The iPhone 5 may be a tad taller than previous models, but what if it was a gargantuan 5 feet? The folks at smartphone case company Kavaj — which designs covers for mobile devices — has brought a jumbo-sized case to the 2013 International CES conference in Las Vegas.

We first spotted it at the week-long event on Monday night and although there was no 5 foot iPhone actually inside the leather case, it was amazing to see what it could look like at that size. (It would put the newly-announced 20-inch Panasonic 4k tablet prototype to shame).

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EE, Orange and T-Mobile have cut the cost of owning an iPhone 5 on pay-monthly tariffs as part of a blink-and-it’s-gone offer.

EE has dropped the upfront fee for Apple’s latest flagship smartphone from £99.99 to £49.99 when you take up a contract for £36 a month over a two-year term.

This entitles you to unlimited minutes and texts, plus 500MB of mobile internet allowance per month for browsing and downloading at up to five times the speed of 3G.

Orange is also offering the iPhone 5 for £36 a month on its Works 36 tariff with a one-off charge of £49.99 (£69.99 previously). This furnishes takers with unlimited texts, minutes and 1GB of data every month.

Orange’s partner network T-Mobile, meanwhile, has confirmed a price cut on the iPhone 5 on its Full Monty plan, although at the time of writing it has yet to update its website to reflect that.

Assuming it’s still going ahead with the reduction, punters will have to pay £69.99 for the iPhone 5 as opposed to £99.99, with a monthly outlay of £36 a month, which comes with unlimited minutes and texts each and every month, as well as unlimited data.

The price drops are only available until April 30th, just days after the hotly anticipated release of the Samsung Galaxy S4, which lands on April 26th.

Via:

EE, Orange

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The majority of smartphone fans don’t feel that iPhone owners are missing out on Facebook’s new Home app-cum-social networking skin, it has emerged, after it was confirmed that it would be exclusive to Android handsets.

Unveiled last week, Facebook Home effectively takes over the look and feel of handsets, putting the social networking service slap bang on its homescreen and at the core of the user interface.

Founder Mark Zuckerberg said he would have liked to bring it to the iPhone, but that Apple’s tight restrictions and insistence on controlling its handsets’ user experience kyboshed any chances of that happening.

However, judging by the reaction from smartphone fans in a uSwitch Tech poll, Facebook Home isn’t exactly top of many people’s iPhone app wishlists.

Asked whether they felt that iPhone users are missing out by not being able to download the app, 79.22 per cent (879 people) answered no. Pretty emphatic we’re sure you’ll agree.

Whether that’s a reflection on the perceived quality of the app or privacy concerns isn’t clear. But we think not.

The result is probably more informed by iPhone owners’ innate tendency to favour simple, clear usability of iOS above the freedom to customise a phone’s layout that Android offers.

Either that, or, after years of doomsaying in the tech press, the Facebook bubble might really have burst.

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Facebook has brushed aside rumours that it’s in discussions with Apple to bring Facebook Home to iOS.

Bloomberg reported yesterday that The Social Network is in talks with Apple over the possibility of expanding its freshly launched bespoke Android launcher to the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

Adam Mosseri, Facebook’s Director of Product, told the biz news outlet: “We’ve shown them what we’ve built and we’re just in an ongoing conversation.”

He added, however, that it would ultimately be Apple’s call as to how Facebook Home is integrated with iOS, meaning it could look distinctly different from its Android counterpart.

“It may or may not be Home,” said Mosseri. “We could also just bring some of the design values to the iOS app. That might be how it ends up. Or we could build just the lock screen. Maybe then it’s not called Home, it’s called something else.”

Today, The Next Web reports that it’s been told by Facebook that although it has “good relationships with both Apple and Microsoft, right now no discussions have taken place to bring Home to those platforms”.

It’s likely that Facebook has only approached Apple and Microsoft to demonstrate Home and what possibilities it offers rather than enter actual negotiations to make it available on iOS and Windows Phone.

That said, the social networking giant doesn’t necessarily rule out eventually moving Facebook Home to newer pastures and making it available to as many of its billion users as possible.

After the unveiling of Facebook Home earlier this month, Mark Zuckerberg told Fortune: “We’d love to offer this on iPhone, and we just can’t today, and we will work with Apple to do the best experience that we can within what they want.”

Unfortunately for The Zuck, iPhone owners don’t quite feel the same the way. In a uSwitch Tech poll, eight out of 10 iFans said they won’t miss Facebook Home on their handsets.

Still, for the remaining two that will miss it, Facebook has just brought one of its main features in Home: ‘Chat Heads’, in a new update to its official iOS app.

Chat Heads, if you’re unaware, lets you have a conversation with a group of friends as pop-up bubbles over the screen while you’re doing other things. Unfortunately, on iOS it only works within the Facebook app and doesn’t come with SMS integration like the Android version does.

Via:

The Next Web, Bloomberg

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Google Now has at long last landed on the iPhone and iPad, bringing live updates for news, interests and vital information that were previously exclusive to the Android operating system.

Google released a new version of its official iOS app on the App Store, now augmented with the widely acclaimed features of its clever data assistant on Android.

Using a nifty card-based interface, Google Now updates you with information throughout the day, such as live weather for your home, work or current location, scores for your favourite teams, traffic updates on your next likely destination, flight status and commute times on public transit.

Users also benefit from reminders on their next calendar appointments, showtimes for movies, stock updates, breaking news and the ability to track packages.

The update’s arrival, which long thought to have been obstructed by Apple, means Google has now effectively positioned a proverbial Trojan horse in Apple’s platform, with the ability to compete with Siri and other onboard applications.

The app is free to download right now for the iPhone and iPad from the App Store and we strongly recommend you check it out.

Let us know what you think of Google Now’s appearance on the iPhone in the comments section below.

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