“Fixes an issue that causes apps to be unresponsive after tapping on links in Safari and other apps”
Do we get any bonuses or secret features? Having dug through the update it seems not. Even the Apple Security Updates page linked to in the iOS 9.3.1 release notes actually has no reference to iOS 9.3.1 at all and the update itself is just circa 35MB (size can vary on different devices). Which begs the bigger question…
Does iOS 9.3.1 Work?
Thankfully the prevailing response I’ve seen is ‘Yes’. That said it isn’t working for everyone.
Apple had a very lucrative holiday season, breaking all previous App Store records during the weeks of Christmas and New Year’s.
It seems that Apple fans were busy shopping for apps and in-app content in the holiday period, and they definitely didn’t shy away from purchases.
In a press release issued on Wednesday, Jan. 6, Apple announced that customers spent more than $1.1 billion on apps and in-apps purchases in the App Store, and that was only during the holidays. For the whole year, the total amount customers spent in the App Store goes all the way up to a staggering $20 billion.
Jan. 1 marked the biggest day in Apple’s entire App Store history, with customers spending more than $144 million to kick off the New Year in full force. The previous single-day record was not more than a week old, as it was set on Christmas day.
“The App Store had a holiday season for the record books. We are excited that our customers downloaded and enjoyed so many incredible apps for iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple TV, spending over $20 billion on the App Store last year alone,” says Philip Schiller, Apple’s SVP of Worldwide Marketing, in the press release.
“We’re grateful to all the developers who have created the most innovative and exciting apps in the world for our customers. We can’t wait for what’s to come in 2016.”
Developers have raked in more than $40 billion since 2008 worldwide, Apple further notes, highlighting that more than one third of that total amount was from the last year alone.
The impressive success of the App Store stretches even further. Apple takes pride in creating and supporting 1.9 million jobs in the United States, and says that the App Store’s success played a major role in this achievement. More than 1.4 million of those jobs are related to software engineers, app creators and entrepreneurs developing apps for iOS, or some other non-IT jobs the app economy supports.
Outside of the U.S., Apple offered 1.2 million jobs in Europe, as well as 1.4 million jobs in China.
When it comes to the most popular content in the App Store, the top categories were Gaming, Entertainment and Social Networking. Minecraft: Pocket Edition, Trivia Crack, Heads Up!, Facebook Messenger, Snapchat and WeChat were among the top choices. Games, along with subscription apps, also dominated top-grossing titles in 2015.
At the same time, both the Apple Watch and the Apple TV hit the scene in 2015, bringing new app experiences and changing how consumers use apps and content. The most popular apps for the Apple watch include: Nike+ Running and Lifesum in the Fitness category, Citymapper and iTranslate in the Travel category and for the Apple TV, HBO NOW, Beat Sports and Rayman Adventures proved to be big hits.
Despite the record-breaking holiday App Store success, however, some are concerned that Apple is on a downward trend in terms of smartphone sales. According to a new report, Apple cut component orders for the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus by 30 percent due to sluggish demand. The report sent Apple shares tumbling down.
Facebook this year continued to hold the number one position as the top app installed on U.S. smartphones based on the average number of unique users, according to a new report out this week from Nielsen, but its mobile messaging application clocked in as the fastest-growing app of 2015. Having foreseen the shift from more public social networking to private communications, Facebook forced users to install Messenger in spring 2014 by ripping out chat from its main app. In the months since, the app has soared to the top of the App Store’s charts. Over 2015, Messenger grew more than any other app, the new report says – with a 31 percent increase in users from 2014.
That’s slower growth than Messenger saw in 2014, when it rose 242 percent over the year prior thanks to Facebook’s huge push. The question now will be whether or not Facebook can do the same for its next most-promising creation, the private photo-sharing app Moments which is now replacing photo-syncing on Facebook’s social network.
Also in the running for fastest-growing app was Apple Music, which saw a 26 percent year-over-year climb. However, that’s a bit of different situation from Messenger, given that Apple’s streaming music service only launched this June.
In terms of the top apps by users, Facebook led the way with more than 126 million average unique users each month, up 8 percent over last year where it was also the top app. And YouTube was hot on its heels with 97 million average unique users each month, up 5 percent over last year.
With full manual controls and dual front-facing camera, you can really express your creativity with the V10.
They say the best camera is the one you have on you, and if you have the LG V10, you have the most powerful camera phone in your pocket. I’m bummed I haven’t yet reviewed the LG V10 since its debut in early October, but while I may not have time for a full, benchmark-laden rundown, I did bring it with me on a recent trip to try out all the new camera features.
LG’s V10 is essentially a souped-up version of its exceptional counterpart, the G4. It’s slightly bigger and features a few extras, like a gimmicky second screen and rugged build qualities, but it’s the rear- and front-facing camera capabilities that are particularly impressive. The V10 is yet another reminder of how smartphones have managed to negate the need for a separate point-and-shoot, or even a DSLR in some situations.
https://youtu.be/9TWB32376QA
The V10 is, by far, the best Android camera phone on the market right now.
If you’re a photography or video enthusiast and you need a smartphone that can keep up with your wiley, life-logging ways, the V10 was made for you. LG packed it with a ton of manual features, and even a few fun photography modes, so that you don’t have to spend time customizing the device to do what you want to do. You’ll still have to invest in editing software to get some of the results you’re looking for, but that’s just a fraction of the work involved in producing pretty pictures. The most important part is that you have a smartphone with capable hardware.
I’m curious, too, if LG’s smartphone releases this year and its inclusion of manual controls will continue to inspire manufacturers to make their flagship devices more photography-centric in the next generation. The Galaxy S6 and One M9 both offer manual controls of sorts, but again, they don’t offer as many options as the V10. It’s possible that this will remain a niche category, since not everyone is into the idea of spending the time to adjust settings before snapping a photo, but it’s also nice to know you don’t have to lug around a giant DSLR and an entire briefcase of lenses to take a neat long exposure shot.
This story, “5 reasons the LG V10 is the best Android camera smartphone available ” was originally published by Greenbot.
Even some Google competitors made the list, with Microsoft Word and Amazon’s Twitch among the honorees. Let the year-end roundups begin. Google is fully on board with this phenomenon, back again with the annual list of the best apps and games for the Play Store.The ”Best Apps” list is a mashup of well-known titles and newcomers. Usual suspects like Twitter, SwiftKey, Instacart, and Trulia are included along with Robinhood, a free stock-trading app that quickly became popular. But Google also sought out to show some love to indie apps like Nova Launcher, Action Launcher 3, and My Very Hungry Caterpillar.And even though Google offers Google Docs, credit went to Microsoft Word and Office Lens. Twitch was another honoree, which competes with Google’s new YouTube Gaming.
This year’s Play Store awards also calls attention to the larger amount of entertainment content available, with collections of the top-selling music, movies, books, and TV shows.
Along with highlighting the top sellers, Google called out its favorite selections from the Google Play Newsstand and Play Books offerings.
We don’t know how these lists were generated, exactly, but it appears to be a programmatic approach based on the apps rating and downloads, rather than human-curated. Supposedly, the lists offer a few different options based on the region you’re accessing it from, too.
The impact on you: This list is a good way to discover a new game to play over the weekend or find a neat app that you might have otherwise missed. Even with all of Google’s efforts to increase app discovery, it can still be a challenge to find the good stuff that’s hidden amongst all the clutter.
It’s time to call it: iOS 9 has had a rough start. Despite its impressive new features, the platform has needed two dedicated bug patches in as many weeks. But not only have these patches failed to fix all the problems, it turns out they are introducing a whole host of new surprises along the way…
Problem #1: Broken Notifications
Yes, this is a doozy. Multiple sources are reporting iPhones, iPads and even iPod touches are giving no audible or vibration alerts for new notifications. This is across both default Apple apps and third party apps. Called out examples include Mail, Gmail, WhatsApp, Facebook FB +1.08%, and even reminders…
Problem #2: Hanging Email
While those not getting email notifications are frustrated, they are lucky compared to the 27,000 strong Apple Support Communities thread which says they are not receiving their emails at all.
Affected users can see new emails have arrived but when they try to open them nothing happens and they get a pop-up saying “message not yet downloaded from server”. Contacting me directly one of the affected users pointed out the bug even impacts deleted emails in both the sent and trash folders…
Problem #3: iMessage Failures
Finally this Reddit thread piles on the misery of iPhone owners with numerous users reporting iMessage on iOS 9.0.2 don’t work. Instead an iMessage eventually times out and is sent as a text message instead. Customers across Sprint, Verizon, AT&TT +0.00%, T-Mobile even Telus in Canada are all reporting the issue with claims Apple and T-Mobile are now admitting the problem exists…
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