Buried among the numbers at yesterday's iPad and Mac event, Tim Cook announced a new version of iBooks with a few new features. From the beginning I'd heard the iPad mini was about removing weight and cost as barriers of entry to iPad sales, and about taking the ebook fight to Amazon and, as Ryan Block of GDGT aptly terms them, their Kindle line of consumer content appliances. Yet the event came and went without Apple matching the Kindle on pricing, or challenging Amazon on ebooks. Why?

Macworld's Serenity Caldwell made an excellent point at the Çingleton Symposium earlier this month -- Amazon's leadership in ebooks is based on market quantity, not product quality. Apple's original iBooks format was far superior to Amazon's original Kindle format, and while Amazon's new Kindle format allows for a far more iBooks-like experience, Apple isn't slowing down in the rich ebook department by any means. Yet Amazon clearly has the market momentum and mind share.

As Graham Spencer of MacStories.net recently mapped, while Apple far outpaces Amazon and other competitors in many content areas, when it comes to books, its 31 country footprint is dwarfed by Amazon's 179. According to Apple Insider, Apple is reportedly adding 18 additional (mainly South American) countries shortly as well, if they haven't already, bringing the count to a still far-behind 50.

But there's a lot to unpack there. Apple announced additional language support yesterday, including Asian-languages like Chinese and Japanese (which looked gorgeous), bringing their total supported language count to 40. Amazon still seems stuck at 9, all of which require latin-based alphabets. Asia, and China in particular, are huge markets for Apple. That could make some difference going forward.

At the event, Apple announced 1.5 million items in the iBookstore. That includes picture books and "multitouch" books, and Apple claims customers have downloaded 400,000,000 iBooks since launch. Amazon claims over 1 million items in the Kindle store on their website, but Jeff Bezos said millions (plural) in his recent Kindle keynote. (Amazon's numbers seem to include magazines where Apple doesn't include magazines in iBooks, but has them in the App Store for Newsstand instead.) Among those Amazon titles, however, are 180,000 Amazon claims as exclusives, and with 100,000,000 downloads of these exclusives to date, popular ones. Add to the lending and library features, often cheaper content, and on rock-solid syncing services, and it's a solid advantage.

Textbooks complicate matters slightly. Apple held a special education event earlier in the year to announce text books for the iPad. Apple released iBooks so rich-media text books could be more easily generated. Tim Cook claimed at yesterday's even that 80% of the U.S. school core curriculum was now covered by iBooks textbooks, and that they're deployed at more than 2500 schools in the U.S. Cook also introduced a new version of iBooks Author, which included vertical templates, embedded fonts, rendered mathematical formulae, multitouch widgets, and am easier, better process for updating books. International textbook support, of course, can vary wildly for both Apple and Amazon. Amazon released the Kindle DX in the past to offer a bigger screen better geared towards the education market. Amazon no longer sells the Kindle DX, but they still offer Kindle eTextbooks, both for sale and for rental, that run on the Kindle Fire and in all Kindle apps.

And that, writ large across their catalog, is the biggest advantage Kindle books has. You can read Kindle books on Amazon's Kindle hardware, including many of them on Amazon's ultra-cheap, ultra-legible e-ink line, on Android devices, BlackBerry devices, Windows Phones, iOS devices, Mac and Windows PCs, and even the web. You can only read iBooks on iOS. There's not even a Mac client, much less a browser client. That creates a feeling of control and a sense of assurance. Even if the typography is worse, even if the app experience is worse, the lower pricing, plentiful availability, and the ability to read content on pretty much every smart device on the planet adds up to the killer feature -- ubiquity.

Apple could equal or eclipse the Kindle catalog through sheer force of deal-making, something they traditionally excel at. But platform diversity is something in which Apple has historically shown almost no interest. Apple did make iTunes for Windows, but they haven't made any iTunes apps for any other non-Apple devices. And because, unlike music, commercial ebooks are still bound by DRM (digital rights management), they can't be opened by generic ereaders either. Whether you buy Kindle books or iBooks, you're still locked into that format, though the Kindle cage is much, much bigger. (Video is the same way, but books seem to evoke an even greater demand for cross-platform compatibility.)

More content, in more places, on more devices, among other reasons, simply trumps whatever technical, interactive, and visual advantages iBooks has on iOS.

Ultimately, the ability login, be it on a $69 Kindle or high end smartphone or tablet, have access to your entire ebook library, synced and ready to go, even in base text, is compelling, and is something Apple simply can't and won't match .

Given that, my expectation that Apple would make a direct run at Amazon in the ebook space was unrealistic. Given that, a broader focus on education at yesterday's event, which would have almost certainly required a broader focus on books and textbooks, was also unrealistic. The ongoing lack of iBooks for Mac is disappointing, but a new version of iBooks and a new version of iBooks Author, keeps Apple's foot in the door, provides an amazing experience for those for whom that matters more than anything Amazon's Kindle offers, and the focus on languages maintains Apple's dominance in international markets.

Apple, not surprisingly, was far more realistic when it came to iBooks than any predictions or expectations, and that's not likely to change until the industry does.

Yesterday was a busy day for Apple fans and we're rounding up reactions from all of iMore's contributors to see how they feel about the iPad mini, the 4th.-generation iPad, and other new products announced yesterday. We've also tapped some of our buddies from Android Central to see how they feel about the new Apple stuff, especially with the Nexus 7 figuring prominently in the keynote. 

Chris Parsons

Overall I wasn't overly impressed with the iOS device announcements. The iPad mini didn't create any desire within to make me want to pre-order it and the iPad 4th generation kinda annoyed me. Out of all things announced, I'm more excited for the new iMac than anything. Let's not confuse my comments with how I think Apple will do with the new products though. It's still very much an iPad market vs. a tablet market and Apple will sell boat loads of them but the excitement for me personally just wasn't there this time around nor did Apple use the now famous distortion field to create it. Maybe Rene was right, I'm getting old.

Chris Oldroyd

I think the iPad mini was everything that was expected, small, beautiful and fully functional. I was all set to buy one before the event but now I am not so sure. I can't decide how small it is without physically holding one so I am going to hold off and see it in the flesh. If I do decide to go with it, I will want one with cellular services so I can't order yet anyway.

The biggest surprise for me was the 4th generation iPad release, this was only a minor update but a processor and graphics bump as well as a better camera are not to be sniffed at. Seems a strange move by Apple to refresh it in this way mid cycle; maybe it intends changing the release cycle in the future. 

Joe Keller 

As the owner of a third-generation iPad, you might think that I would be irritated by the introduction of the fourth-generation iPad a mere seven months after the third made its debut. But I'm not. If Apple had stuck to the original release cycle, this is the same iPad that we would have seen in March, just five months earlier. Double the performance is nice, but I have no pressing need for the Lightning connector, and my current iPad has LTE. It seems that Apple wanted to shift the iPad release cycle to the fall, and they chose to debut a new iPad now rather than have users wait eighteen months for it.

I want an iPad mini. I want an iPad that I can comfortably hold in one hand. But I don't want it yet. I'm waiting on a couple of things. First and foremost, a Retina display. I will not go back to non-Retina iOS devices. Seeing as the iPad mini is essentially an iPad 2 in a smaller frame, I also want to see how much longer the iPad 2 is going to last, and what it, and thus the iPad mini, might miss out on when iOS 7 comes around next year. But despite my reservations about its long-term usefulness, my immediate gut reaction is "I want one." 

Kevin Michaluk

As an owner of the new iPad, I'm a little miffed it's already deemed obsolete with the update to the 4th generation. I'm a gadget guy. I like having the latest and greatest. But this upgrade just came so soon. But I'll have to do it, if for nothing else so I can upgrade all of my cables to have the lightning connector. It's really frustrating at the moment to have the iPhone 5 with the lightning connector, but then the iPad with the old style.  

As for the iPad mini, it's a nice of piece of kit but at a starting price of $329 it's not that compelling in my opinion. For the average consumer, it makes more sense to spend $71 and go for the iPad 2. Maybe if the iPad mini had a retina display (complications of that aside), it would be more worth it for the price. Though honestly, once you get used to retina on the new iPad, going down to non-Retina feels a bit like taking sandpaper to your eyeballs. 

The new iMac is hot. I have the 15" Macbook Pro retina already which I love as my mobile workhorse, but may have to pick up the 27" iMac to have at home. It just looks cool. 

Allyson Kazmucha 

I currently own a third generation iPad and really don't have any intention of getting a fourth generation model. Considering mine is typically used as the office point of sale, a reading device, and something to browse the web on or play games casually, it does what I need it to do and then some. While it would be nice to be able to ditch "all" my 30-pin cables, we ordered a bunch of adapters so it isn't a huge deal to disconnect an adapter when needed. After all, I only find myself having to charge my iPad about once a week anyways.  

As far as the iPad mini goes, I'm intrigued by it but still unsure whether it's something I'll pick up. I could see it being a nice device to have around the office so I can keep my personal iPad at home and not have to worry about bringing it into the office everyday but other than that, I can't say I have much use for it.  

To be honest, the real news of the announcement for me was the new iMac line. I'll be ordering a 27" in December and couldn't be more excited about that. The iPads, I can wait until the next go around to upgrade I think. 

Jerry Hildenbrand 

It is meaningless, unless your tablet also includes sandpaper, so that the user can sand down their fingers to around one quarter of the present size. Apple's done extensive user-testing on touch interfaces over many years, and we really understand this stuff. There are clear limits of how close you can physically place elements on a touch screen before users cannot reliably tap, flick or pinch them. This is one of the key reasons we think the 10-inch screen size is the minimum size required to create great tablet apps. 

Richard Devine

iPad 4... Hmm, felt a little like Apple was throwing specs out there as a worthy upgrade. Didn't feel very 'Apple.' Felt more like an excuse to throw the new dock connector on there.

iPad Mini - the worst kept secret yet the least exciting product I've ever seen Apple release. I LOVE 7-inch tablets, I have a Nexus 7 and a BlackBerry PlayBook, but nothing about the iPad Mini excites me. Especially not the price.

However, the Mac stuff was impressive. If I hadn't just bought a Mini and a MacBook Air in the last 12 months I'd be all over it. Thin doesn't equal good to me, but the new iMac looks incredible.

Sean Brunett

I was very surprised at the extent Apple went to attack the Nexus 7 during their iPad Mini announcement. I believe this is one of the first times that we've seen such a pointed comparison at an event rather than slight references. But onto the actual device, I'm not overly impressed. Less resolution than the Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HD and a dual-core processor vs. quad-core for the 7 for much more money ($349 vs. $199 base price). Die hard iOS folks will likely want the device, but I think Google's got a real chance next week to turn heads if they continue to drive down their price while maintaining the quality of the Nexus 7.

Simon Sage

The only thing I really cared about from the whole announcement was the iPad mini, and two things struck me about it. For one, the 7.9-inch screen is a relatively unexplored size, but its difference from the established 7-inch norm feels completely arbitrary. The 7-inch tablet scene is getting pretty crowded, so I could see why Apple would want to stay differentiated. If they're going to go on inventing their own product subcategory though, Apple can't put the iPad mini in a side-by-side comparison with the Nexus 7, which is effectively punching at a different weight class.

The other thing that slightly irks me is the $329 pricetag. That amount seems palatable when compared to the minimum $499 you'd be paying for a 4th-gen iPad or even $399 you'd pay for an iPad 2, but that's going to be a hard sell with cheap Kindle Fire tablets available that will do 80% if what most users want for half the price. Of course Apple has a lot of additional selling points to justify the slightly higher price and I have no doubt that the iPad mini will sell in record numbers, but I don't see it turning the tide against Amazon. 

But enough from us, how do you feel about all of the new products? Be sure to let us know what you're buying in our poll, and leave a comment here with what you think the announcements yesterday mean for Apple in the long run. 

So you've got an older generation iPad and you want either the newly announced iPad mini or the more powerful 4th generation iPad. What should you do with your old iPad and more importantly, how much cash can you get to put towards your shiny new one?

Getting top dollar for your old iPad

There are many things you can do to make sure you get the best price possible for your old iPad. With phones, you get more value when they're unlocked but with iPads, you don't really have that hurdle to jump over. Instead, you can increase the value of what you get for your iPad if it's in excellent condition and you're throwing in some extras. Here's a few things you should consider before listing your iPad for sale.

Include accessories and extras

Including things like cases, chargers, docks, or anything else that you have that you're willing to part with or won't be compatible with your new iPad will increase what you can get for it. If you had a growing collection of 30-pin cables that'll serve you no good with your new iPad, part with a few of them and invest that money into a few new Lightning cables.

You'll also find some people that'll pay more if you have the box and the original accessories it came with.

The more you have to go with it, the more you'll get for it.

Take high quality images

There's nothing more annoying than trying to find something for sale online and not being able to see any decent images. Make sure you're taking high quality images of not only the iPad, but of any extras that you're throwing in with it.

Get pictures of the front and the back so potential buyers know what they're getting. I've also become accustomed to getting pictures with the screen on and then close ups of the screen with the backlight off so users can see that the screen is in excellent condition and doesn't have any scuffs or scratches in it.

If you're iPad does have a little bit of cosmetic damage, be open and honest about it in your listing and with any buyer that may contact you. It doesn't mean you won't sell your iPad. Buyers prefer honest sellers. If you list it as mint condition but then come back and tell a potential buyer about little dents and dings, you'll probably lose the buyer. Be up front from the beginning and you'll have better luck and much more potential for a quick sale.

Putting your iPad up for sale

Once you've decided what you are and aren't including in the sale of your iPad and you've taken some high quality images of everything, you're ready to list it for sale. Here are some of the places we recommend starting with. Notice that some will offer you store credit while others will get you cold hard cash. So choose wisely before agreeing to sell to a buyer or a service.

Apple Reuse and Recycling Program

Apple will gladly buy back your old iPad and either reuse it as a refurbished unit or recycle it on your behalf through their Reuse and Recycling Program. You'll be asked a series of questions regarding the condition, capacity, and color of your iPad. It's important that you're honest because Apple will of course check that what you told them matches the actual condition once they receive the iPad.

After Apple certifies that the iPad is in working condition they'll issue you an Apple Store gift card that you can use towards any purchase. If you're using the proceeds of your old iPad to go towards a new iPad mini or 4th generation iPad, this is a great way to get Apple Store credit quickly and relatively painlessly.

Here is what you can expect to get for the base 16GB models for all existing generations of iPad. If your capacity is larger, you'll fetch a higher amount.

• 16GB Wi-Fi only original iPad in excellent condition - $105
• 16GB Wi-Fi only iPad 2 in excellent condition - $175
• 16GB Wi-Fi only iPad 3 in excellent condition - $250

Amazon Trade-In Store

Amazon, like Apple, will buy back your old iPad as well through the Amazon Trade-In Store. The only hitch here is that you'll be given payment in the form of an Amazon gift card. If you're looking for hard cash to put towards a new iPad purchase and you don't want to wait for Amazon to have it in stock, it may not be the best option.

If you're okay with Amazon credit though, it's a pretty painless process. You'll choose the model, capacity, and color of your current iPad and add it to your trade-in. You'll then be given a shipping label and instructions. Once Amazon receives your old iPad, they'll issue you an Amazon gift card for the trade-in value. Amazon is currently offering up to $190 for a first generation 16GB iPad, $300 for a 16GB iPad 2, and $390 for a 16GB 3rd generation iPad.

Gazelle

Gazelle offers a service that lets you easily turn most electronic devices into cash. Simply send in your iPad and Gazelle will send you money after confirming the item condition. The first thing you'll need to do is tell Gazelle what you're selling and what condition the item is in. You can choose from poor, fair, good or excellent condition, and it's important to be honest when rating the condition so there's no hiccups or snags along the way. It also helps if you have the box and original documentation and cables with your item. Also make sure you check for any water damage, as Gazelle will too once they receive the iPad.

Depending on what iPad you have, Gazelle will offer for base 16GB models anywhere between $100 to $250. Higher capacities and cellular connectivity will obviously fetch you more money. Again, always be honest about the condition. While Gazelle is a quick way to get money for your old electronics, you can probably get quite a bit more on services like Craigslist and eBay if you can be more patient with the actual selling process.

SellYourMac.com

SellYourMac.com offers a similar service to Gazelle by letting you send in your old iPad for payment with little to no hassle involved. They'll not only buy your old iPad, but any Apple gear you have laying around. This is a good option if you have other Apple products you're willing to sell besides an old iPad.

You'll be required to provide pictures along with a serial number next to your item description and condition. Once SellYourMac.com receives your iPad they clean it, inspect it and verify that it's in working condition before they turn around and sell it on eBay. Users can receive payment via Paypal if they choose as well. SellYourMac's quotes are a little higher than other competing services such as Gazelle. Base 16GB Wi-Fi only iPad models will get you anywhere between $155 and $305.

eBay

Selling your iPad on eBay is a pretty simple process. If you've ever used eBay for selling things in the past then you know the selling process isn't all that tricky, however there are still some things to keep in mind when using eBay to sell your iPad. For instance, eBay charges fees for each auction based on the item you're selling and how much it sells for, among other things, so here are five quick tips to help you get the most out of your auction:

1. Only ship to the buyer's confirmed Paypal address if using Paypal.
2. Price competitively, especially if you're using Buy It Now as an option.
3. Make sure the pictures you use follow your description and are good quality - post pictures of any physical blemishes on the iPad and be up-front in your description.
4. Use a fast shipping service and make sure you include that in your item description. People are impatient by nature so sellers that offer fast shipping tend to sell items quicker.
5. Use keywords in your title and in your item description to attract more potential buyers.
6. You may also want to consider insuring your item in case anything goes wrong during shipping. Watch out for low-feedback buyers and also keep in mind that Paypal charges processing fees as well.

Craigslist

Craigslist allows you to list items for sale in your area so you can perform the transaction locally and face-to-face. This is a quick way to get some cash for your iPad on the spot and also an easy way to let the buyer check out the iPad in person before committing to the purchase. As long as you were honest about the condition and specifications, you should have no issue in completing a painless transaction with a buyer.

1. Don't ever put your personal or home address in an ad. Ever!
2. Price your iPad competitively. A good way to do this is to find existing ads on Craigslist in your area for iPads that are the same model, capacity, and condition as yours and price accordingly. If your iPad shows up next to someone else's and yours is grossly overpriced, it won't sell.
3. Some buyers prefer being able to text or call you immediately about an item and it may increase the likelihood of a quick sale. Having a phone number that they can reach you at is ideal. Only do this if you're comfortable with putting your phone number on the internet. This is a good time to use a Google Voice number or other forwarding number if you have one.
4. Meet in a public place, preferably in the daytime. A coffee place like Starbucks is a good idea. It's also never a bad idea to bring a friend or relative with you. While most buyers are perfectly friendly, there are shady people out there. If the person doesn't want to meet in a public place, pass on them and wait for someone who doesn't have an issue with that.
5. Watch out for email scams, something Craigslist is notorious for. Anyone offering to pay you a great deal more than the list price or who asks you to ship the item to a foreign country is a scammer. Delete their e-mails and correspondence immediately and wait for a legitimate buyer to come along.

Sell your iPad to a friend or family member

Even if you aren't willing to part with your old iPad for free, it doesn't mean friends or family members aren't interested in buying it from you. Perhaps they don't have an iPad and don't care about having the newest model available. Using this method you ensure that your old iPad finds a good home and you know the buyer isn't a scam artist.

Ask around and offer a reasonable price and you may be surprised how many of your friends or family members could be willing to snag your old iPad. Throwing in accessories such as cases can help sweeten the deal as well.

Get more help selling your old iPad

Whether you just aren't sure which method to use, need advice on what condition you should list your iPad as, or what you should price it at, we're here to help. You can leave any questions you have about selling your old iPad in the comments below or better yet, in our iMore forums where lots of our members have years of experience selling and trading gadgets of all kinds.

One of our members may even be interested in taking your old iPad off your hands so be sure to check out our Marketplace forum as well!

After yesterday's introduction of the iPad mini, Phil Schiller, Apple's Senior Vice President of Product Marketing, found himself defending its $329 price tag. While Apple's biggest competition in the category of smaller tablets, Google and Amazon, price their small tablets starting at $199, Schiller defended the iPad mini as a premium product worth the higher price, and said that customers understand this and are willing to pay. Schiller highlighted this at yesterday's press event, drawing direct comparisons to Google's Nexus 7, as Noel Randewich and Poornima Gupta for Reuters report:

Apple is under pressure to defend its dominant position in tablets, a market it created with the launch of the first iPad in 2010. The intensity in the marketplace was evident in Tuesday's unveiling of the iPad mini as Schiller took the unusual step of doing a side-by-side comparison of the smaller iPad and Google's Nexus 7 tablet.

"Others have tried to make tablets smaller than the iPad and they've failed miserably," Schiller said during the event. "These are not great experiences."

On stage yesterday, Schiller compared the iPad mini's app experience to that of the Nexus 7, and said that while the Nexus 7 runs blown-up phone apps, the iPad mini runs full iPad apps. This is one of the main selling points for the iPad mini, that it is a full iPad and that the app experience reflects that. Schiller also tauted the decreased weight of the iPad over the competition, despite the fact that the screen area is 35% larger than the Nexus 7.

Unlike Amazon and Google, who are selling their tablets at or close to cost, Apple always looks to make a substantial profit on its devices. This is reflected in the price of the iPad mini. Apple can afford to make a $250 tablet, certainly, but to generate the profit that they want to out of the device, they sell it for a higher price. They are not selling a cheap tablet, they are selling a cheaper iPad. That might be enough. Despite the existence of cheaper rivals, the iPad has held on to a large majority of the tablet market for over two years now. With the iPad mini, Apple seeks to continue that dominance by betting that what people don't want a small, cheap tablet, but rather a smaller iPad with a lower price tag. Time will tell if they are right.

What do you think about iPad mini pricing? Is it too high, or are you getting what you pay for?

Source: Reuters

The front facing FaceTime camera on the iPhone 4S is a pretty important part of how we communicate with the people we care about most. If a day ever comes where you find yourself out of warranty and the front facing camera stops working or produces bad quality video or images, we can help you DIY repair it yourself. With the right tools and just a little less than an hour of your time, we can get you back up and running in no time.

Follow along and we'll show you how.

Disclaimer: As with any repair, neither iMore nor The Pod Drop can be held responsible for any damage you may do to your device. It's also worth considering that opening up your device to perform any repair or modification can and will void your Apple warranty. If you don't feel comfortable opening your device, don't. Use extreme care and caution when performing a repair on any device.

Not comfortable with DIY repair? Leave it to the pros

If you aren't comfortable performing a DIY repair on your own, don't. It is possible to cause more damage or run into issues you aren't ready for. In this case, it's probably better to either pay the money for a replacement device from Apple or use a local or mail-in service that will handle the repair and any issues that may arise for you.

The Pod Drop has many locations in the midwest and is a rapidly growing company. You can check for a Pod Drop location near you, mail it in, or use another third party repair service. For more information on mail-in repairs or possible Pod Drop locations near you, you can visit their website.

• Pod Drop locations and mail-in options

If you are comfortable with repairing your own device, put your ninja pants on and keep reading!

What you'll need to DIY replace an iPhone 4S front facing camera

We recommend using only quality and genuine parts from a reputable supplier like eTech Parts. They have quality parts, tools, and much more for all your repair needs. You will find links to the specific parts you'll need for this repair in the list below.

• iPhone 4S (any variant)
• Replacement front facing camera - Link to part
• #00 Phillips screwdriver - Link to part
• Security screwdriver - Link to part
• Spudger tool - Link to part
• SIM removal tool or paperclip

Video walkthrough

While the video walkthrough adds even more detail, it is meant to be used in correlation with the written steps below. It will show a complete breakdown of the device but smaller steps for each individual repair will be listed with high quality images in the actual guide below.

Power off your iPhone 4S

Before performing any repair you should always power off your device before opening it up.

Remove the back plate

1. Using your security screwdriver, remove the 2 screws on either side of the dock connector port.

2. Set them aside. They are both the exact same size and length so it does not matter if you mix them up. They are interchangeable.
3. Gently slide up the back plate by applying a bit of pressure along the bottom with your thumbs and sliding upwards.

4. Now lift off the back plate and set it aside.

Remove the battery and grounding clip

1. Using your #00 Phillips screwdriver, remove the two screws holding the battery in place.

2. These screws are different lengths so make sure you remember which one goes where. The one that is slightly larger is the bottom screw.
3. There is a tiny grounding clip underneath the battery clip where the first screw is located. Use your spudger tool or finger to remove it before prying the clip up. Many times it can go flying if you don't remove it first and then you'll have difficulty locating it so it's best to remove it first.

4. Now use your spudger tool and at the bottom of the battery clip, gently pry upwards so the clip pops up.

5. Move to the edge of the iPhone where the volume buttons are located and use your spudger tool to carefully pry up the battery. It is stuck down with a good amount of adhesive so be careful when prying upwards that you don't bend the battery. This is why I do not use the plastic tab that is provided. It typically rips or bends the battery. If one part is resistant move your pry tool a little further down and gently start prying it up in different places taking care not to come too close to the volume button cables towards the top.

6. Once you've gotten the battery pulled out of the iPhone 4S we can move on to inserting the replacement battery.

Remove the top logic board shields

1. Using your #00 Phillips screwdriver, remove the four screws that hold the top silver shield in place and the one screw that holds the small black shield in place.

2. Now use your spudger or pry tool to gently lift the silver shield out of the iPhone.

3. Use your spudger or pry tool to lift the black shield out of the iPhone.

4. Set both shields aside and make sure your screws are organized for reassembly later.

Unclip the top logic board cables & remove the rear-facing camera

Using your spudger or pry tool carefully disconnect all the cables at the top of the logic board. There are seven cables total. One of the cables lies underneath the bottom most cable so you'll need to disconnect the cable over it before folding it back and revealing the shorter cable underneath.

Once you unclip the seven cables, you can lift the rear-facing camera directly out of the iPhone. It was only connected by one cable.

Disconnect the dock connector

1. Using your #00 Phillips screwdriver remove the shield that is covering the dock connector cable towards the middle left of the iPhone. Remember which screw came from where as they are different sizes. Gently lift the shield out of the iPhone and set it aside.

2. Take your spudger tool and gently pry up the dock connector cable and peel it back as shown below. Perform this step with caution as there is adhesive on the underside of the cable. Take care not to rip the cable by pulling up to quickly.

3. Leave the cable in this position and move on to the next section.

Pry up the Wi-Fi antenna

1. Using your spudger toolcarefully pry up the round connection for the cellular antenna. It should come up easily so pry up gently.

2. You'll notice that it is wrapped around a metal clip. Gently unwrap it so it's sticking upwards and leave it in this position.

Remove the SIM card and tray

Using a SIM removal tool or a bent paper clip, eject the SIM tray and set it, and the SIM card aside.

Remove the logic board

1. Remove the three #00 Phillips screws at the top, middle, and bottom left of the logic board with your #00 Phillips screwdriver. The top screw has a piece of tape over it you'll need to peel back. After removing it you'll also notice a gold grounding clip underneath it. Make sure you don't lose it as you'll need it for reassembly.

2. There are two more screws holding the logic board in place and you'll need to remove them with your flat head screwdriver. They are located at the top right and bottom of the logic board.
3. Now you should be able to lift the logic board out of the iPhone. Use the area that the rear-facing camera was located and the bottom of the logic board to lift it straight out.

Remove the metal retainer & front facing camera

There is a metal retainer covering the front facing camera. To remove it use your pry tool to gently pull it off. Make sure you don't lose it as you'll need it for reassembly. Now that the metal retainer has been removed you can gently lift the front facing camera out of the iPhone 4S.

Replace the front facing camera & metal retainer

Now replace the front facing camera with the new replacement part. Once it is securely in place you can replace the metal retainer by snapping it back in place.

Reassemble your iPhone 4S

To reassemble your iPhone 4S, you can either follow all these directions in exact reverse order or view our reassembly video guide above which will walk you through how to reassemble it from screen to turning it back on and testing it. For an front facing camera replacement you'll need to watch the video from about 5:30 to the end.

And ...done!

Once you've finished putting your iPhone 4S completely back together you can go ahead and turn it back on. If all went well, you should see the Apple logo and your phone should boot up like normal. Now pop into your camera app and flip the camera around to test the new part. Make sure to test it in daytime and in low light conditions. Even though the front facing camera isn't great at capturing low light, it should at least get the job done decently.

Congrats! Now get to FaceTiming again!

Want to know how to perform another type of iPhone repair or modification? Send me suggestions and questions to ally@imore.com. If you had issues performing this repair, our DIY and mod forums are a great place to start. If you still can't find an answer, you can contact me at the e-mail address above.

To inquire about repair service, you can follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, e-mail us directly, or request a repair straight from The Pod Drop website.

Additional resources:

• How to replace a cracked screen on an iPhone 4S
• How to replace the battery in an iPhone 4S
• How to replace the rear-facing camera in an iPhone 4S
• Even more DIY guides and repair walkthroughs

You're Loren Brichter. You worked at Apple on the original iPhone. You created Tweetie for iPhone, iPad, and Mac, including the now ubiquitous "pull to refresh" gesture, and sliding panels that first showed off what tablet software could do. You're relaunching your company, Atebits, and getting back into indie iOS development. What do you do?

Release a game, of course. But not just any game. You take the word-style games you love, make them two-player, add animations that would delight Pixar, and introduce a strategy that elevates it to something close to Tower Defense for word finder, and then you unleash it with full on Game Center support as universal app for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. And you call it Letterpress.

I had the chance to talk to Loren briefly about why he zagged into game development rather than sticking with the zig that is utility apps, where the idea came from, how the mechanics evolved, how he managed to hide the tinted status bar, and even some of his ideas about where Letterpress might go next. (Spoiler: In-game trash talking. You're welcome.)

It's an audio-only interview but I put it up on YouTube because a) that's what I'm used to and b) it let me add a little bit of gameplay video on top so you could see what we're talking about even though c) I assume you've downloaded the app already because d) it's free.

Enjoy. Now back to playing...

(If you haven't read our Letterpress review yet, go do that now.)

• Free - Download now

"Letterpress is a painfully addictive word game, earning its place on my home screen and sure to win the hearts of people in bathrooms everywhere. I give it five Magic Trackpads."

Imagine yourself drawing a bath. The water runs over the sound of light jazz as you slide your robe off, lit by the scented candles scattered around the room. You check the temperature—just a toe at first. The heat startles, then invites. Your body slides in, displacing the mountainous landscape of bubbles and finally settling with just enough room for you to watch the steam rise from your skin. You reach for your glass and take a sip of merlot. Your head tilted back, you feel it sliding down your throat. Eyes closed, you pick your iPhone up from the table next to you. The welcome vibration causes your skin to tremble, and as you open your eyes to look at the screen, you see it…

"reneritchie played PACKAGES"

"Now", you think, "I'm ready to play."

Asynchronous iOS games have long been a favorite of iPhone users in the bathroom. Words With Friends—another word game—introduced me to the idea, and Draw Something proved that it could also be done so poorly that an otherwise good idea would be abandoned by its users just slightly less quickly than the company who purchased its creators could realize their mistake. Honorable mention: Let's Sing. But where Draw Something and Let's Sing use pictures and sounds, word games in particular seem well-suited to asynchronous play.

Enter Letterpress, the new iPhone game from Atebits. You remember Atebits, right? Started by Loren Brichter in 2007, Atebits was the one-man powerhouse that gave us Tweetie. And Tweetie 2. And Tweetie for Mac. As if winning an Apple Design Award and inventing pull-to-refresh weren't enough, Loren then sold his company to Twitter in 2010, where he continued work on his apps under the banner of being the official platform Twitter clients.

At least, until Twitter decided they hated their users, ruined the iPhone app with the infamous Dickbar, threw away everything that made the iPad client great, and took a massive dump on the Mac client. Inexplicably, Loren decided to leave.

It seems weird to relaunch Atebits with a word game. Back in May, I asked Loren what he was working on next, and he said he wanted to start off small in order to "reset expectations". This turns out to be a brilliant move: more work on a social network of any kind would seem obvious and risk painting the man as a one-trick pony. However, a game helps to shift the focus back to the product. (For more, see our interview with Loren Brichter.)

So, about that product.

Letterpress is deceptively simple. A five-by-five grid of letters is laid out on the screen. You and your opponent have full visibility to the board, and must make words out of the letters provided. As you do, those letters are colored in—blue for your letters, red for theirs—and each move steals letters back, affecting the letter-count score at the top of the screen. Things get slightly trickier when the letters on the four sides of a played letter are also played in the same color, when the lock-in effect causes the center to go darker. In this case, the letter can still be played, but no points transfer. Each word must consist of at least two letters, and no word can be re-played.

It's interesting to see the word choices your opponents make, and during the beta period it became clear that different people have very different styles of play. During a recent conference, a friendly rivalry with another tester turned into a passionate conversation about strategy and how to dominate the board. Arguments were made for word-based play, and arguments were made for tile-and-location-based approaches. Where we definitely agreed was that it's totally worth risking a lead to play a really funny word.

While the game itself is asynchronous, I often find myself in prolonged sessions with other players, where we'll begin and end a game (or two) in a single sitting. This works less well for bathroom play, since those longer sessions could mean pruney skin. But the difference is that the rapid-fire approach can get heated quickly, leading to more moves based on gut feeling and less on calculated strategy. I find it interesting that this is a natural diversion in the gameplay itself, and not a "mode" designed to needlessly split the game into extra features.

Matching up to other players is straightforward enough, either by picking from your Game Center friends or letting the game find someone for you at random. But the lack of in-game chat means that trash-talking and congratulations must be done outside the game, which in turn means the less connected you are to the person you're playing, the less you'll get out of the experience. I've enjoyed many rounds of trash-talking and congratulations via iMessage, and that's a huge part of what makes the game fun.

Similarly, once a game as ended you have to go in and invite your opponent to play again. This would be fine, except that it's not clear who should be in charge of creating the new game, so you end up in a lot of situations where both sides take the initiative and you're now juggling two sessions. A simple "rematch" button would take all of the pain out of this and probably keep me in the app longer.

Both of these complaints, I'm told, are Game Center's fault. And since they're relatively minor, I won't hold it against the game. That said, I really hope they get fixed quickly.

Taking the sting out of the Game Center problems is the gorgeous visual design. A game should be immersive, and Letterpress does a wonderful job of creating a light, fun world for the letters to populate. The colors and typography are clean and clear, and the overall treatment feels bright and minimalist without coming off as sterile. A few small touches really shine, though, like the way the newly-played letters shake when you re-enter a game after your opponent has played, the welcomed clever branding of the refresh indicator, or the game-remove animation that really has to be seen to be appreciated.

You can tell that Loren has put a lot of love and care into his latest app. It's genuinely fun.

Letterpress is a universal app for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, and is available for free on the App Store, but by default you can only have two concurrent games running. A single $0.99 in-app purchase will remove this limitation, enable a previously played words list, and give you access to visual themes (spoiler: some of them are pink). I can't imagine anyone playing this game and not spending the $0.99.

My prediction is that this game is going to be wildly successful, and not because of the history or pedigree of its developer. Letterpress is painfully addictive, earning its place on my home screen and sure to win the hearts of people in bathrooms everywhere. I give it five Magic Trackpads.

Free - Download now

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AT&T has released their third quarter 2012 results, and out of 6.1 million smartphones sold, 4.7 million of those were iPhones, and 18% of those were for customers new to the network. That's especially interesting given that the iPhone 5 only launched at the tail end of the quarter. Here's what AT&T CEO Randal Stephenson had to say:

"We had another impressive quarter with strong earnings growth, record cash flows and solid returns to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks. In wireless, we had another excellent smartphone quarter, penetration of usage-based mobile data plans continues to climb, and our 4G LTE network build is ahead of schedule. And in wireline, our IP network continues to deliver strong gains in U-verse high speed Internet connections, which helped drive an almost 10 percent increase in broadband data ARPU.

"Our strong performance allows us to increase our free cash flow guidance to $18 billion or higher this year, exceeding our previous outlook by $2 billion."

Also interesting (emphasis mine):

AT&T posted a net increase in total wireless subscribers of 678,000 in the third quarter to reach 105.9 million in service. This included gains in every customer category. Subscriber additions for the quarter included postpaid net adds of 151,000. Postpaid results were impacted by iPhone 5 inventory constraints which resulted in the vast majority of third-quarter iPhone sales going to existing customers, where there was considerable pent-up demand. Prepaid net adds were 77,000, connected device net adds were 313,000 and reseller net adds were 137,000.

Android and Windows Phone sales were also up (I'm guessing mostly Android), and smartphone sales in general were 1.4 million hire than previous quarters. Apple will announce their results tomorrow. Hit the link below for the full results, and here's a video from Ralph de la Vega that they swear wasn't made by the folks at SNL...

Source: AT&T

Apple officially announced the iPad mini at its special media event yesterday and one of the things that stands out on the iPad mini is the thinness of the bezel surrounding the screen. if you compare the new iPad with the iPad mini, you can see in portrait mode that the bezel on the left and right hand side is much slimmer on the iPad mini. One of the problems with a thin bezel is that it makes holding the device much harder without actually touching the screen and inadvertently interacting with the software on the touch screen. Thankfully Apple has taken care of the problem with some advanced software.

iPad mini is small. But when you use it, it doesn't feel small. That's because it's designed to give you the maximum amount of screen in the minimum amount of space. To achieve that, we had to rethink the relationship between the screen and the overall shape of the product. iPad has symmetrical bezels around all of its edges. But for iPad mini, we reduced the width of the bezels on two sides of the display. So although the screen is smaller, it's even more prominent. Rethinking the screen meant we also had to rethink the software behind it. iPad mini intelligently recognizes whether your thumb is simply resting on the display or whether you're intentionally interacting with it. It's the kind of detail you'll notice — by not noticing it. And it's a great example of how Apple hardware and software work together to give you the best experience possible.

So according to Apple, you don't need to worry about inadvertently touching the screen when you're holding the iPad mini. We will be interested to see how good the software is in real world situations but Apple appears confident enough to make us aware that it exists so we wouldn't be surprised if it works exactly as intended.

Source: Apple

It's time to announce this week's photo contest -- lens flare! With all the hype surrounding purple flare on the iPhone 5, we figured it'd be fun to have a photo contest dedicated to lens flare. The winning entry will not necessarily contain purple lens flare, however, so don't consider this a requirement. Just get creative with lens flare and if purple flare adds to the creativity, then by all means, try to include it!

Congrats to jamesdaly for winning last week's Instagram photo contest!

The prize: $30 iTunes gift certificate

In addition to a thumbs up from the iMore crew and all of us yelling about how great of a photo star you are, the winner of this week's photography contest will receive a $30 iTunes gift card allowing you to stock up on some of those photography apps you've been dying to buy!

The rules

The rules of entry are very simple. The photo must have been taken with an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch (we'll check the EXIF data of the original file to verify) and any edits must have been done with an iPhone or iPad app. No Photoshop CS6! If you have external lens accessories you are more than welcome to use them. You can submit as many photos as you'd like, but remember, this is a contest, so make sure you submit your best work!

Resources

Now, before you run off to take your photo, remember that it's not technical skill alone that will claim this prize. Even if you're not the best photographer (yet!), a great eye and a great subject can still get you the win.

However, a little help can never hurt, so make sure you check out our iPhone photography series for some tips.

How to submit

Submitting your photos is easy. just head over to the iMore Photography Forum and post your photos to the official contest thread. Don't forget to state which apps, if any, you used to edit your photo!

That's it! Now go out and shoot!

ENTER NOW

If there's one thing iMore loves even more than iPhones and iPads (and iPods!), it's giving cool iPhone and iPad accessories and apps to our awesome readers. This week we have...

Win free iPods touch and nano from iMore!
iPod touch winners
jim1969
Ipheuria

iPod nano winners
applecpugeek
maemei328
providco

Weekly Photo Contest: Instagram!

Grand prize winner - jamesdaly! (Instagram link)

Runner-up - Joebin! (Instagram link)

Congratulations everyone! Winners will be contacted in the next few days with information on claiming their prizes. Be sure to check out all the entries in the Instagram Contest over in the forums as there were a lot of awesome photos.

Looking for another chance to win? We always have a contest underway for something cool, so keep your eyes on the blogs for those announcements. Right now you can enter to win a free iPad mini, or try your photography skills and enter this week's photo contest! Details can be found at the links below.

Win a free iPad mini from iMore!
Weekly Photo Contest: Lens Flare!

Sonic Jump for iPhone and iPad is, in a nutshell, SEGA's version of the popular platform jumper Doodle Jump that features SEGA's iconic character Sonic the Hedgehog. There are two games modes, Story and Arcade, where you must jump and tilt your way up the levels collecting coins, defeating enemies, gaining abilities, and battling Dr. Eggman.

Sonic Jump features two games modes: Story and Arcade. In Story Mode, you progress through different levels by jumping your way to the top. When you complete all the levels in a zone, you must defeat Dr. Eggman in a special boss level. In Arcade Mode, you simply try to get as high as you can without dying.

The first zone is fairly easy and doesn't include very many obstacles which is great for beginners because it helps you learn the controls and strategies for the game. For those who are "naturals" at this type of game, you may not find it very challenging, but just stick with it, because it gets a lot harder in the other zones. When you complete a level, you will be given a score based on your time, how many enemies you defeated, how many stars and rings you collected, and the number of power-ups you gained. If you die, you will be given a random tip on the screen that lets you start over.

The controls for Sonic Jump are very simple -- tilt your iPhone or iPad from side to side to move left and right and tap the screen to do a double-jump. I will admit that playing Sonic Jump is a little awkward on an iPad because of it's size, but I'm sure the iPad mini will be a great device for playing Sonic Jump.

Each level will feature various obstacles including enemies, moving platforms, breakable ledges, spikes, and more. To defeat an enemy, you must attack it from underneath (which is a bit counterintuitive when the enemy is a bee). If you make contact with something that causes damage, like spikes or an enemy by falling on it, then you will lose all your rings. If you don't have any rings to lose, then you die. You also die if you fall off the screen, as once your field of view goes up, there's no coming back down.

Other items you will encounter in Sonic Jump are chests that release a special power. These abilities include magnetism to help gather more rings, a protective bubble, a special ring that turns any enemy you get close to into rings, and more. If you jump on a safe, it'll deposit all your rings so that you can be sure that you won't lose them.

As you play the Sonic Jump, you are given various missions to complete that help you "level up". These missions are similar to those found in the popular arcade game Jetpack Joyride [Free - App Store link]. For example, a few of the available missions include wrapping around the screen 8 times in a Story Act, jumping on one platform 10 times, making 180 jumps, and collecting 500 rings. Some of the missions require skill, and some are just silly. At levels 17 and 20, you will be able to play as Tail and Knuckles, respectively.

As with nearly every arcade game these days, there is a store included with Sonic Jump. From here you can buy power-ups with rings that you've collected, or if you want to purchase rings with real money, you can do that too.

The good

• Fun and addicting
• Includes Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles (Tails and Knuckles get unlocked at levels 17 and 20)
• Arcade and Story modes
• 36 levels in Story mode
• Boss levels against Dr. Eggman
• Unlock power ups and more with rings
• Purchase more rings as in-app purchases
• Universal for iPhone and iPad

The bad

• Progress does not sync between devices

The bottom line

If you're a fan of Doodle Jump and of Sonic the Hedgehog, then you'll enjoy Sonic Jump. It's fun, addicting, challenging, and a bit nostalgic.

$1.99 - Download Now

Apple introduces the iPad Mini and updates their line of computers. With Leo Laporte, Andy Ihnatko, Don Don McAllister, and yours truly. (I'll be on regularly from now on, which is both an honor and a lot of fun.)

Subscribe or download: TWiT.tv

If streaming the October 2012 Apple iPad and Mac event isn't your thing, it's also now available for download as an iTunes podcast. Actually, as 3 iTunes podcasts -- standard, 720p, and 1080p. Same great keynote content, even higher definition video for your Retina iPad or MacBook Pro.

Here are the channels:

• Standard - Download now
• 720p - Download now
• 1080p - Download now

If you missed watching Apple's live stream of their iPad and Mac event today, Apple has posted a streaming version of the recording so you can see the new 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro, Mac mini, ultra-thin iMac, updated iPad 4, and new Mac mini in all their Tim Cook and Phil Schiller introduced glory.

Downloadable iTunes podcast versions in SD and HD should, as well as the YouTube version, should follow shortly. But if you absolutely have to catch up now, now, now, here's the stream.

Source: Apple October 23 Special Event

Apple has added a short promo video for the iPad mini Smart Cover to their YouTube account. It's 36 seconds in length, features fun piano music and focuses on how it magnetically attached to the iPad and the wide selection of colors: pink, green, blue, light gray, dark gray and (PRODUCT) RED. The focus on the colors is done to the beat of the song and includes some cute tie-ins by making the Smart Covers look like piano keys and fingers tapping on the iPad mini to the beat as if playing a piano.

Apple has added the iPad mini promo video that was shown during today's announcement to their official YouTube channel. In this video, Jony Ive describes the goals and design process behind the iPad mini and why 7.9" is the perfect size (and he of course says "aluminum" at some point!), Michael Tchao talks about why "mini" is great and some of the iPad mini's specs, Dan Ricco explains how to get all the same feature of the iPad into the smaller iPad mini, and more.

Just as promised during today's iPad mini event, Apple has released the new version of iBooks with better iCloud integration, enhanced sharing options, continuous scrolling, and more.

With iBooks 3.0, now you can see all your iBookstore purchases in iCloud in a new Collection called Purchased Books. Another great new feature of iBooks is the new Scroll theme; it allows you to scroll vertically through your books as you read.

iBooks 3.0 also allows you receive free updates to your purchased books including new chapters and corrections and the ability to look up definitions for words in German, Spanish, French, Japanese and Simplified Chinese. For the social types, you can also share quotes or thoughts about your books with friends on Facebook, Twitter, Messages, or Mail.

So what do you think of the new iBooks? My favorite new feature is vertical scrolling. What about you?

Free - Download Now

Apple not only released the iPad mini but also a brand new iPad 4 to sit on top of the tablet food chain. It's got the new Apple A6X processor, the new Qualcomm international LTE radio, and the new Lightning connector.

Does that chance the comparison much when it comes to the competition? Absolutely but not entirely. Google is rumored to be introducing a new Nexus 10 (made by Samsung, no less) as soon as next week. That's make for a much better comparison than the only current Nexus tablet, which is more in between an iPod touch and iPad mini in size and focus. Amazon has also just released the Kindle Fire 8 HD which now includes cellular data as an option -- though it won't be available in many countries regardless.

Microsoft's Surface RT is a wildcard here. Microsoft calls it no-compromises but that just means they punted the decision making to me, the consumer. I'm taking a wait and see attitude. It could be as great as the Xbox, or as doomed as the Zune. There's just no way to tell until it's been out for a while and the use case becomes clearer.

Likewise, while there have been rumors of a larger BlackBerry PlayBook for a while now, RIM is wisely concentrating on getting BB10 out the door, so I doubt we'll see it for a while. That leaves the 7-inch PlayBook at their only entrant in the tablet space, but you can find them for $149 and at that price, if you don't have a couple hundred dollars more, it's quite the value.

Still, Apple has sold 100,000,000 iPads to date, and that's an incredible amount for a product that launched in March of 2010. What they'll do next is a big question, but the iPad 4 is a better iPad, again, and anyone who wants to unseat it has their work cut out for them.