Every time I see one of Apple’s stunning iPad adverts, I truly struggle to resist the urge to go out and get me one. That’s despite the fact that I owned one briefly.

I was lucky that it was a free iPad that I’d claimed from Freebiejeebies.  Even then, the simple fact is that however impressive a bit of kit the iPad is, there is no way that it will replace the iPhone (which I also got free!) and laptop combo that I have come to know and love.

If I’m in the home, then the laptop can do so much more than it’s tablet counterpart.  Step outside and I have Apple’s number one smartphone to service my every need.  It even makes calls and sends texts, why would I want to buy an iPad contract on a flimsy dongle!

Even as I write this there’s a bit of me that wants to run off to Freebiejeebies and claim another iPad free but I know that it would soon be back on eBay.  The money would come in handy of course!

If anything, I will be stepping up my campaign to bag another free iPhone, maybe the iPhone 4S this time.   That would make a nice Christmas gift to myself!

Steve

The official line from Apple is that you won’t be able to get a contract free iPhone 4S until November 2011.  Not so according to 9to5Mac, who are reliably informed that a number of USA Apple Stores have already released unlocked iPhone 4S models without insisting that the customer sign-up to a contract.

If you are lucky enough to get a sim free iPhone 4S, just hit up iTunes and unlock the iPhone 4S to activate it, simples!  One user reports that he was able to get a connection to T-Mobile with EDGE using a SIM-Card obtained from O2, which replaced the stock AT&T SIM.

Apple are offering a reasonable iPhone 4S deal on the contract free version of their award winning smartphone.  A 16GB contract free iPhone 4S will set you back $649 (£400), rising to $849 (£600) for the 64GB iPhone 4S.

Failing that, read around to find out how to get your iPhone 4S free from us here at Simplyfreeiphone dot com.  The name says it all!

Steve

In conjunction with incentive reward site Freebiejeebies, you can take advantage of an exclusive Worldwide offer of a free iPad or free iPad 2, delivered to your door direct from Apple.

No hidden costs or taxes, even the shipping is free. What are you waiting for, sign up now!

My first free iPad arrived last year and I made this unboxing video for my sister site, Gadgets4nowt, along with a scan of the receipt to prove it!

Unboxing My iPad from Steve Elliott on Vimeo.

The process work in exactly the same way as businesses like Blockbuster or Sky TV offering vouchers to encourage you to get your friends to take a subscription. The advertisers you need to look out for in conjunction with Freebiejeebies are all trusted, household names. The only difference is that instead of vouchers, you get a free iPad or free iPad 2 !

Once you have signed up with Freebiejeebies, look out for our recommended offer logos on your account “offers” tab once you have signed-up and logged in.

Even if you have to pay a few pounds/dollars, it has to be worth it to grab what is virtually a free iPad or free iPad 2.

Enjoy!

Steve

Let’s cut to the chase, the iPad 2 is quicker, nimbler and generally better than the original offering from Apple.   An RRP of around £399 may put some people off but who want to pay that, why not just grab yourself a free iPad 2 !

For those who want a tablet with Flash support and greater flexibility, the alternative of an Android device may be a better bet (despite the Android version of Angry Birds which I’ve included as a screenshot here!) .

Read on and we’ll try and help you make up your mind.

iPad 2 Review

The Good

Thinner and lighter than ever
Plenty of apps available
Front and rear cameras
Easy to use

The Bad

No Flash support
Complex tasks are fiddly and take time
Difficult to transfer non-iTunes content back and forth

Specs

Apple’s iPad 2 will be the second iteration of the tablet that set the benchmark for the genre. It’s lighter along with faster when compared with its precursor, but essentially similar, so manages to remain cutting edge in a market loaded with awesome Android impersonators.

One of the most remarkable things about the iPad 2 will be its price. In the USA, it will cost exactly like the first iPad, but throughout the UK will probably be £30 cheaper than the very first iPad had been when it was unveiled. You’ll spend £399 for the 32gb Wi-Fi-only iPad 2, £479 for your 32GB type and £559 with the 64GB version. For the iPad 2 using both Wi-Fi in addition to 3G on-line, you’re looking in an extra £100 across all models.

Does what it says on the tin

Missing a built-in physical keyboard or mouse, Apple prudently aimed to maintain the iPad 2′s uncomplicated interface — small and awkward tasks aren’t welcome on the tablet, as you have to regulate it with your blunt, fleshy fingers. Sticking with the same touch-friendly user interface that has wowed on the iPhone, with a bigger screen, even little ones and felines could use an iPad 2.

If you have ever used an Apple iPhone or iPod Touch, the iPad2 will feel immediately common. A single key below the screen delivers the home screen and the primary menu has a bunch of oblong icons that you just press to jog various options and software.

The iPad 2′s simplicity signifies it isn’t when customisable as its Android operating system competitors, much like the Motorola Xoom. Apple’s system lets you modify the wallpaper and sort this icons in to categories, but that’s about it. Along with Android, you may pack your home screen filled with shortcuts as well as widgets, nevertheless such overall flexibility comes with the price of convenience. You’ll have to decide which quality is definitely most important to you.

Although we like to the Apple iPad 2′s simplicity, it may prove a critical drawback in some situations. For example, you can change between two apps which have been running simultaneously by double-clicking your home button, and you can’t evaluate the apps side by side in two several windows. That means that the Apple iPad can battle against any task more complex in comparison with surfing the Web.

Suppose you want to publish an email. Should you simply create the message and commence typing, everything works like no bodies business. But, when you want to do much more, like insert in some textual content from your work schedule or add a photo, you have to engage in a strong app-swapping session that could make your brain swim. Also, some jobs that are prevalent on a full-sized pc, like including an email add-on, just can’t often be accomplished.

Also copying along with pasting textual content is irritating on the iPad2. You have to maintain your hand on word to highlight it. You can then drag some teeny markers about to highlight the exact text you choose — in theory. It’s often impossible to get this method right on Internet pages because of their HTML-formatted textual content. Even when it truly does work perfectly, you may need the concentration of a monk so that you can tap along with drag your cursor where you want it.

On the i phone, this copy-and-paste process feels like an incredible way across the lack of a mouse, since its a small gadget whose ability to do any textual content editing in the least seems marvellous. On a supplement, which will be regarded as by a number of as an alternative to a laptop, them feels inelegant as well as fiddly.

The limitations of a tablet are specially noticeable once you try to generate files inside Pages, Numbers and Keynote — the actual Apple equivalents of Word, Excel and also PowerPoint. A interface appearance fantastic, yet trying to whip documents more difficult than a shopping list without a keyboard and computer mouse button is trying unsurprisingly — fingers merely aren’t genuine enough intended for detailed operate. We suggest making use of Google Papers in the browser, so you can perform your critical typing on your hard drive, and have having access to your written documents for reference point and a few swift edits on the iPad 2.

Stamping is also a suffering, unless you produce an AirPrint-enabled printer or a third-party printing application.

Keep your iOS on the ball

We suggest a person forget about attempting any genuine work on this iPad as well as stick to having a good time. The Apple iPad 2 has admission to the huge selection of apps as well as games inside the App Keep, so you’ll never be short of a little something to help you complete the time although skiving off.

Gamers can choose between everything from enslaving puzzle game titles to gory first-person shooting games. There’s far greater range of software available, such as photo writers, guitar tuners and everything in between. You may plan your regular workout, your love lifetime and your vacation booking on your iPad. The majority of the big-name apps are likely to hit the App Save before the Android OS Market, in addition to apps usually cost less compared to a couple of fat.

Apple’s own GarageBand iphone app is one of the nearly all impressive, truly showing off how much you can do having a touchscreen product. You can history multiple monitors using realistic-sounding digital instruments, and also cheat-assisted instruments of which pluck them selves for you. A app just isn’t for professionals who love messing with millions of knobs on a proper preparing desk, but we could discover beginners acquiring seriously addicted to creating audio on the Apple iPad 2. We just desire you could move your tracks to the iPod on the iPad 2, rather than needing to sync these your computer primary.

You can also employ iPhone programs on the iPad 2, but they do not fill a screen until you use the pixel-doubling zoom lens feature. That produces the image even bigger, but it doesn’t take advantage of the iPad’s bigger resolution, consequently you’re quit craving the particular iPad edition of the software. It’s also worth noting you’re locked in to Apple’s App Retail store to get each one of these goodies, and you may only use iTunes on a single laptop for syncing.

Programs are helpful, but they’re never absolutely necessary. You can surf the entire Web while in the iPad 2′s technique. It’s lightning-fast as well as does an amazing job connected with displaying Websites accurately. The iPad 2′s Achilles heel, its not enough Flash support, is becoming less of a problem, searching for sites bend to Apple’s could possibly and undertake Flash-free redesigns.

It’s well worth remembering that Apple offers forgone Flash which is battery-hungry and does crash. Still, we often discovered we jogged into a online video media, photo go show or maybe audio video on the Web we couldn’t look at the iPad2 — even for popular web pages, like The Guardian’s.

An additional drawback will be the iPad 2′s loss of memory when it features multiple Web sites open — once you swap here we are at a page, 1 of three reload it from scratch. This is often a huge headache if you’re browsing on on the practice or other destinations with discontinuous connectivity, considering that pages who were fully crammed can invigorate into nothingness when you’re in a tunnel. It’s also infuriating when you’ve filled out part of an internet based form, swapped windows to evaluate something on another Web page, and vanished back to learn that the web site has rested and lost all your perform. We anticipated and interceded that this caching concern would be settled on the iPad2, since the world thinks that Net surfing is definitely the tablet’s killer practical application. But, sad to say, it still requirements work.

Nonetheless, the iPad from Apple 2′s quick start time and flexibility meant most people usually achieved for it through our telephone or notebook computer when we needed to do some browsing or atone for some World-wide-web reading. In case you are on the road and also the iPad 2 is perhaps all you have, that may use it for more complex tasks, just like Internet business banking — if you’re individual.

Face to face

The particular iPad 2 would like to tempt an individual into having its new Zero.3-megapixel front and also 0.91-megapixel rear cameras which has a playful practical application called Picture Booth. This easy and fundamental app can be used as creating stupid photos for ones Facebook account and so on, although not for any really serious editing.

FaceTime is also provided on the Apple iPad 2. With this video-calling iphone app, you can speak to people with all the front as well as rear-facing cameras, although only those who have a Macintosh, iPhone 4, iPod or iPad2. We had your Face Time talk to an obliging Apple employee in the office around California, as well as, even over jam-packed Wi-Fi, the video good quality was fantastic compared to contending offerings, just like Skype. It’s a waste you won’t be able to share the enjoyment with your pals / buddies who have other smart phone.

You are able to shoot online video with sometimes the front and also rear camcorders on the iPad 2, but merely the rear 1 takes quality shots. Entry one is pleasurable for making flicks by yourself — ahem — though the images are certainly not sharp or even well-exposed. The back SLR camera shoots 720p video clip, and the quality is suitable. Waving the iPad 2 around just like a camera will be inconvenient and definitely will make you search stupid, although.

The iMovie software lets you modify your shows. This video-editing application has been improved to take benefit of the touchscreen, and helps you apply elegant cuts and also background music in your creations. It can be fun to try out with videos you’ve opportunity on your Apple company iPad or new iphone 4, but importing video using sources could be devilishly hard, including syncing with a laptop at the very least.

In order to screen your creations on your telly, you may use the updated AirPlay feature, so long as you have an Apple company TV. AirPlay presently streamed video on the iPad for you to Apple Television for computer, and now it might stream snapshot slide indicates too. Software and sites can also stream video and audio in excess of AirPlay.

The iPad 2 supports iTunes home sharing so you can play media through your computer about the tablet through your home Wi-Fi multi-level. When you’re out and about, the easiest way to obtain video and audio to the iPad 2 is to find it on iTunes. The choice is good, but it’s expensive — most of us pay 99p in great britan to rent payments the cheapest in the films about iTunes, while as all of our American good friends pay merely 99 dollars (61p). But it’s a really pain to transform other models and get them on the machine that it’s definitely worth the money.

Nippy

The iPad packs the 1GHz, dual-core A5 CPU as well as dedicated GPU, which the original Apple company iPad lacked. The Apple company says celebrate the iPad 2 twice as rapidly as the original iPad in relation to processor-heavy tasks, and nine periods faster in terms of crunching visuals.

During each of our tests, your iPad 2 demonstrated faster than the original iPad from Apple, but not quite as fast even as we expected. In spite of the tablet’s new dual-core processor and GPU, lots of its pace improvements in fact seem to be because of updated main system. Since the original iPad got the same the new IOS 4.3 replace, the two products are approximately as easy as each other when it comes to a lot of tasks, like opening programs and filling Web pages.

That does not mean the iPad 2 is sluggish. Like it’s iPhone sisters and brothers, the iPad’s sleek, buttery scrolling is roads ahead of the opposition. If you’re helpful to using an Apple iPad with a former version with iOS, you’ll definitely spot the speed enhancements.

We leaped some testing on the Apple iPad 2 and an first iPad jogging the latest the new IOS 4.3, while using GLBenchmark app. In certain areas, including CPU integer overall performance, we couldn’t see any enhancement. (CPU integer effectiveness reflects the rate of the model when filling out basic responsibilities, and can have an effect on anything jogging on the pill.) But, practically across the board, we were treated to advances within graphics effectiveness. The iPad 2 was very better from rendering finishes and triangles, especially.

We weren’t able to fault the earliest iPad’s battery life. The item lived as much as Apple’s claims involving 10 time of use, or a month connected with standby period. Despite becoming thinner, light and more effective, the Apple iPad 2 offers the identical epic battery life.

Slim Jim

The actual iPad 2 is merely 8.8mm solid, so it’s more shapely than the skinniest touch screen phone currently in the marketplace, the iphone. As such, we had been concerned it would really feel as wafer-thin plus breakable just as one After Ten mint. The good news is, the Apple company iPad 2′s aluminium scenario means the item feels sensibly sturdy.

Soon after lugging the item around during their visit, protected through nothing but so that covers the display screen, we were in awe of the Apple company iPad 2′s ability to endure. It’s possible to dent the light weight aluminium case while in normal employ, though, as well as, if you fall the tablet over a hard area, you can kiss your computer screen goodbye.

Apple’s removable cover attaches to magnets hidden inside iPad 2′s frame, clicking straight into place satisfyingly. It can also be folded in a stand, allowing for more convenient inputting and online video viewing. Disintegration the cover through the screen quickly wakes up your iPad 2.

The quilt isn’t cheap, at £35 to the fabric model, and £65 for your leather 1. The cover will not look quite as sexy personally as it will in Apple’s cute, Pixar-inspired promotional training video either. The grey edition we tried looked innovative in a Blake’s Seven kind of means, but we may suggest collecting one of the significantly less ’70s colours.

The quilt is worth acquiring if you can manage to pay for it. The idea hardly provides any size to the supplement, it’s handy to have a stay wherever you might be, and it’s super quick to deploy. We cannot be having ours away from.

Worth Upgrading?

If you have already an iPad from Apple, you may be wanting to know if it’s truly worth upgrading in an iPad 2. If you don’t just can’t reside another subsequent knowing that you might be behind the curve, we think the answer then is ‘no’.

Although the iPad 2 is speedier at making graphics than the first iPad from Apple, the original is practically as fast at surfing the Web plus opening programs. Just be sure to deploy the improvement to iOS 4.3, simply because that’s where almost all of the speed advancements come from.

An area in which the iPad 2 trounces its forerunners is excess weight. The Apple iPad 2 has go to the gym and come out and about thinner in addition to lighter. With 8.8mm dense, compared to the first iPad’s 13.4mm, it appears stunningly lean in person — just like a piece of paper.

After a few hrs of looking through and browsing, we really treasured the fact that this Wi-Fi-only iPad 2 all of us tested considered just 601g. That is 124g lighter as opposed to first iPad from Apple, which most of us found astonishingly heavy given its slim form. A lighter weight is specially pleasing as you don’t shed any life of the battery.

The iPad2 doesn’t search vastly dissimilar to the first iPad from Apple. It has precisely the same 9.7-inch tv screen with the same A single,024×768-pixel resolution. If you want to flaunt the point that you’ve got the most recent version, you may choose the white model, as opposed to the black — equally will be available when the capsule is brought out.

We subjected to testing the light iPad 2, nonetheless we still prefer the dark version. The particular white bezel distracts from what’s on screen, and it also helps make the iPad 2 resemble a appliance or electronic digital photo body. We preferred the whitened iPhone 3GS, yet that tool was only white coloured on the rear.

If weight isn’t a concern for your vastly muscled forearms, the 2nd major consideration will be the video cameras, which are new additions to a iPad 2. We not able to see folks taking many snapshots and also videos when waving around the innovative tablet, however it is front and rear camcorders are fun functions nevertheless. Playing around along with iMovie and Photo Booth will be amusing, along with iMovie only works on the more powerful Apple iPad 2. You can also work with FaceTime to generate video telephone calls, but only to those associates who have an Apple iphone 4, iPod touch, Mac or some other iPad 2. You have to also be linked with Wi-Fi.

The iPad 2 doesn’t offer you every feature that iphone owners can enjoy in the new ios 4.3. As an example, you can’t make use of the iPad 2 being a personal hotspot. This particular feature lets you share ones phone’s Third generation Internet connection around Wi-Fi with your various other gadgets. You can’t do the in final summary is a 3G-enabled iPad 2.

Conclusion

Apple’s iPad 2 has each of the qualities that helped the initial iPad in order to define named. It’s simple to utilize, finger-friendly and offers usage of a massive selection of apps and games. We’d love the opportunity to turn about Flash from the browser in addition to load external video files easily, and we battled when we attempted to do anything harder than surf the net. But these niggles will not stop you from doting on a gadget providing you with such a fun, intuitive eye-port into the Web. The fact that the iPad 2 presents all this prospective in a sleeker, faster program than it has the predecessor, devoid of losing one of the battery life we have now learned to like, makes it much more crave-worthy.

With a posse connected with Android tablets on the horizon, your iPad 2 will not be dominant for a long time. But a wide selection of USB locations, cameras and widgets never guarantee how the Android tablets will be more enjoyment to use compared to iPad 2. If you don’t live without the memory-card slot and also Flash support, wait for the approaching wave associated with fantastic-looking Android products to hit our own shores just before parting with your cash. Normally, the Apple iPad 2 will be worth your hand-earned moolah.

…well, if the fact that Apple hiring extra staff in August and September is anything to go by.

US staff are being hired at same time as extra UK workers.

Apple is looking to hire extra US staff between 15 August and 15 September, suggesting the company is plotting a major launch for the middle of next month.

The insider info, snagged by MacRumors, follows the recent discovery that Apple is hiring more UK-based staff from the 16 August.

Of course, this could just be because Cupertino is giving added attention to students heading back to university in the autumn. But where’s the fun in that?

Chatter about an August iPhone 5 release has really ramped in recent weeks and it’s hard to deny that Apple’s recruitment drive isn’t related to the introduction of its next-gen blower.

The iPhone 5 continues to be the subject of rampant speculation, with talk of a slight redesign, improved camera and NFC tech. Hopefully all will be revealed in the next few weeks.

Source: T3

Apple could be set to offer a double whammy of smartphone goodness this year, with news that the Cupertino massive is to launch two versions of the iPhone 5.

The iPhone Download Blog is reporting that the new iPhone will come in two variations: standard and pro.

Now the iPhone Download Blog isn’t the first to send rumour and speculation skipping off hand in hand in Apple land, but it seems that this specific piece of information came from an insider who believes that Apple is stocking up on phone components of differing quality.

iPhone duo

The components being ordered won’t fit into one iPhone so it is thought that consumers may be able to buy either a budget iPhone or one which has better components inside.

Alternatively, the differing components could be used in the new iPod touch that Apple is rumoured to be working on – which fits better than a complete strategy change from Jobs’ lot.

It is still thought that the iPhone launch will miss its annual June release in favour of a release sometime in September – a date usually kept for the launch of new iPods.

Source: Techradar

Those iPhone users who are fed up with the add-on charge for using the phone’s hotspot to hook up to the internet have just received some good news.

The latest O2 pricing overhaul has done away with this charge for tethering, and all of O2’s data allowances now include free iPad 2 internet tethering as standard. If you already have a contract with them then you will need to upgrade it in order to benefit from this offer.

O2 say that these changes have come about because 70% of their customers choose a smartphone with internet access these days.

Here are some of the big changes in the new pricing structure.

Firstly, you choose the tariff and the number of calling minutes you need and than a data allowance to cover all of your devices. The cheapest option gives 100MB for £3 a month while the most expensive costs a tenner and gives you 1GB as well as unlimited use of the O2 Wi-Fi hotspot network. If that still isn’t enough for you then you can splash out another tenner and get a further 1GB added onto your allowance, to avoid a slowing down in the connection for the remainder of the month.

There are also new, 12 month contracts now on offer from O2, for those people who want to avoid the current craze for asking customers to sign up on an 18 or 24 month deal. These contracts are currently only going to be offered to those existing customers who want to upgrade.

This means Apple iPad 2, Moto Xoom or any other Wi-Fi only tablet owners will be able to tether their iPhone and iPad for 3g on the move on their new tablet, great news for those of you who have Wi-Fi only tablets – not so much if you have already purchased a 3g model though.

What other changes would you like to see in the current mobile phone tariffs and contracts?

Source: Gadgetsandgizmos

We’ve waited and waited, and now Apple and Verizon have made a million dreams come true: the iPhone is coming to Big Red. After talking up his new LTE network a bit, Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam confirmed a CDMA (non-LTE) version of the iPhone 4 is coming to Verizon Wireless next month.

Talks started way back in 2008, and the phone has been in testing for a year — it sounds like they wanted to get this one right. Current Verizon customers will be able to pre-order on Feburary 3rd for the standard $200 price for the 16GB model on a two year agreement, $300 for the 32GB version — everyone else can order on February 10th.

Just to clarify and put any wild rumors to bed, the phone is Verizon 3G (EV-DO) only, no 4G data or GSM roaming. It’s not a world phone or an AT&T + Verizon phone, it’s just a Verizon phone.

Outside of Verizon connectivity, the phone is basically unchanged, although Verizon’s CDMA network doesn’t support simultaneous voice and data as with the GSM version. It does have the new antenna design we were hearing about last week, but that’s just because CMDA requires a different configuration of antennas. (Apple says they didn’t go LTE just yet because first-gen chipsets would force unwanted design decisions, and customers want a Verizon device now.) That slight modification also equates to a slight bump in where the volume buttons and mute switch — a new case might be required. Software-wise the big innovation is five user WiFi hotspot functionality, something that’s standard on Android phones, while Apple has kept the iPhone only able to tether directly to one computer.

Source: Engadget

Apple’s amazing iPad is now available on contract following today’s ground breaking announcement from Orange.

The iPad on Orange is available on a fantastic pay monthly tariff:

* New customers – £199 on 24 month plan at £27 a month
* Existing Customers – £199 on 24 month plan at £25 a month

iPad is without doubt the best way to experience the web, email, photos, and video. Hands down.

All of the built-in apps on iPad were designed from the ground up to take advantage of the large Multi-Touch screen and advanced capabilities of iPad. And they work in any orientation. So you can do things with these apps that you can’t do on any other device.

Don’t miss out on the top selling gadget of 2010, grab your Orange iPad right now! Go to offer

All the signs are pointing to 2012 for Apple to take control of how you use and connect to your network services on the hugely popular iPhone.

This final step by Apple would put the gadgets and media company in firm control of every iDevice on the market within a couple of years of the service starting, as old models are replaced with better functions, unrestricted by the limits of current network providers.

If Apple does decide this is the way to go, the iPhone will likely get smaller again, as there will be no requirement for a SIM card slot. Instead, the SIM data would be embedded directly into the existing hardware of the phone.

The same method would be used for the iPad and any other iDevice that uses network services.

The move to an embedded SIM for iPhone users would be a frustrating one for consumers and retailers alike. Currently, many network providers such as O2 or Vodafone sell the iPhone on their own data plans at a heavily subsidised rate. Without the guaranteed monthly income for network providers, this subsidisation will of course end as iPhone owners will be able to select their preferred network at the point of sale, and would possibly be able to change providers at will, using Apps downloaded from the App store that re-encode the phone.

Apple already manage to control stocks of their popular devices very well, seemingly restricting supplies to retail stores when demand is at its highest – which only serves to further increase consumers’ desire to get their hands on the latest models. With Apple in control of stock levels and network services, they really will have complete say in how their products are distributed and used.

A source from Apple has stated that the iPhone 5 that is scheduled for launch in mid-2011 is not expected to contain an embedded SIM so network providers can relax for at least another 18 months.

Tom Advani – Guest Poster, owner of FreeiPhones4me.com – another great resource to get yourself a free iPhone