The concept redesigns pretty much every app, including the icons. The Music app in particular stands out to me because it looks like something you could definitely see on Windows Phone. It’s still nicely done though. Like this app, many others depart from the tendency toward a dark theme in favor of mostly white. This is apparent on the lock screen and Siri as well.

Also included here is a new pull-down menu combining widgets as well as the Notification Center. I couldn’t help but notice that the icons used to show weather conditions are almost identical to that of the Conditions weather app in the App Store, which is an interesting. I’m not sure if that’s on purpose, but it actually pairs well.

Overall it’s quite nice. I’m sure by now you want to stop reading my take and see the video demoing the iOS 7 concept for yourself, so check it out below. Be sure to leave a comment underneath with your opinions on this fresh idea of iOS 7 compared to previous concepts.

[via PhoneArena]

Just to get a better sense of how light it is, when compared to the average aluminum bumper weight of 26 grams; the AL13 weighs almost half of that (14 grams to be exact). As a result, the case keeps the lightweight feel of the iPhone that we all love — it’s truly one elegant piece of material. The lightweight aluminum also prevents major signal loss, as it only drops the signal 5-10 percent, compared to the average 25 percent loss of other aluminium bumpers. I didn’t notice any real drop off in call quality when using my phone.

Putting the bumper on is a joy as well. Most cases or bumpers I’ve tried in the past have always had a janky way of going on the device or coming off. To put on the Al13, all you have to do is simply lay your iPhone 5 down inside the bumper and slide on the back plate: it’s really easy!

Once the Al13 is on, you’ll notice that the front of the phone along with the bezel almost is flush to the bumper case, but the back of the case doesn’t have the same closeness. This could be due to making the iPhone 5 better when it comes to drops, just a guess though. But I would be remissed if I didn’t mention the extras that comes with the Al13. What you get in the tin box is a screen protector for the front and back of the phone, along with a small microfiber-like cloth to wipe blemishes and prints.

Remarkably, the screen protector is no cheaply made plastic that goes over the display, instead it’s an anti-scratch, fingerprint and glare polyurethane screen protector. The protective film is great on the fingers when you’re performing your typical typing and swipe-gestures — it doesn’t feel icky after heavy phone usage.

Carrying my handset around with the bumper didn’t feel like holding a brick, it felt pleasantly light as I alluded to earlier. This allowed me to keep the case on throughout the day unbothered.

In the end, I’d have to say that this is one of the best accessories I’ve ever used. The presentation of the box catches your attention before you see the product, and once you open the box you become even more impressed. Designed by m delivered with this; the Al13 is quality to it’s core.

Al13 comes in five colors and sells for $79.99 here. Photo gallery is below!

Of course, this probably wouldn’t be a completely flexible phone, as the flexible OLED display technology is still in its infancy, and other components such as the battery and processor are far from being flexible at this juncture. More likely than not LG’s flexible display will wrap around the unit, like some concept pictures we have seen of Samsung devices.

LG has definitely stepped up its game over the last year, releasing some awesome smartphones such as the Nexus 4, the LG Optimus G and Optimus G Pro, shipping 10.3 million of its handsets in Q1 of 2013. The only thing that could hold LG back, however is production of the OLED screens, which have plagued both LG and Samsung in the past with the manufacture of their OLED TVs.

Time will tell when LG’s flexible OLED screen dream becomes a reality, but either way it is an exciting prospect.

[Via: BGR]

Some of the changes showcased in the video are a slicker looking compass and microphone, a clock that switches screens with a swipe to show different clocks and alarms, and multiple timers. The contact screen looks cleaner, showing faces of contacts in their descriptions, and a quick way to send emails, texts and the like with a small pop-up bar which hovers over the selected contact. Users will be able to access certain apps from the lockscreen, which we have heard about before through an Apple patent filing. The implementation in the video is a bit different from the filing, but plays on the idea nonetheless.

And of course the feature that all iOS users clamoring for, widgets. The video shows widgets on the homescreen, as well as easy widget access through the pull down notification bar.

Only time will tell which features actually make it to Apple’s next version of iOS, which could be arriving on Apple’s next iteration of its iPhone, which we’ve heard should come sometime in the fall. What do you think of the features in the video? What would you like to see in iOS 7?

Check out the video below.

[Via: iDownloadBlog]

Ok, ready to have your mind blown? Good. The video is a fake. I mean, it’s real, but aside from the first row of iPhones and the office space, (and probably the people) the whole thing is computer animated. Sure fooled me, Aatma.

“Except for the first iPhone that is set off, every other phone you see is computer generated,” said Pramod Modi Shantharam, CEO and animation director at Aatma Studio. “We modeled, animated and rendered the CG phone where the footage was first motion-tracked and the CG phone was composited over it.”

Even though it is computer animated, the video is still amazing. Aatma is known for making high quality renders and concepts of upcoming Apple devices, and based the iPhones in the video on the upcoming iPhone 5S. The end of the video utilizes NFC, which is rumored to be available in Apple’s iPhone 5S.

“The end shot is a representation at scale but imagine bringing together four smartphones screens together to view content on an expanded real estate,” he added. “A potential use case could be a family of four connecting their phones or tablets to watch a movie together.”

So sit back and enjoy the video, and marvel at the wonders of modern technology.  One thing’s for sure, computer animation has come a long way since The Lawnmower Man, thank the gods.

[Via: Mashable]

Designer Abel Verdezoto mocked this up to release his own concept for what the iPhone 6 could look like. It has a larger display than the iPhone 5 it appears, squared corners on the front and back with the top and bottom curved, a very slim form factor, and what seems to be the return of a glass back casing.

I guess it looks cool in its own way and futuristic, reminiscent of something Sony might design for an Xperia phone. Unfortunately, this is an Apple concept, not a Sony one, and much of this concept does not even remotely follow any of Apple’s design principles.

First of all, let’s talk about the larger display. All rumors up until now have suggested that if Apple was going to release an iPhone with a larger display than 4 inches, it would be alongside the 4-inch model, not replacing it. It would be pretty stupid on Apple’s part to market a 4-inch iPhone 5 as “just the right size” and then scrap it a year later with the iPhone 6.

Next, for some reason the designer chose to revert back to a glass back — which was clearly removed for a reason in the iPhone 5 — as well as move the front-facing camera next to the speaker like with the iPhone 4 and 4S. There’s also no noise-cancelling microphone in between the back camera and LED flash. Those are three steps backward, not forward. Oh and where the hell is the mute switch on this thing? Make that four steps backward.

Lastly, when is the last time you’ve seen a major Apple product without rounded corners?

I appreciate and admire the effort and creativity here, but this iPhone 6 concept simply is not realistic. I’m not even sure why we’re talking about an iPhone 6 anyway. Putting whatever Apple chooses to name it aside, the 2013 iPhone will most likely keep the iPhone 5′s external design.

[via Product Reviews Net]

We still are lacking details pertaining to the functionality, specs and price points for LG’s upcoming device, but features akin to the Pebble smart watch come to mind, which pairs via Bluetooth to both Android and iOS devices and offers text messages alerts, email notifications, volume control and call notifications. We aren’t sure what OS it will be running either, but Android or the nascent Firefox OS come to mind, but we’re expecting the former.

While it was hardly smart, a wrist device that allowed the user to be notified of texts and calls has already come from LG before. The LG KF900 (Prada II) had an optional accessory that provided some simple features. In reality, we’d imagine that the smart watch will mostly be used for simple notifications while the Bluetooth-linked smartphone remains in the pocket. That’s just a guess, though. Smart watches will have many features that users will likely love, but it needs to make your life easier, and keeping the users up to date without looking at their smartphones is a good start. That said, these simple features will likely be overlooked by less the useful ones.

2013 could very well be the year of the smart watch, with Samsung has confirming that it is working on a concept, and rumors saying that Apple and Google are doing the same. What do you think of smart watches? What kind of functionality would you expect from one?

[Via: Pocket Lint]

Think of it like what Amazon did with the Kindle. You could buy the e-reader at a standard price, or shave some green off of the price tag by opting for a version that shows you ads. That strategy actually went a lot better than most people anticipated. In fact, many even enjoyed the ads because they were often relevant and nicely designed. The same would apply to SmartAds: view the ad on your lock screen and then either dismiss it to use your phone or tap it to open a web browser with more information.

Right now as I type this article, SmartAds has $1,111 in funding on Indiegogo, which means it’s only about 2 percent funded. The goal is to reach $50,000 within the thirteen days remaining for the campaign. It seems unlikely that will happen, but it’s not impossible, and something tells me this lock screen ads concept won’t go away once the SmartAds Indiegogo campaign ends.

Would you be willing to endure smartphone/tablet lock screen ads to gain up to $25 per month in your wallet?

[via MobileBurn]

Tagtool comes to us courtesy of the Vienna-based company OMAi, an agency that offers interactive art and entertainment services. The app was developed with projection painting in mind, and allows two or more users to work together via Wi-Fi to create collaborative art pieces. Any flat surface can be a canvas, even your home. It can also be projected on the TV via an AV adapter, or pushed using Apple TV.

“The concept of being able to project your digital drawing and/or animation while on its creative process has been on its developers’ minds for quite a long time. Their initial invention was a DIY complex of devices which allowed them to create their application with a more intuitive functionality. The new generation seems to work more as a digital finger-painting process, where the artist uses the tablet as a desktop equipped with piece(s) of paper and colors”
.

Although most of the pictures we’ve seen so far have been rather big outside pieces, there’s no doubt that Tagtool would be a very welcome addition to any party, rave, concert, you name it. It will be exciting to see what users do with this technology, especially with the ability to collaborate on a project. But if you just wanted to project bat-signals randomly around town, that would be awesome, too.

Check out Tagtool in use below!

The Night is our Canvas from Tagtool on Vimeo.

[Via: WebUrbanist]