Mega Apple Update day brings updates to iOS, OS X, Watch OS And tvOS

It is a big day for Apple and an even bigger (or should we say hectic) day for Apple fans as the company has pushed out a number of updates not just for its iPhone, but the Apple Watch, Apple TV and Mac computers as well. So if you do happen to own a number of Apple devices you will indeed be in for a treat as all of the updates bring a minimum of one new feature along with a long list of bug fixes and improvements.

iOS 9.2 :

Apple has started seeding the iOS 9.2 update to compatible iPhones, iPads and iPod Touch. In previous iOS 9.1 update, Apple added over 150 new emoji and intelligent Live Photos along with other fixes. iOS 9.2 is an incremental update that brings improvements to Apple Music, News app, 3D Touch support for iBooks and more.

With the latest update, Apple Music now lets you create a playlist while adding songs to a different playlist. Also, the most recently changed playlist now appears on the top. Apple has also introduced an iCould download button that allows you to download playlist and albums from your iCloud Music Library. There is also a new download indicator next to songs in Playlists and My Music, it lets you know which songs have been downloaded. Lastly, while browsing through Classic music, the collection is sorted based on performers, composers and work.

The News app has also been updated, which brings Top Stories section in the US, UK and Australia. Mail Drop in Mail is another addition that lets you add large attachments to your mails. With 3D Touch support for iBooks, you can now peek and pop up pages from your notes, bookmarks, table of contents or also from search results within a book. Now, you can also listen to audiobook while reading other book, browsing the library or even when you’re just exploring the iBooks Store. Lastly, Siri has also gained support for Arabic language in United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

The update is roughly 300MB in size, but may vary based on the iOS device that you own. You can download the update over-the-air or via iTunes. It is compatible with iPhone 4s, iPhone 5, iPhone 5c, iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus; fifth and sixth generations iPod touch and all iPads except the first-generation model.

To install the update via OTA (Over-The-Air), you can head over to Settings > General > Software Update > Download and Install. After the successfully downloaded and installed, your device will automatically reboot.

watchOS 2.1 update

The Apple Watch update brings system support for Arabic, Czech, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Malay, Portuguese, and Vietnamese. There is also support for a right-to-left user interface, and a new complication for Islamic and Hebrew calendars.

Bugs fixed includes ones that could prevent events from updating in the calendar complication; prevent the time from displaying in power reserve mode; prevent third-party apps from launching; prevent third-party app icons from displaying correctly; and cause instability when changing the system language.

The update roughly weighs about 60MB in size. To update your Apple Watch, open the app on your iPhone and head over to My Watch tab > General > Software Update.

OS X El Capitan 10.11.2

According to Apple, the update includes the following:

1) Improves Wi-Fi reliability

2) Improves the reliability of Handoff and AirDrop

3) Fixes an issue that may cause Bluetooth devices to disconnect

4) Fixes an issue that prevented Mail from deleting messages in an offline Exchange account

5) Fixes an issue that prevented importing photos from an iPhone to a Mac using a USB cable

6) Improves iCloud Photo Sharing for Live Photos

Apple also has a support page that details the security content of OS X El Capitan 10.11.2 and Security Update 2015-008.

Before installing the update, back up your Mac’s data. The update is available in the App Store under Updates. You can also go to the Apple menu, select About This Mac, and click the Software Update button in the Overview window.

tvOS 9.1

Available only for the fourth-generation Apple TV, tvOS 9.1 lets users control Apple Music with Siri, and use Apple's iOS Remote app to control the device, 9to5Mac reports. "WatchOS 2.1 lets Apple Watch’s built-in Remote app work with new Apple TVs as a D-pad too," 9to5Mac wrote. Previous hardware generations of the Apple TV could already be controlled by the iOS and Watch Remote apps.

Google Chrome for iOS updated, now supports 3D Touch

A few weeks ago, Google had silently released Chrome beta for iOS via Apple’s TestFlight beta distribution service, which included 3D Touch support for quicker access. Now, the official app has been updated with support for 3D Touch technology which debuted with the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.

With the latest update, Google aims to offer users with quicker access to core features of the web browser. Users can now make the best use of the pressure sensitive display of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus to open a new tab, a new incognito tab or perform a voice search, right from the home screen.

Along with 3D Touch support, Google has also added new keyboard shortcut for hardware keyboards. The additional keyboard shortcuts offer the experience of using the desktop browser on iOS. It includes new options for opening, closing and changing tabs.

As Google Chrome is also available for iPads, working with connected Bluetooth keyboard is set to become much easier now. On iOS 9, the app also supports Split View feature on compatible iPads. 

Below you can find the full list of Chrome hardware keyboard shortcuts now available on iOS. You can hold the Command (⌘) key to prompt Chrome to display this shortcuts within the apps as a quick reminder, or bookmark this cheat sheet for future reference.

⌘ T — New Tab

⌘ shift N — New Incognito Tab

⌘ shift T — Reopened Closed Tab

⌘ L — Open Location…

⌘ W — Close Tab

⌘ D — Bookmark This Page…

⌘ F — Find in Page…

⌘ R — Reload

⌘ left arrow — Back

⌘ right arrow — Forward

⌘ Y — History

⌘ shift . — Voice Search

The latest version of Google Chrome for iOS, version 47.0.2526.70, is available for free on the App Store for iPhone and iPad.

If you buying a new smartphone in Diwali? Read this first

Just as computer shoppers often decide between a Windows PC, Mac and Chromebook, you’ve got a choice to make when looking for a new smartphone: Apple’s iOS, Android, Windows, and BlackBerry.

While there are many similarities, each operating system has a different look and feel. App selection could vary greatly. And so can the price and form factor.

The following is a closer look at the features of each major platform.

iOS

Out of all of the phones available, iPhone which runs Apple’s iOS operating system is probably the easiest to use. If you’re not very tech savvy, this one is for you.

Simply tap an icon to launch an app (program) and swipe left or right on the screen to see additional apps. Swipe down to search for something or swipe up to access settings, like screen brightness and volume.

Press and hold the circle button to talk to Siri, a voice-activated personal assistant.

That circular Home button on iPhone can also read your unique fingerprint. Called Touch ID, this feature makes it easy to log into your phone, purchase apps and media (such as music), and even use your iPhone to shop at supporting retailers via the Apple Pay mobile payment service.

iPhone also works with iTunes, which you might be using to manage media on your computer, and iCloud, used to back-up your important files and wirelessly synchronize content between multiple devices. Apple’s AirPlay lets you wirelessly stream between supported devices, such as your iPhone sending photos and videos to your Apple TV box, which is connected to your TV.

Apple’s App Store has more than 1.4 million downloads, many of which are free or close to it. Almost everything you download for iPhone will work on iPad and iPod touch, too.

Apple’s iPad Air 2 (9.7 inches) and iPad mini 3 (7.9 inches) are the most popular tablets on the market, with a similar look and feel to iPhone. The larger 12.9-inch iPad Pro is due out soon, as well.

Android 

The Samsung Galaxy Note 5 Choice is good, but it can also be overwhelming. How do you know which phone will best suit your needs?

While there are only two new iPhones to choose from, there are literally many dozens of Android-powered devices, which give you a lot of choice.

That is, only Apple makes iPhone and iPad, but Google’s Android platform is an open and freely distributed one, meaning multiple companies create phones and tablets based on the world’s most popular operating system.

Perhaps you want a large-screen Samsung “phablet” (half phone, half tablet) or a compact LG phone? What about a waterproof Sony model? All of these companies make Android phones, as well as HTC, Motorola, Acer, Asus, Huawei, OnePlus, Kyocera, ZTE, Alcatel, Sonim, and Google itself (branded as Nexus phones). Heck, even BlackBerry now makes an Android phone, called Priv.

Amazon’s Kindle devices are built on Android, too.

Because Android is from Google, the mobile operating system has a number of integrated Google services already preloaded, such as Gmail , Chrome , Google Maps , and YouTube , to name a few. Like iTunes, Google also lets you download and/or stream media to your devices, such as music, TV shows, movies, games, ebooks, magazines, and so on.

The clever Google Now feature lets you talk to your phone like a personal assistant, but with your permission it also learns your patterns, such as leaving the home every day at 7:30am for work, and will alert you to traffic on your route and other contextually relevant information.

Android is great for those who like to multitask. For example, you can split your screen into two apps – like a video playing on top and your email open on the bottom – or you might opt for a picture-in-picture option, such as browsing the web but have a TV show playing in a small window (iPad finally added this with iOS 9, but not iPhone). While purely optional, the operating system is also ideal for those who like to tinker with the phone or tablet’s interface, layout and app selection.

Unlike iPhone and iPad, most Android devices let you expand the storage by popping in a microSD memory card (though Samsung recently abandoned this feature).

At more than 1.5 million downloads, the Google Play store has the most apps out of any mobile operating system -- but really, it’s splitting hairs, as Apple isn’t far behind.

Android-based tablets come in a range of sizes, prices, and models to choose from.

Windows 

While they might not have the market share of Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android – combined, these two make up nearly 97 percent of all smartphone platforms (IDC, Aug 2015) – Microsoft and BlackBerry are still in the game, as well.

Now called Windows 10 Mobile, Microsoft’s new phone platform will roll out to existing Windows 8.1 devices in December, for free, plus a pair of new Windows 10 Mobile-powered phones -- the Lumia 950 and supersized Lumia 950 XL -- will debut before that.

Optimized for smaller screens than laptops, desktops and tablets, the free upgrade will boast a similar look and feel to other Windows 10 devices, including a customizable Start screen, familiar apps like a full version of Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more), multimedia folders (Photos, Music, Videos), and a Microsoft Edge web browser.

Windows 10 users can benefit from smooth synchronization with all Windows 10 Mobile devices, and documents can also be synched via the OneDrive cloud services between hardware.

BlackBerry

Finally, BlackBerry 10-powered devices have a few unique features.

Geared more towards the on-the-go worker bee, BlackBerry devices were built with security in mind with more IT policies than all other platforms -- along with a physical keyboard (on most models) ideal for typing quickly, comfortably and accurately. Many simply prefer a

physical QWERTY keyboard over a “soft” (virtual) one on a touchscreen.

BlackBerry devices still offer the best battery out of all four platforms – up to 30 hours on the BlackBerry Passport. It also has the loudest and clearest speakerphone out of all the phones available today, if that matters to you.

Source : USAToday

Motorola Moto G2 Successor is better than the Apple iphone 6S,Accoding to some Critics

Moto G2

The successor of the Motorola Moto G2, which is called as Moto G3 or Moto G (2015), was released to the market late in July this year, as another entry by the American handset maker to the budget smartphone segment of the retail market.

Some critics say that the Moto G3 is actually a better handset than the Apple iPhone 6S because the budget smartphone can be used for a lot of things other than make a call or send SMS messages with nary a hassle. It can be used to listen to music, watch videos, a navigation tool when on the road, read PDF files and e-books, download files, read e-mails, make file attachments to e-mails, editing, merging documents, and other functions.

While the iPhone 6S can certainly do the same functions, it is not as seamless as it is on the Moto G3. Apparently, the iOS 9 has made it a little more tedious to do all those functions on the iPhone 6S compared to doing it on the Moto G3. And that is the reason why the budget handset is considered by critics as a better smartphone compared to the iPhone 6S, details India Today.

Hobbled by its software

Accordingly, the iPhone 6S has great hardware but it continues to be hobbled by its software, referring to the iOS 9, which lacks proper file system.

Although Apple has attempted to open up its operating system a bit, it is still limited when compared to Windows, Android or even the Mac OS X. And that is the reason why that despite a great-looking iPhone 6S, its OS simply makes life a little difficult for its users.

For instance, in an Android phone like the Moto G3, if a user wants to play a song on his smartphone from a computer, he can just connect the phone to the PC and copy-paste it. But on the iPhone, it cannot be done like that. And everything holds true for all other files needed to be played or viewed on the iPhone.

While Apple may claim it as a security feature to protect the iPhone and other iOS devices from malware, bugs, and viruses, the truth of the matter is that the American tech giant simply wants to monitor its device users and their preferences. In that way, it is able to create a database of information which it can then use in upgrading its device or developing new ones in the future.

Reigning the budget smartphone segment

Since its official launch to the retail markets late in July, the Moto G3 is reportedly dominating the budget smartphone segment, notes Neurogadget.

Compared to its chunky predecessor, the Moto G3 is quite refined. While its specifications are not much of a leap forward, but the build quality is quite excellent and the number of features has also been enhanced.

The Motorola Moto G3 also comes with two storage and RAM options. It has a model that comes with a 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage and a variant that features a 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. But as expected, the bigger version is more expensive.

The Motorola Moto G3 is powered by a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 chipset, which clocks at 1.4 GHz. It is fast in both RAM versions. Web pages are loaded fast, and there is a minimal stutter. However, multi-tasking takes a hit because games and applications are loaded much slower on the 1GB version, compared to the 2GB variant. Both phone models are easily able to handle the games on the Google Play store.

The 3rd generation of the Moto G also comes with 2,470 mAH of battery and runs with stock Android 5.1.1 Lollipop out of the box. It also comes with a clean and simple UI to make Motorola’s features unique.

It cannot be simply described as a pure budget smartphone as it is more expensive than regular budget smartphones but the design of the Moto G3 is quite exquisite and its features and applications really worth its price.

It has been reported late last month that it will be the first in the smartphone line to get the Android 6.0 Marshmallow update before the end of this year.

Motorola Moto G2, on the other hand, will follow suit and shall receive it in January next year before the sleeper success of 2013, which is the Moto G, will get the latest mobile operating system from Google in February 2016.

To make it easier for each of the devices to receive the Android 6.0 Marshmallow update, Motorola has actually officially released the Android 5.1.1 Lollipop update to the Moto G and the Moto G2 on September 29. As of today, all the Moto G phones already have the Android 5.1.1 Lollipop firmware update.

However, Motorola has yet to make an announcement or statement to either confirm or deny those reported roll outs of the Android 6.0 Marshmallow on its budget smartphone line so these are mere speculations at this time.

Source : Masterherald.com

Apple iOS 9.1 update available in India

Apple has released iOS 9.1, when it's headline feature being a new library of emoji that include the controversial middle finger.More exciting are the introduction of Apple News in the UK and a fix for Live Photos that detects when you raise or lower the camera. With that out of the way, I'm running the new operating system through its paces to find out how the new features stack up and if this OS is worth upgrading to.

Emoji : 

Approx 150 New Emoji include in iOS 9.1

Map :

improve in public transport 

Search :

Search work similar to Android in Google App

iOS App store in available Google App

Similar to work Siri

In contrast to Apple’s past tradition of sliding in crucial bug fixes and hoping no-one notices, iOS 9.1 spells them out:

·         Fixes an issue that could cause Calendar to become unresponsive in Month view

·         Fixes an issue that prevented Game Center from launching for some users

·         Resolves an issue that zoomed the content of some apps

·         Resolves an issue that could cause an incorrect unread mail count for POP mail      accounts

·         Fixes an issue that prevented users from removing recent contacts from new mail or    messages

  ·         Fixes an issue that caused some messages to not appear in Mail search results

·         Resolves an issue that left a gray bar in the body of an Audio Message

·         Fixes an issue that caused activation errors on some carriers

·         Fixes an issue that prevented some apps from updating from the App Store

·         Improved stability including CarPlay, Music, Photos, Safari, and Search

·         Improved performance while in Multitasking UI

What is it out ?

It's available right now from your iPhone or iPad: Settings->General->Software Update

What's new ?

Proactive gives you contact and app shortcuts based on usage, News gives you top stories from around the web, a split-screen multitasking mode for iPads, Transit options in Apple Maps, a new system font, and better battery life.

Can i run it ?

If you can run iOS 8, you can run iOS 9: it will be available for the iPhone 4S onwards, iPad 2 and iPad Mini onwards, and the iPod Touch 5th Generation.

What expect form Apple Event September 9, 2015

Event: San Francisco on Wednesday at 10:30 pm (IST)

iPhone 6s and 6s Plus : 

Wednesday’s event is likely to bring the debut of the iPhone 6s and 6s plus. The primary upgrades will come internally, with a new “A9” processor and increase in RAM form 1GB to 2GB. Capacity is unlikely to change, starting at 32GB to 128GB, 16GB skip may be.

Camera 12MP back and 5MP Selfi. That larger rear component might add a new white subpixel — helping with low-light performance, while some rumors have suggested that the selfie camera could gain its own flash and the ability to capture slow-motion video at 60 frames per second.

Speaking of new features, many believe that Force Touch will make the leap from the Apple Watch to the iPhone 6s and 6s plus.

The new iPhones may be thicker than the current versions.

Color: New Rose Gold color option to match the Apple Watch.

Apple TV 4 :

The first Apple TV hardware change in more than 3 years is reportedly cantered around improving the puck's gaming credentials, a bid to bring iOS's casual gaming dominance to the living room. To that end, the upgraded set-top box is thought to pack an all-new remote control with a built-in microphone and touchpad, alongside possible support for third-party, Xbox-like gamepads.

Support for 4K video output. Siri allows users to search for titles across every service available on the Apple TV.

iOS 9 & OS X 10.11 El Capitan :

Apple's next-generation mobile and desktop OS were announced at WWDC this summer, and the company is likely to announce details of final availability on Wednesday. Both will be free upgrades for existing users.

iOS 9 is a major update, bringing proper multitasking to the iPad alongside transit directions in Apple Maps and an all-new, Flipboard-style News app. Siri commands that complement more proactive notifications and suggestions.

OS X El Capitan is somewhat more restrained, focusing on refinements to OS X's user experience and improving performance across Apple's range of desktop and notebook computers. Front and center is a change from Helvetica to Apple's in-house San Francisco typeface for the user interface.

iOS 9 will launch to public 16 September 2015.

iPad Pro :

Apple does show off its new device on Wednesday, it is likely to sport a Retina display that extends over 12 inches on the diagonal alongside additional speakers, all in a chassis more svelte than the current iPad Air 2.

Live Event :

Apple will stream the event live to all apple devices and 2^nd & 3^rd gen Apple TV units on Wednesday starting at 10:30 am (IST).

Click here APPLE EVENT

First time, Windows users will be able to join in, provided they are running Microsoft Edge on Windows 10.