Apple seeds OS X Mavericks 10.9.4 build 13E19 to Developers and OS X Beta Program members on Thursday, June 19, 2014.
T-Mobile Test Drive
From T-Mobile Test Drive page:
- The iPhone 5s test device must be ordered online. It will be delivered by mail.
You must sign for it and be at least 18 years old to sign.- T-Mobile Test Drive is free for 7 days and starts when the device is signed for.
- After 7 days you must return it in good condition to a T-Mobile retail store (not an authorized retailer) so it’s important you know where your nearest retail store is. Find it here.
T-Mobile Test Drive is free with no obligation to buy, but if the iPhone 5s comes back with a cracked screen, damaged screen display, water damage, active Find My iPhone feature, or can’t be powered on we have to charge a $100 damage fee. If you don’t return the device, we have to charge $699.99 plus applicable taxes.
A hold for $699.99 + taxes will be placed on your credit or debit card. The timing of releasing that hold will vary by credit card company. We won’t charge your card unless you fail to return the device.
You can sign up here.
T-Mobile is rolling out Wideband LTE in the following cities:
- Atlanta, GA
- Birmingham, AL
- Columbus, OH
- Dallas, TX
- Detroit, MI
- Honolulu, HI Houston, TX
- Jacksonville, FL
- Los Angeles, CA
- Minneapolis, MN
- Mobile, AL Orlando, FL
- Portland, OR
- Seattle, WA
- Tampa, FL
- Upstate, NY
Glad to know that Los Angeles is one of the cities, that’s why I’m interested in test-driving AT&T new network.
Amazon Fire Phone
Amazon Fire Phone.
From the Press Release:
SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Jun. 18, 2014– (NASDAQ: AMZN)—Amazon today unveiled Fire, the first smartphone designed by Amazon. Fire is the only smartphone with Dynamic Perspective and Firefly, two new breakthrough technologies that allow you to see and interact with the world through a whole new lens.
Amazon Fire Phone will be released on July 25, 2014 and pre-order is available now.
Notable Specs:
- 5.5″ x 2.6″ x 0.35″ (139.2mm x 66.5mm x 8.9mm)
- 4.7-inch LCD Display
- 1280 x 720 resolution at 315 ppi
- 13 MP rear-facing camera
- 2.1 MP front-facing camera
- 32 GB or 64 GB storage
- Micro USB 2.0
- 3.5mm headphone
- Nano SIM-card tray
- UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1700/2100, 1900, 2100 MHz), Quad-band GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz), 9 bands of LTE (Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 17, 20), supports carrier aggregation
- 2.2GHz Quad-core Snapdragon 800 CPU, with Adreno 330 GPU and 2GB of RAM
For a limited time, Amazon includes one full year of Prime. Existing Prime members will have their membership extended for another year.
Pricing:
- $199 for 32GB model with 2-year AT&T contract
- $399 for 64GB model with 2-year AT&T contract
- $649 for 32GB model without contract
- $749 for 64GB model without contract
As a Tech enthusiast, I really want to get an Amazon Fire Phone. I want to know how this phone works, wether or not I could recommend this phone to anyone.
I have been on AT&T network for the last 4 years off-contract. I personally do not want to bound with a new contract with any phone providers anymore. My choice is to purchase an Amazon Fire Phone at full price. I am not sure if I want to spend $649 for an out of contract purchase.
iOS 8 beta 2
Apple seeds iOS 8 beta 2 build 12A4297e to developers on Tuesday, June 17, 2014.
This build seems to be a lot more stable than the first iOS 8 beta which crashed at least three times within the first hour. iOS 8 beta 2 seems to be stable enough that I told my colleagues they could install it if they would.
I installed iOS 8 beta on an iPhone 5s and iPad Air instead of on older devices; they are the only 64-bit iPhone and iPad I have. Apple is going full on 64-bit with the upcoming iOS devices.
I noticed that my iPad Air rings whenever my iPhone 5s rings. It seems that phone call handoff is working between the two devices. Overall, I’m really excited with iOS 8.
OS X Yosemite Developer Preview 2
Apple seeds OS X Yosemite Developer Preview 2 build 14A261i on Tuesday, June 17, 2014.
The first OS X Yosemite Developer Preview was too buggy for my 2010 MacBook Pro. The font doesn’t look right and I suspected that it was designed to look best on Retina Display. The support for NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M was pretty abysmal.
I have not had enough time using OS X Yosemite Developer Preview 2 to find out if it’s going to run well on older Macs. Time will tell.
“Isn’t this your picture being used?”
Vondiggity sent me an email:
Isn’t this your picture being used?
http://parislemon.com/post/88864416997/best-designed-usb-stick-ever#notes
Vondiggity
http://www.vondur.com
Indeed, that is definitely the photo I took. I uploaded this photo on 37prime Flickr account, dated December 20, 2010 under Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).
M.G. Siegler must be too busy checking his million-dollar account balance that he doesn’t have the time to give proper attributions.
ArsTechnica used this very same photo for their article back in October 23, 2013 with attributions. (37prime)
A Great if not a Perfect Gift
June 15, 2014 is Father’s Day in Canada and the USA. This would have been a perfect gift for the occasion as long as your father is not allergic to cats.
