iPhone 5S: Will it look the same as the iPhone 5?

iPhone 5S: Will it look the same as the iPhone 5?

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

Editors' note: This story was originally published on December 6, 2012. We'll continuously update this piece up until the device's official launch; let us know if we missed any rumors ourselves.

iPhone rumors are like flies at a summer picnic: they're nearly unstoppable. Collected in one batch are all the iPhone 5S/6 rumors CNET has reported so far, with some commentary on where these rumors came from.

iPhone 6: Most-wanted features (pictures)

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We always have long wish lists for newer features and further redesigns, but the bottom line is this: nobody knows exactly what we'll get until Tim Cook reveals it on stage later this year.

That said, we've got plenty of educated guesses. But before we get started:

The release will all but certainly coincide with the availability of iOS 7 and the new phone's design should follow the iPhone 5's.When will we get it:
Odds are strong that the immediate successor to the iPhone 5 will debut in September or October-- the last two iPhones were announced within the same window.

Beyond those obvious notes, the areas that seem most ripe for updating on the "iPhone 5S" would be the resolution of the cameras. And now that there's a 128GB iPad, maybe there will finally be a 128GB iPhone option, too.

What we don't know:
Everything else is pretty much a crapshoot. A bigger screen? CEO Tim Cook says no -- but saying one thing and doing the opposite would hardly be a first for Apple. Beyond a screen size change, though, Apple could also go with a different technology -- say, Igzo or OLED.

There are plenty of other unknowns, too. Will there be another iPhone that debuts with a fall model? Could the iPhone product line split into several differently sized models? Will an affordable "new" budget-line iPhone emerge? Will Apple finally add NFC to the iPhone, as part of a new mobile payments scheme? Anything could happen. Or not.

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Preview iOS 7 using nothing more than your browser

With the curtains pulled back on the new-look iOS 7, it's only natural for users to want to get abetter idea of what the changes actually mean to their daily use. People don't like change -- big or small -- especially when it comes to the tech that's used on a daily basis.

Should you not be a developer and have access to early beta builds of iOS 7, or don't want to deal with all of the bugs and issues that come from dealing with the early test builds, you can click your way through the new operating system using a browser on your computer.

As 9to5Mac reported, the Web site Recombu has posted an interactive iOS 7 guide for you to use.

You'll be able to launch most native apps and view screens of the new design, as well as take photos using the camera app if you're using Chrome or Firefox.

Most of the guide is simply screenshots of the user-interface, with very few of the apps or screens allowing you to go more than one screen deep into the respective app. But there are some apps, such as Mail, that allow you to go all the way down to viewing an e-mail.

You won't find the fancy animations, or get a better idea of all the little nuances that make up iOS 7, but it's as good as it gets for those of us stuck on the outside looking in right now.

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Get Leawo Tunes Cleaner (PC/Mac) for free

Leawo Tunes Cleaner is free for a limited time.

If you're anything like me, you have an iTunes library you've amassed over the course of many years, one that includes everything from ripped CDs to Amazon MP3 purchases to song downloads from any number of outside sources.

In other words, it's a messy collection, with duplicates, missing album art and tags, and so on. There are plenty of utilities out there promising to clean things up, but most of them will cost you.

Not today. Until tomorrow, you can get Leawo Tunes Cleaner (PC/Mac) absolutely free. There's a slightly obnoxious catch, but ultimately it's no big deal.

True to its name, Tunes Cleaner aims to clean up your iTunes library. It can locate and delete duplicate songs, restore missing song tags and album art, and even work with folders outside iTunes. It normally sells for $29.95.

So, what's the catch? After you click one of the Download buttons (red for Windows, blue forMac), and then actually download and install the program (which will be the trial version), you have to return to Leawo's giveaway page, click that Download button again, then leave a review for the program. Along with that, you'll supply your e-mail address, which the company will use to send you an activation code to unlock the full version.

This explains the multitude of very short reviews you'll already find for the product; it's a good bet some folks are just doing the minimum required work to get the activation code. But if you want some more objective endorsements, along with the half-dozen or so user ratings (4.5 stars on average).

For what it's worth, my registration code (which can be entered directly into the program -- you don't need to redownload and reinstall it as suggested in the e-mail) arrived almost instantly after I left my review. Which was positive, given that in my quick tests, it worked exactly as advertised -- which is to say it found a bunch of songs missing artwork, artist, and/or album information, then found and added all that information for most of them.

This giveaway is good through tomorrow, June 20. If your iTunes and/or MP3 library seems messy, I'd say let Tunes Cleaner take a whack at cleaning it up -- free of charge.

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Apple's low-cost iPhone won't be cheap, says Pegatron CEO

(Credit: Apple)

Has one of Apple's major suppliers just outted the much-rumored low-cost iPhone?

At a shareholders meeting on Thursday, Pegatron CEO T.H. Tung served up one intriguing comment about the so-called "cheap" iPhone, suggesting that the product is real but that it won't be cheap, according to China Times as covered by blog site Macotakara.

Tung said the price of the phone would be "fairly high," though he apparently didn't reveal any specific price ranges. The CEO explained that compared with cheaper feature phones, today's smartphones are able to do so many things that they justify their higher prices.

Apple has been shifting some of its manufacturing work away from Foxconn in favor of Pegatron in part to avoid relying on a single supplier.

Pegatron has reportedly been tapped as the major assembler of the low-cost iPhone, the Wall Street Journal reported in May. Earlier last month, Pegatron said it would build up its workforce by 40 percent during the second half of 2013, according to Reuters, suggesting that the company may be ramping up its factories to prep for the low-cost iPhone.

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Google Chrome for iOS updated with improved voice search, faster page reloading and more

As expected, Google has released an update for Google Chrome for iOS.

Chrome version 27.0.1453.10 brings improved voice search, faster page reloading and bug fixes.

Here’s what’s new in version 27.0.1453.10 according to the change log:

Improved voice search!
-Say what you want and get results back without typing
-Faster voice recognition with text streamed on the fly
-Get answers spoken back to you with web results tailored to your questions

Faster page reloading
-Pages reload faster even when the network is slow or unavailable

Stability / security improvements and bug fixes

You can now access the Voice Search feature in the Chrome app by tapping on the microphone button just above the keyboard as you can see in the screenshot above.

You can download the update via the App Store app on your iPhone or iPad or download it for free using this App Store link.

Let us know what you think of the update with the improved voice search feature.

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Free apps for today: ToonCamera, Pocket Lists, Cleu Alarm, Plants vs. Zombies and more!

We have some great iPhone and iPad apps for you today that have gone free on the App Store. 

ToonCamera is a photo and video editing app for the iPhone and iPad that lets you apply cartoonish filters to your normal photos. It does all the processing in real-time so that you can see what the final photo would look like before you shoot, and has a variety of sharing options. $1.99 -> Free

Pocket Lists is a to-do and list keeping app with a simple interface for your iPhone and iPad. It has sync, notifications, priorities, OCR (create lists by taking photos) and a lot of other features. $1.99 -> Free

Cleau Alarm is an alternative to the stock Clock app with a nice interface and an innovative way to stop an alarm, as can be seen in the screenshot above. It also has weather integration and Do Not Disturb support. $.99 -> Free

Percepto is an iPhone and iPad puzzle game where you help Bruce, the main character, escape a room by thinking in 3D but moving in 2D. Sadly the game isn’t optimised for the iPhone 5′s talled display. $.99 -> Free

Yoga Suite is an app with an extensive catalog of HD yoga videos, along with the ability to manage your Yoga schedule, and set custom classes. It works with the iPhone as well as the iPad. $2.99 -> Free

Plants vs. Zombies is a very popular iPhone and iPad game, where you use plants as weapons to kill zombies. IGN is currently giving away promo codes for the game on its site. $0.99 ->Free (Link won’t work unless you access it from a U.S. IP address.)

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ProTuber allows you to download YouTube videos without jailbreaking

ProTuber is a new application for YouTube, which offers more features compared to the native app such as ability to download videos for offline viewing, video quality selection, etc.

ProTuber offers the following features:

NOTEWORTHY FEATURES:

* Video Quality Selection (1080p, 720p…)
* Sign in to access your subscriptions, playlists, uploads and more.
* Share, flag, rate, add to watch later without the need of playing the video
* Easy search(videos, playlist, channel)
* Hide playing video into background and resume it back on right within the app
* Background playback anywhere, anytime
* Lock screen video thumbnail (similar to iPod’s song artwork)

ADVANCED FEATURES:

* File & Folder Management
* Manage playlists (rename, merge, move, copy, delete)
* Functions identically as a music player app
* Repeat mode: repeat all/one/none
* Support for Vimeo & Dailymotion
* Save to Camera Roll
* AirPlay support
* WiFi Sharing to browse, play from and transfer to your Mac or Internet TV
* Apple’s headphones remote support
* Remote Control Support
* DisplayOut Support

OTHER NOTEWORTHY FEATURES:

* Browsing videos by region
* Pre-set video quality for streaming
* Advanced category browsing
* Many selections of Sorting-by mode
* Easy video sharing to SMS, Google+, E-mail, Facebook and Twitter
* Universal app (support for iPhone & iPad)

The app is a universal app and is currently available for free in the App Store (regular price is $0.99). However, it also offers a $1.99 in-app purchase to unlock the full version. We couldn’t figure out which features are unlocked in the full version. We’ll update the post as soon as we find out.

We’re quite surprised to find an app like ProTuber on the App Store as some of the features such as ability to download videos, we thought is only possible using jailbreak tweaks such as ProTube and YourTube. The App Store app not only has a similar name as the jailbreak tweak, but its user interface also seems like a rip off of the native YouTube app.

So grab it while it is still available in the App Store as we won’t be surprised if Google requests it to be removed from the App Store.

➤ Download link

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