gear allows you to see more details about that post including translating it or the number of reposts and stars it has received.

Felix may not have a lot of swiping and tapping gestures but most of the reason for that is the fact that most of the functions you'd use frequently are already there at your disposal. From your main stream you can easily reply, star, and repost anyone else's content instantly. Tapping into a post from your stream will give you the same options as well as more options and some information about that post. Other options you have are copying and mailing the post. Underneath these options you'll see how many people starred the post or reposted it.

The compose screen of Felix is rather plain but is still functional. The keyboard is customized to show the @ and # symbols in the bottom right hand corner. Once you hit it and then start typing a name or hashtag, Felix will automatically start trying to autofill either one for you. There's also a mailbox icon in the top bar that will house any drafts you've saved or messages that couldn't send due to an error.

Rivr offers a lot of the same functionality when it comes to content as both Netbot and Felix but in a slightly different way. Tapping the "+" sign in the upper right hand corner or swiping towards the left anywhere on the screen brings up the compose menu. From here you can choose what kind of post you'd like to make. Just like Netbot and Felix, Rivr can automatically autocomplete hashtags and usernames for you inside posts.

Composing posts is one thing where Rivr has a leg up over both Netbot and Felix. You can compose many kinds of posts that you can't natively inside either Netbot or Felix. Rivr supports not only plain posts but now playing, location, and mood posts. Photo posts are another area that Rivr may be appealing to many. Not only can you take pictures and post them but you can apply live filters to them or apply them after and right before uploading. This means there is no need to take a picture in a separate app and then upload it unless it needs further editing. For many users, the choice of filters inside Rivr will be good enough.

When it comes to viewing others content, just tap on any post you'd like to look into further inside Rivr and a menu will slide out from the side. You can choose to reply, quote, star, view the entire conversation, or repost it as is. That's about all the functionality there is to have though. If you're looking for ways to view stats on a post or a way to send them to a read it later service, you won't find them. Not yet anyways. The only thing you can currently send to a read it later service in Rivr is links. Not posts themselves.

Netbot and Felix both have far more options when it comes to read it later services and viewing information about posts. If you're into knowing how many times posts were reposted or starred, forget about Rivr for now. If you're more worried about having additional options concerning the content you share, Rivr has Netbot and Felix beat in those areas.

Tie, depending on which features are the most important to you personally.

Netbot vs. Felix vs. Rivr: Push notifications

Netbot currently doesn't offer push notifications like it's big brother, Tweetbot. We aren't sure if push will be coming to Netbot or not as of yet. Tweetbot originally released with no push notification feature and later it was added. That could be the case here.

Felix offers push notifications natively at no additional charge. In my experience, they work well and the sounds they've chosen aren't obtrusive but just enough to get your attention. There isn't too much customization as far as sounds but you'll get notifications for mentions and for most users, that'll be enough for now.

Rivr also offers push notifications but as an additional in-app purchase. The add-on is currently priced at $1.99 for one year of push notifications which is pretty fair.

Tie between Rivr and Felix.

Netbot vs. Felix vs. Rivr: Pricing

Netbot and Felix are both priced at $4.99 in the App Store which isn't too bad but may be a little high for some users. Rivr is a free download but push notifications will cost you an additional $1.99 a year, still making it cheaper than both Netbot and Felix.

If you plan on sticking around on App.net and you don't switch clients very often, Felix may be a better buy just because you'll avoid paying a push notification subscription fee year after year, which somewhat weighs out the free price tag.

Considering none of them cost a ton of money and one is subscription based, it's pretty much a wash. You're better off basing your purchase on feature set than price. Tie between all three.

Netbot vs. Felix vs. Rivr: The bottom line

Even though App.net is a newer service, you've still got quite a few options when it comes to iPhone apps. Netbot, Felix, and Rivr are three of the best, there's no doubt about that.

If you are a Tweetbot fanatic and it's your go-to Twitter client and you can't imagine using any other client, you'll love Netbot. The only downside right now is that there is no push and we're not sure how long you'll be waiting to get it. It's also worth noting that it's very easy to confuse which app you're in if you use both Tweetbot and Netbot. While the UI is familiar, I'm not sure how great of an idea it was to make them the exact same.

If push is a must for you it'll come down to Felix and Rivr.

If you're the type of person that loves to share photos, locations, and pretty much your entire life on ADN, Rivr will let you filter pictures, update your location, tell everyone what you're listening to, and more. So if what you post is more important to you, go with Rivr. But if viewing other people's content is your main concern, Felix is a better buy.

Felix wins when it comes to user interface and design. If you want an app that's easy to interact with, nice to look at, and gives you reliable notifications, look no further than Felix. For the time being, it's our favorite iPhone app for App.net.

Netbot - $4.99 - Download Now

Felix - $4.99 - Download Now

Rivr - Free - Download Now

Apple may be changing chip manufacturers as it moves towards quad-core processors in its iOS devices over the next couple of years. While Samsung has produced the chipsets for most iOS devices so far, including the Apple-designed A6 found in the iPhone 5, it may not be the direction Apple will head in the future.

A Citigroup analyst is claiming that Apple will be working exclusively with Taiwanese chip producer TSMC for quad-core processors. The reason for the switch is said to be the efficiency of TSMC's 20-nanometer processes over those of Samsung. Samsung currently uses a 32-nanometer process for the chips in Apple devices, while current quad-core mobile processors, such as the Tegra 3, are between 28 and 45 nanometers. China Economic News Service reports:

Citigroup Global Markets' market research fellow, J.T. Hsu, pointed out that Apple began verifying TSMC's 20nm process in August this year and may begin risk production in November with the process. Volume production is expected to start in the fourth quarter of 2013, raising the possibility that TSMC will hike capital expenditure to US$11-12 billion in 2013 and 2014.

Apple has looked at partnering with TSMC in the past, but the chip maker was wary of the reportedly low margins for Apple's contract suppliers, making them reluctant to bid for contracts with Apple. However, the combination of the large orders for chips that Apple will undoubtedly place, worth billions of dollars, and the possibility of lower cost due to supply chain efficiency, may be enough for TSMC to chage their minds. There are many reasons Apple may wish to move away from relying on Samsung considering the recent legal battles as well as Samsung becoming a bigger and bigger rival in the smartphone and tablet market. If TSMC can meet Apple's demand for chipsets, it's possible that we'll see these processors inside our Apple products in the later part of next year.

Source: China Economic News Service

Today EE (formerly Everything Everywhere) announced that all 700 of the Orange and T-Mobile stores will be re-branded as EE by the end of the month to coincide with the 4G roll out. The news arrives along with some special EE staff training that is happening at the NEC in Birmingham where 12,000 internal staff and 3000 partners will learn about the new brand.

It's interesting times at the moment in the UK for EE , who own both Orange and T-Mobile UK. We have mentioned in various posts about the company rolling out their new 4G LTE service in the UK at the end of October, the first network to do so in Great Britain.

I popped into my local EE store earlier today and although they have the new EE sign above the shop the internals are still very much Everything Everywhere. But, that will change over the next few weeks so I suppose I had better plan another visit soon.

As well as EE having the new 4G service coming real soon as a huge selling tool, I am pretty sure that they are the only retail chain in the UK where every phone on display actually works. Using dummy ones is a total waste of time in my opinion so kudos to them for that. If you want a 4G iPhone 5 then EE is the place to be at the end of the month!

Keep your eyes peeled for more EE news soon including price plans and data tariffs

Source: mobilenewscwp

Apple has come to an agreement with the Swiss national railway to license their iconic, minimalist white, black, and red design for the iOS 6 Clock app for iPad, according to a press release issued by the SBB (translated by Google):

For the use of the SBB station clock on devices like iPad and iPhone, the Swiss Federal Railways SBB and Apple have agreed and signed a license agreement. The parties have agreed to give the amount of the license fee as well as other details about the Convention any further information.

The Railway station clock was built in 1944 by engineer and designer Hans Hilfiker designed for SBB. It is a design icon, obvious matters in the digital age well. Special feature of the so-called "scoop dial" is the striking red second hand, which has the form of a signal trowel. To date, she is a symbol of innovation and reliability is an important identifying feature of the SBB and Switzerland represents

The iPad interface for the Clock app, which was released in beta back in June and publicly September, initially didn't appear to have the SBB's blessing, much less legal permission. That's nothing new for Apple, who went ahead with the iPhone name before securing rights from Cisco, and the iPad name, which took months and months of legal wrangling to resolve.

Is it too late for Microsoft to license Metro from the Quebec transit authority?

Source: via The Verge

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If you thought the iPhone 5 set a new bar for thin and light, wait until you see the iPod touch 5. Thanks to the miniaturized Lightning connector and the single layer in-cell display, the iPod touch 5 really is entering the realm of ludicrously, turn-it-sideways-and-it-almost-disappears thin.

Unlike previous years, stainless steel on the back of the iPod touch has given way to aluminum. Anodized aluminum to be precise. We've seen that with the iPods nano and shuffle before, and it's nice to see it on the touch now as well. For the first time, you can also choose between black, white & silver, blue, yellow, pink and, at Apple Stores only, (product) RED. We've got blue and silver so far, with more on the way. So sit back, relax, and take a look at the new iPod touch... if you can see it.

All photos taken with a Nikon D800 and a Sigma 50mm f/1.4 lens, macros taken with a Canon 5D Mark III and a EF 100mm f/2.8 L IS USM lens by Rene Ritchie, embedded at HiDPI for iPhones, iPad 3, and Retina MacBook Pro.

Apple looks set to unveil their long-rumored, eagerly anticipated new iPad mini at a special media event just over two weeks from now. According to John Paczkowski of All Things D, however, it'll be the Tuesday, October 23 rather than the traditional Wednesday.

People familiar with Apple's plans tell us that the company will unveil the so-called "iPad mini" on Oct. 23 at an invitation-only event. [...] Sources declined to specify where the event is to be held, and I've not been able to confirm a location.

The week matches up with what I've heard, and it's really the only viable week left given that Apple had set the introduction for October. Tuesday is unusual but not unheard of, and while Paczkowski points out that it's 3 days before the expected launch of the Microsoft Surface it's also the day before Samsung's Next Big Thing event in New York City for that Wednesday (for the Galaxy Note II) .

Paczkowski also thinks the iPad mini event will likely be held at the Apple campus in Cupertino, given that Apple already held the large iPhone 5 + Music event at Yerba Buena in San Francisco.

The most interesting question remains -- how will Apple fill the keynote?

The new Macs should get some slide time, but we already saw the first Retina Mac back in June at WWDC, and some Macs don't have screens anyway. iTunes 11 was already previewed last month, so the bulk of that is done. The updated iPad 3 still makes more sense as a "by the way, we've also added a Lightning connector and international LTE to the new iPad" so no recent buyers feel jilted.

That leaves the iPad mini as the star of the show, and while it's physically amazing, it's still an iPad. What could Apple show off on it that would fill out most of a keynote?

The iPhone 5 is the thinnest, lightest iPhone ever, but the iPod touch 5 is almost 2-dimensional. Everything comes at a price, however, and so while the iPod touch 5 is even thinner and lighter than the iPhone 5, it doesn't have anywhere near as good internals. If you don't care about that, however, if all you want to do is scratch the surface and find more surface, then here's how the iPod touch 5 compares to the iPhone 5 is close up. And for good measure, we'll throw in some iPod touch 4 and iPod touch 3 action as well.

While the iPod touch 4 had a decidedly worse display than the iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S, the iPod touch 5 received the same 4-inch, 16:9, 1136x640 326ppi IPS (in-plane switching), in-cell display as the iPhone 5, and that's remarkable.

As you'd expect, the iPod touch 5 looks every bit as good, bright, clear, crisp, and colorful as the iPhone 5 even at macro.

Compared to the iPod touch 4, the difference is far more noticeable. Even at the same 50% brightness level, the iPod touch 4 display has far more "pop" (that's the technical term, I swear!) and IPS really improves the viewing angle. (It's more dramatic on videos than it is on the Home screen, so we'll add some of those shots in soon.)

While the iPhone 5 has a two-tone back made necessary by the large, glass, radio-transparent panels at the top and bottom, the iPod touch goes for edge-to-edge aluminum, albeit with a black, plastic radio panel in the top corner. That's unlike the iPod touch 4 but similar to the iPod touch 3.

The iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S both have 8 megapixel sensors for their rear-facing iSight cameras. The iPod touch 5 has a 5 megapixel sensor, the same size as the iPhone 4. Lenses like depth, however, and the iPod touch 5 has very little of that, so it's impressive Apple got as good a sensor in there as they did.

The iPod touch 5 iSight camera, of course, dwarfs the 720p (as in peashooter) found on the iPod touch 4. (The iPod touch 3 had an even worse camera -- none.)

The iPod touch 5's front-facing FaceTime HD camera, however, is the same as the iPhone 5's, capturing 720p video. (Yes, the front camera this year is as good as the back camera of the last two years...)

And it absolutely embarrasses the the iPod touch 4's embarrassing VGA (480p) FaceTime camera.

Close up, while the iPod touch 5 lacks the phone mic and the same grid design as the iPhone 5, they both now share similar layouts thanks to the iPhone 5 headset jack moving.

Like the iPhone 5, the iPod touch 5 uses the new Lightning connector at the bottom. This lets it be even thinner than the previous, ridiculously thin, iPod touch 4 and iPod touch 3.

It's hard to really tell because of the amount of curvature on the iPod touch 4 and iPod touch 3 -- The iPod touch 5 has a flatter form factor, more reminiscent of recent iPhones than iPods.

But it makes the iPhone 4S look positively chunky.

All shots taken with a Canon 5D Mark III and a Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM and an EF 100mm f/2.8 L IS USM Macro lens, embedded at HiDPI for iPhones, iPad 3, and Retina MacBook Pro.