In Smartphone news, the iPhone is making a lot of money for Apple—more than half the industry’s overall profits belong to the Cupertino-based company. Though Samsung has pushed way ahead of Apple for sales in the September quarter, Apple managed to command 52% of the profits with the iPhone.

This is according to Canaccord Genuity Analyst T. Michael Walkley, who points out that Apple’s profit command comes from only 4.2 percent of the global market share; smaller still when you realize that its market share has dipped from 5.4 percent.

It’s also worthy to note that in the third quarter of 2011, Samsung and Apple combined make up 81% of the money made for the smartphone market. The rest of the 8 largest manufacturers: Nokia, RIM, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, LG, HTC, all came in with under 10% of the profits.Walkley also points out that four years ago Apple was puttering around with only 4% of the profits while Nokia reigned with a whopping 67%, and now the two companies fortunes have reversed.

As impressive as that 52% seems, Walkley believes that Apple will be reaping even bigger profits when the fourth quarter rolls around. With Rim and Motorola struggling in North America and Nokia bogged down as well, Apple is predicted to grab at least 60% of the smartphone industry’s profits. The company is expected to hit 29 million iPhone sales by December and to pump out 104.4 million by the end of 2012.

Despite the popularity of Android, Apple ruling in the profits area has become a trend as Canaccord Genuity that the iPhone garnered roughly 50 percent in the years first quarter. Apple may have ceded the title of largest phone vender to Samsung, but of course that was before the iPhone 4S launch.

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The  latest online rumours suggest that Apple could be launching a new version of the Apple iPad 2 (pictured above) in March.  The new iPad could well be called the iPad 2S , but we're unsure whether it'll be an improved version of the iPad 2 or a more affordable version. The same uncertainty existed before the iPhone 4S's announcement , so were predicting it'll be an improved iPad 2.
 
Potential improvements the iPad 2S could bring include the the inclusion of Siri, a better screen, more powerful processor and a better camera.  We'll just have to wait and see but we wouldn't expect massive improvements because Apple are rumoured to be launching the iPad 3 sometime in the 3rd Quarter of 2011. Naturally, they'll keep the major improvements for the launch of the iPad 3 and we can't even compliment what innovations Apple might bring to the iPad 3.  3G is already super-excited about the prospect of a new iPad , even if it isn't the iPad 3, and once we get any more news about the iPad 2S we'll let you know.

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Good news and bad news for iPhone 4S battery life sufferers: Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has finally acknowledged that there are a "a few" charge-sucking problems in iOS 5, but it's going to take "a few weeks" to fix. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers wonder why it took Apple three weeks to admit it.

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The Apple iPhone 4S is an amazing bit of kit, but all those incredible innards can chew through the battery at an alarming rate not to mention the recent iOS 5 problems where a location bug is draining the battery. There’s nothing worse than being away from a power outlet, watching the battery indicator edging ever lower, knowing you’re going to need your iPhone later. Happily, there are some easy ways to make your remaining power last that little bit longer.

The aim is to reduce the strain on your battery: the less you make it do, the longer it’ll last. It’s like driving – your car drinks less petrol at 50mph than it does at 70mph. And remember that while these tips are for the iPhone, some apply to the iPod Touch and iPad 2, so keep them in mind no matter what iOS device you have.

1 Turn down the brightness
The screen’s backlight is one of the biggest drains on a battery. So go into Settings > Brightness and make sure Auto-Brightness is On. If you’re really low on juice, manually turn the brightness down as low as it’ll go.

2 Disable 3G
Browsing the web over 3G is quick, but it slurps away at your battery like a gas-guzzling V8. If you’re not using 3G (say, you’re browsing the web over Wi-Fi), turn it off! Do this in Settings > General > Network > Enable 3G.

3 Switch off Push mail and automatic checking
Instantly knowing that a new email has come in can be useful, but isn’t essential. This service, called Push, is another power-hungry feature, and you can disable it in Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Fetch New Data.

Staying in the Fetch New Data screen, you can set how often your iPhone checks for email. To conserve power, set the interval to be long… preferably Never. You can still check manually using the Mail app.

4 Location, location, location
Using a variety of methods, including its GPS, your iPhone can pinpoint its location on a map. There are times when this is great, but you can save your battery by disabling it in Settings > General > Location Services.

5 Do away with Bluetooth
Lastly, is there a little B icon next to your battery indicator? If so, that means Bluetooth is on, and if you’re short on power, chances are you can do without it. Its on/off toggle is in Settings > General > Bluetooth.

If you fancy brushing up your knowledge on all things iOS and iDevice then check out Tap! The iPhone and iPad magazine from the same publishers as T3. Out every month, it's packed full of app, game and kit reviews, tutorials and more. As well as print and Zinio editions, you can also get the exciting new app edition, all packed with fun stuff to do.

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Some owners of Apple's (AAPL) shiny new iPhone have run into a problem: not enough juice. Hundreds of people are reporting on Twitter and other social networks that the iPhone 4S is running out of power far sooner than expected and much quicker than Apple promises. Some are saying that even with minimal use, the device can't make it through a workday without needing to be recharged.

Various tech blogs have offered suggestions on how to extend the battery life of the phone, including barring particular applications from accessing the phone's location and shutting off push mail. But some users say those solutions haven't helped. Consumers have posted more than 2,500 comments on an Apple discussion board concerning the battery problem.

Tim Billington, an information technology consultant in Reading, England, said he's experienced the battery drain since he got his iPhone on Oct. 17. He's tried various solutions, including rebooting his phone, turning off certain location services and even shutting down Siri, the iPhone 4S hallmark voice command service. But to no avail. "I'm very much frustrated," said Billington. "It's a great phone. You want to be using it, don't you?" The extent of the issue is unknown. Apple has not commented publicly on the problem and company representatives did not respond to requests for comment.

But Apple engineers have quietly contacted some users who have complained about the problem, The Guardian, a U.K. newspaper, reported Friday. The battery issue appears to be a legitimate problem, said Van Baker, a consumer technology analyst for Gartner, a market research company. "Too many people have noticed it, and too many people have complained about it to think it's just a fluky thing," he said. The problem isn't affecting all iPhone 4S users. Tim Bajarin, principal analyst at Creative Strategies, a tech research firm and consultancy, said his company has been testing out three or four iPhone 4Ss, but hadn't been able to duplicate the problem. "We're just not seeing it," he said. "It could be spotty."

Apple says that iPhone 4S owners should get up to eight hours of talk time and up to six hours of time surfing the Web when connected to 3G networks and up to 200 hours of standby time. But some users are saying they are getting nowhere close to that.

Brock Gunter-Smith, an executive at a Canadian mail-order pharmacy, said that by the end of an eight-hour day, his iPhone 4S has about a 20 percent charge. That's a much greater rate of drain than he saw on his iPhone 4 or his iPhone 3GS.

"I find the back of the phone to be hot now most of the time," said Gunter-Smith, who lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba. "My other phones never had that issue."Some users reported online that they were able to address the problem by turning off a feature where the iPhone uses location-based services to figure out what time zone it is in. But others said that hadn't helped.

Billington said he tested charging up the phone completely, turning off most services and notifications and closing down all of his apps. He then left the phone untouched overnight. By morning, the phone showed hours of usage and its battery was about 40 percent drained.

"The strange thing there is the usage. That's too high when nothing should really be going on," he said.
That people are reporting various levels of success with potential solutions to the battery drain problem indicates that it may be a complex issue involving many different causes, Baker said. It could also explain why Apple hasn't said anything about it publicly yet.

"It could be that it's not a real simple problem," he said. "It could take Apple a while to figure this one out."
The trouble with the new iPhone -- and Apple's lack of public acknowledgment of it -- is reminiscent of how the company responded to the antenna problem with last year's new model, the iPhone 4. The company at first declined to comment on numerous reports that the iPhone 4 was dropping calls and that its antenna strength could be diminished by simply holding it. Apple officials later acknowledged the problem and provided a free rubber bumper to owners to help solve it.

But analysts don't expect the battery trouble to become as big a problem for Apple as the antenna issue was. The battery drain is likely a software problem, said Baker. "Software you can fix. An antenna you can't change," he said. Battery problems aside, the iPhone 4S has been a big hit so far. Apple sold 4 million in the first weekend that the new gadget was on sale, which marked a record not only for Apple, but for any phone.

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After having been halted by the iPhone 4S reality for some time, the rumor mills have back to the imaginary iPhone 5.  Many people believe Apple will launch iPhone 5 in 2012. Though Apple hasn't given any hint about the possible features of the smartphone, yet many experts are predicting that LTE, or wireless broadband technology, may be added to iPhone 5.

They say Apple won't launch the iPhone 5 until the 4G LTE technology is available for compact smartphones. With the availability of LTE, upload and download speeds will be much faster compared to the existing 3G networks. As a result, the device may not be released until next year, they reason.

The lack of more compact LTE chips is to be blamed for Apple's release the iPhone 4S instead of the iPhone 5, according to analysts. It is reported that Qualcomm is working on a chip that will be ready by the second quarter of 2012 and could be used in Apple's next handset.

In the present situation, LTE chips will not fit into the casing of iPhone 4 after all other components are added. It has to be noted that iPhone 4 already uses a small printed circuit board that will leave little space for the LTE chip. iPhone 5 will not be able to fit an LTE chip without shrinking battery size, as of now. At the same time huge battery support will be required for the large number of applications.

Since iPhone 4S is out featuring a dual-core processor and an 8 megapixel camera, it can only be assumed that iPhone 5 will feature high end specs. A curved glass display and a slimmer body with an aluminum plate casing are also expected in iPhone 5.

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Buzz has the iPhone 5 release date event in 2012 being a shrine to Apple’s late CEO Steve Jobs, with ideas as far flung as a posthumous pre-taped introductory video visit from Jobs himself to usher in the “one more thing” iPhone 5 and its litany of presumed new features. But history and timing both say that even if such a thing were to happen, it would be for the iPad 3 introduction instead. Apple’s most recent event, the iPhone 4S and iOS 5 launch, was hosted by new Apple CEO Tim Cook with significant contributions from longtime Apple marketing honcho Phil Schiller. Nary a mention was made of Jobs, whom the world later learned was living out the last full day of his life even as his colleagues were unveiling the 4S and making nary a mention of him (most likely at his own insistence, as he would have seen it as a distraction). But enough time having passed by next year, with Tim Cook being viewed firmly as the Apple CEO by that time, why would the iPhone 5 event still not be Jobs-themed? For two reasons, one of which is the fact that the iPad was always Steve’s baby…

Actually, the more simple reason is one of the calendar: with the iPad 3 likely to see its release date around March 2012 and the iPhone 5 not likely to follow until the summer or fall, the iPad event comes first. If Steve were to make a posthumous product introduction (again, we’re not saying the idea sounds realistic, but rather merely addressing viability of the buzz we’re hearing), it would be at Apple’s next event – and that’ll be the iPad 3 event. But it runs deeper than that. When Apple introduced the first iPad, Jobs revealed that he’d been working on the iPad since before even the iPhone was on the table. He viewed the iPad tablet as the device of the future, the one which would replace Mac and PC computers in most homes; he admitted he only decided to shrink the iPad down into phone-size and go that route first because that’s the way the industry wind was blowing…

In fact, after his transplant, Jobs came back to Apple specifically to finish the iPad and get it out the door, which he did in the spring of 2010. In fact, even after taking a medical leave of absence, he still showed up on stage to introduce the iPad 2 this past spring. If Steve were going to do something as seemingly out of character as filming an introductory video before his death to be used at a future Apple event, it would be the iPad 3 introduction if anything.

It wouldn’t be the first time Jobs has surprised people at an Apple event. In the fall of 2009, not too long after his transplant, he was the first person on stage. That alone earned him an extended standing ovation from the press in attendance. If he were able to sneak in one last “one more thing” it would send the room – and the world – into a frenzy. But if such a thing were to happen, it would be at the iPad 3 event, not at the iPhone 5 release date. However, don’t look for it at all if you don’t want to be disappointed. While Jobs appeared to enjoy playing showman for Apple’s new products, he wanted the focus on the products themselves. Here’s more on the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5.

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Head and shoulders above most of the pack when it comes to looks, the Apple iPad 2 is the tablet to beat here. Its battery life, slim profile, beautiful 132 pixel-per-inch (1024x768-pixel) screen and accurate onscreen keyboard are second to none. It’s an IPS panel, which limits the reflectiveness but allows for good viewing angles.

The iPad 2 is slimmer than the original model and is also faster and lighter. It weighs 618g – a smidgen more than the plastic-clad Sony, but far slimmer at only 8.8mm. Apple has also given the interface an overhaul (not that one was really needed). With iOS5 you now get access to the wonders of iCloud. This automatically backs up your files and allows you to access your own content stored remotely via your own online portal. You can then stream it to wherever you are or play it through an AirPlay speaker. As well as accessible content on a Mac or another iOS device, you can, of course, call up anything you’ve downloaded via iTunes.

If you dislike being tied in to iTunes, iCloud offers a great alternative – and yet another reason to choose the extremely desirable iPad 2 over other brands of tablet (iPad 1 owners can also update to iOS5 for free). You can backup this way too: We were impressed to find content written on our commute on our iPad appear on our work PC without prompting.

Music you own but didn’t buy via iTunes needs to be bought again at modest cost though, but you aren’t actually tied to using iTunes for synching anything else from your iDevices (hurrah!).

Using the iPad 2 is an absolute joy. Web browsing allows you to open as many pages as you’d like (though pressing the Home button seems as an odd construct to us and is a rare instance of Apple unintuitiveness). You don’t get Flash support, but you do get an exceptionally smooth browsing experience without the stutters that plague some of the tablets we review here.

The iPad’s multi-touch control has not been bettered and you get by far the best choice of tablet-specific apps – and without the worry of accidentally downloading rogue apps. The closed Apple system is not for everyone, but the iCloud supports offers a workable answer to the limited storage issue and there are third-party accessories if you wish to physically connect your iPad to a large-screen TV via HDMI.   

You get a 0.7Mp rear camera but only a VGA (480x640-pixel) front-facing one for video chat. Apple’s FaceTime works at full-size and lets you assume amusing guises and morph yourself in real-time as you shoot the breeze with friends. This and the much improved video handling are benefits of the faster Apple A5 processor that the iPad 2 sports over the original model. The Honeycomb tablets here are at least as good at video playback, though, and have better stills cameras, while the HTC Flyer is as good for zany video chats.

Really, though, this is nitpicking. The iPad 2 is clearly the best executed and most desirable tablet around – as the market statistics suggest.

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People wanted an iPhone 5. A top-secret new phone to deliver previously unknown pleasures, and to cast the 16-month-old iPhone 4 into the rubbish heap of planned obsolescence. But the news on October 4, coming just a day before Steve Jobs's death, was a reminder that not every Apple announcement blows off the roof. So here's the 4S--faster, Sprint-ier, with a better camera to see the world, and Siri, the voice-recognition assistant to better listen to it. And the proverbial question: is it worth an upgrade?

Like the iPad 2, the iPhone took a class-leader and subtly but smartly improved it, without breaking any moulds. In this case, there were literally no moulds broken: the iPhone 4S, save for a few variations in its aluminum antenna to improve the iPhone 4 "death grip," is physically identical externally.
But unlike the iPad, which is the undisputed tablet leader, the iPhone has some competition in the very-nice-smartphone market, most of them running Android and, more recently, a few of them running Windows Phone. So while the decision becomes a bit more complex, it's tough to find a smartphone package as powerful, elegant and self-contained as an iPhone 4S. But do not despair, iPhone 4 owners: much of the new magic is bottled in the iOS 5 update.

WHAT'S NEW
As usual, the iPhone 4S's processor gets a bump from the iPhone 4's A4 to what Apple calls the A5--the same processor family found in the iPad 2. The camera, now at eight megapixels up from five, shoots 1080p video and has an improved lens and sensor. And then there's Siri, a voice-recognition software assistant that Apple says can only run with the 4S's stronger processor.

WHAT'S GOOD
Everything new is good. Compared with running a fresh install of iOS 5 on an iPhone 4, the A5 processor boosts performance across the whole operating system. It doesn't blow the A4 chip out of the water, but in a touch interface, even small gains in responsiveness as you swipe and tap from screen to screen make a huge difference in your perception of speed.

I can also verify the camera improvements are legit. Noise levels in low light are still not as good as my S90 point and shoot, of course, but they're significantly better than the iPhone 4, which was already pretty adept in low light. In many more well-lit situations, image quality is actually getting pretty close to a high-quality point and shoot when you're looking at the photos on-screen. Colors are natural, tap-to-focus works, and with iOS 5's lock-screen camera button and the option to use one of the volume buttons for shutter release, the iPhone 4S is a pretty solid camera that you always have with you. That's great. (Our friends at Popular Photography will be publishing a more technical test very soon).

And then there's Siri. Early reviews were swept head over heels with her, but she and I have had a bumpier start. Siri misunderstands what I'm saying fairly often--I don't know if it's because I still have a hard time speaking naturally to my phone, because it's what I think she wants? Maybe it's because I've never in my life had a personal assistant, and I'm just not quite comfortable with the social norms of such a luxury, and she can hear that in my voice. Or maybe we just weren't meant to be?

When we do click, the effect is undeniably pretty magical (which is why this is filed under "What's Good"). I've especially enjoyed talking to Siri through the headset microphone while walking--squeeze the button, ask "are there any Radio Shacks nearby" (I needed a camera battery!), and if all is understood, the results are ready in your pocket when you pause at the next crosswalk. That's pretty nice. I can imagine the effect is even more satisfying for drivers.

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At last count, Apple’s iPad has more than 66 percent of the tablet market to its name. Android-based tablets, on the other hand, have only about 26 percent of the tablet space under their control. All other tablet makers that are trying to grab market share with their own platforms are trailing far behind those competitors. Considering all that, it appears that Apple will dominate the tablet space for at least the next year. But what will happen after that? Surely Apple will continue to sell a large number of iPads, and the company’s products should continue to set new benchmarks in the tablet space. But as the Cupertino, Calif.-based company continues to face pressure from all sides, it might not take long for Apple to be toppled as the tablet leader. Of course, there are some that say it can’t happen. They point to the iPad’s success so far and say that Apple has cemented its position as the market leader. But those folks fail to realize that many people said the same thing about the iPhone. Although Apple’s handset is the best-selling smartphone in the world, total worldwide sales of Android devices are easily eclipsing it. Therefore, it’s worth pointing out that while the iPad might lead all devices in unit sales for the foreseeable future, it will eventually be overcome by competitors. This eWEEK slide show explains why.

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