Tag - Reliability

Studies: MacBooks best notebooks, iOS devices gain activations

A pair of new studies -- including one from the notoriously Apple-averse Consumer Reports -- have shown that despite a lack of official Apple "Black Friday" and "Cyber Monday" promotions, its mobile products from notebooks to smartphones are widely considered to be the best, and saw industry-beating growth with consumers during the holiday as a result. In particular, the iPad line saw a spike in activations of new purchases, while MacBook owners turned out to be far more satisfied with their purchase than Windows notebook owners.

Backblaze releases reliability data for over 41,000 hard drives

Cloud-based backup service Backblaze is releasing the data it used to create its recent hard drive reliability study. The data collection covers over 41,000 hard drives, used by the company in its custom Storage Pods to hold customer data, and is said to be the "largest data set on disk drive performance" to have ever been provided to the public.

Samsung beats Apple by wide margin in Rescuecom reliability report

A new reliability report from Rescuecom shows Apple placing in second place, beaten by Samsung by a wide margin. The new report for the first quarter of 2013, which now takes into account tablets as well as computers, also puts Apple ahead of Lenovo, Asus, Toshiba, HP, Dell, and Acer, with both Sony and Panasonic dropping out of the rankings entirely.

Reports: iPad least repairable, least likely to need repair

Repair and how-to guide site iFixit has compiled their teardown and repair-guide results on the top tablets into one comprehensive report, and ranks Apple's iPad lineup (with the exception of the original iPad) very poorly for repairability, though it is Microsoft's Surface Pro tablet that gets the lowest possible mark. The Windows 8-based Dell XPS 10 gets the highest marks for being easy to disassemble, but is dinged (like most tablets) for having the LCD fused to the protective glass layer. Offsetting this, a number of studies have shown the iPads to be by far the most reliable tablet.

Q1 2011 report: Apple market share up, reliability down

RescueCom has released its first Computer Reliability Report for 2011. First quarter 2011 results showed Apple gaining market share, surging 26 percent to a 9.7 percent share -- mostly at the expense of Dell Computers. The growing popularity seems to have affected the company's reliability rating, however, as the computer and iOS device-maker fell from second to fourth place for the quarter. RescueCom has ranked Apple consistently at or near the top mark in reliability over years of tracking, and Apple was a close second as recently as the

RESCUECOM reliability ratings see Apple jump from 3rd to 2nd

Apple has moved up to the second position in Rescuecom's latest computer reliability ranking. The company scored a lower percentage of calls and almost doubled its reliability score to take second place, with a result that would have been good enough for first place in the previous quarter. Asus had a huge, 400 percent jump in score to take first in the second quarter. Apple and Asus bumped IBM/Lenovo to third despite the company's improved numbers, while Toshiba and HP/Compaq maintained fourth and fifth, respectively, despite improved scores.

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Cirrus creates Lightning-headphone dev kit

Apple supplier Cirrus Logic has introduced a MFi-compliant new development kit for companies interested in using Cirrus' chips to create Lightning-based headphones, which -- regardless of whether rumors about Apple dropping the analog headphone jack in its iPhone this fall -- can offer advantages to music-loving iOS device users. The kit mentions some of the advantages of an all-digital headset or headphone connector, including higher-bitrate support, a more customizable experience, and support for power and data transfer into headphone hardware. Several companies already make Lightning headphones, and Apple has supported the concept since June 2014. http://bit.ly/29giiZj

Developer  93d

Apple Store app offers Procreate Pocket

The Apple Store app for iPhone, which periodically rewards users with free app gifts, is now offering the iPhone "Pocket" version of drawing app Procreate for those who have the free Apple Store app until July 28. Users who have redeemed the offer by navigating to the "Stores" tab of the app and swiping past the "iPhone Upgrade Program" banner to the "Procreate" banner have noted that only the limited Pocket (iPhone) version of the app is available free, even if the Apple Store app is installed and the offer redeemed on an iPad. The Pocket version currently sells for $3 on the iOS App Store. [32.4MB]

 93d

Porsche adds CarPlay to 2017 Panamera

Porsche has added a fifth model of vehicle to its CarPlay-supported lineup, announcing that the 2017 Panamera -- which will arrive in the US in January -- will include Apple's infotainment technology, and be seen on a giant 12.3-inch touchscreen as part of an all-new Porsche Communication Management system. The luxury sedan starts at $99,900 for the 4S model, and scales up to the Panamera Turbo, which sells for $146,900. Other vehicles that currently support CarPlay include the 2016 911 and the 2017 models of Macan, 718 Boxster, and 718 Cayman. The company did not mention support for Google's corresponding Android Auto in its announcement. http://bit.ly/295ZQ94

Industry  93d

Apple employees testing wheelchair features

New features included in the forthcoming watchOS 3 are being tested by Apple retail store employees, including a new activity-tracking feature that has been designed with wheelchair users in mind. The move is slightly unusual in that, while retail employees have previously been used to test pre-release versions of OS X and iOS, this marks the first time they've been included in the otherwise developer-only watchOS betas. The company is said to have gone to great lengths to modify the activity tracker for wheelchair users, including changing the "time to stand" notification to "time to roll" and including two wheelchair-centric workout apps. http://bit.ly/2955JDa

Troubleshooting  93d

SanDisk reveals two 256GB microSDXC cards

SanDisk has introduced two 256GB microSDXC cards. Arriving in August for $150, the Ultra microSDXC UHS-I Premium Edition card offers transfer speeds of up to 95MB/s for reading data. The Extreme microSDXC UHS-I card can read at a fast 100MB/s and write at up to 90MB/s, and will be shipping sometime in the fourth quarter for $200. http://bit.ly/294Q1If

Upgrades/storage  93d

Apple's third-quarter results due July 26

Apple has advised it will be issuing its third-quarter results on July 26, with a conference call to answer investor and analyst queries about the earnings set to take place later that day. The stream of the call will go live at 2pm PT (5pm ET) via Apple's investor site, with the results themselves expected to be released roughly 30 minutes before the call commences. Apple's guidance for the quarter put revenue at between $41 billion and $43 billion. http://apple.co/1oi1Pbm

Investor  94d

Twitter stickers slowly roll out to users

Twitter has introduced "stickers," allowing users to add extra graphical elements to their photos before uploading them to the micro-blogging service. A library of hundreds of accessories, props, and emoji will be available to use as stickers, which can be resized, rotated, and placed anywhere on the photograph. Images with stickers will also become searchable with viewers able to select a sticker to see how others use the same graphic in their own posts. Twitter advises stickers will be rolling out to users over the next few weeks, and will work on both the mobile apps and through the browser. http://bit.ly/29bbwUE

IPhone apps  94d