With Apple virtually certain to announce a release date for the next-generation iPhone next week, lots of current iPhone owners (always an excitable bunch) are no doubt counting down the minutes — and wondering what to do with their current phones.

While some retailers offer discounts for a trade-in (Radio Shack was offering $100 for some previous models when the iPhone 4 was released), Apple stores and their designated carriers generally don’t give back as much cash, or credit, as an owner might earn outside the store.

But a growing online resell market has emerged to give folks another option.

Between now and Monday, the day before Apple has scheduled an iPhone-related event, one of those sites, Nextworth, is offering $250 for 16GB and 32GB iPhone 4s that are in good shape.

The company, which also has trade-in programs at some retail stores, bills itself as a way to get value out of your aging electronics while keeping the products out of landfills, where they can cause environmental problems.

The services wipe all data from your phone as soon as they get it, they say.

Nextworth, and others like them, refurbish used electronics and resell them. In the case of items like the iPhone, they sell them in countries where the items are typically unavailable, presumably bringing a healthier price.

Gazelle.com is offering $250 for a 32GB iPhone 4 in “flawless” condition and $169 for one in good condition. Got a busted model? It’ll give you $85 for one even if it won’t turn on or is physically damaged.

Of course, there are always the direct-sale sites like eBay and Craigslist.

You might earn more in exchange for the hassle of posting, selling and delivering the phone yourself. Folks were selling 32GB iPhone 4s on eBay on Friday for prices ranging from $245 to $634. In Atlanta, people had listed 32GB iPhone 4s for prices ranging from $290 to $450.

(We’re using prices on that model because it’s the top of the line. Older phones, like the 3GS, and 16GB and 8GB models obviously have a market as well, generally at lower prices).

Of course, the low-effort way to deal with a phone upgrade is to buy the new one at full price and just hold on to your current model. Even retired, your current phone can be a music player or Internet-surfing device when you have a Wi-Fi connection.

[Thanks: http://edition.cnn.com]

Though we’re certainly not sure of the legitimacy of the online sales site (our tipster encouraged us to buy, so we’ll tell you NOT to buy, of course), it’s interesting to see these new renders.

Or perhaps they’re photos? More likely they’re not quite real in the sense that they probably haven’t been manufactured quite yet, but they certainly appear real enough to be real in the near future. There’s one called “Air Series”, another called “2.0 Cover”, and another called “Ex-Sleek”. Legitimate names, right? The online store says they’ll be shipping these cases on October 1st, 2011, this of course tying up nicely with the early October guess for the Apple event.

What these cases reveal (see the gallery below) is that this iPhone will have its camera on the same side that it is on the iPhone 4 but that the flip switch (normally in the upper left) will now be in the upper right – right next to the camera, that is. The volume rocker, on the other hand, appears to be in the same place it’s is on the iPhone 4. The location of the headphone jack also appears to be in the same location as the iPhone 4, right at the top and to the side.

Beyond that, we can see in the dummy image of the actual iPhone that the display seems to be enlarged beyond the borders of the iPhone 4 and that there’s a slightly different background to the icons dock at the bottom of the display. Also the time display reads 9:42 AM, this perhaps pointing at the time of day that the device will be announced. Take a look at all the photos from the online store below, then note that we’re not going to link to the store because that would be silly since its obvious that they shouldn’t have the cases already anyway.

Next notice the complete lack of a flash light for the camera on the back of the device. Interesting! And finally, there’s the curvature to the backs of the devices, closer to the original iPhone or the iPod Touch than they are to the iPhone 4.

See the rest of our iPhone 5 / 4S / everything else news by hitting our big iPhone portal and find out everything there is to know (and to wait for.)

[Thanks: http://www.slashgear.com]

Dropbox is one of the better-known, online storage services – along with Box.net and others – and among the reasons for its popularity is its drop-dead-easy setup and navigation. Begun as a browser-based service on the web, the iPhone app is just as simple.

The free download from Apple’s iTunes App Store took about a minute (on a Wi-Fi connection) and after logging in, we were ready to access our file library an upload more files in about another minute. Navigation is slick and intuitive. Inside the app, click the “Dropbox” icon to access the main file menu; there are also icons for “favorite” folders, to upload files from the iPhone, and to manage settings.

Moving back and forth between the iPhone app and the Web-based interface is a breeze and doesn’t take much thought work.

A couple of notes: You can open a Dropbox account for free and, with that, you get 2 GB of storage. For $99 per year, you can upgrade to 50 GB – essentially on par with the top-tier available from Apple’s iTunes once it launches. There are also options of 100 GB for $199 per year, and for work groups that need 350 GB , it’ll run $795 per year.

[Thanks: http://www.crn.com]

Fall is already here, and according to earlier Apple rumors, that means iOS 5 and iCloud are almost here. Or, are they?

There is already movement over at Apple’s retail stores, where it seems that training has already begun for iOS 5 and the highly awaited iCloud service.

Apple has already started a series of instructional guides that are supposed to roll out over the “coming weeks”. Does this mean the launch of iPhone 5, iOS 5 and iCloud are only a few weeks away?

According to 9to5Mac, Apple has started the educational process amongst its employees. Based on the leaked image (below), this could certainly mean that Apple plans to release iOS 5 and the iPhone 5 in October.

Apple usually rolls out training of new products and major software releases a couple of weeks prior to a major product launch. Let’s not forget that iOS 5 beta 6 and 7 have focused on fixing some basic flaws and bringing closer the integration between Mac OS and iCloud features.

In addition, the folks over at This is my next received a message (see image below) that was passed by BestBuy to its employees indicating store managers to have employees on-hand at 6AM on Friday, October 21 so that an important “Apple fixture” can be installed on displays.

We’re only 4 weeks away from October. Apple seems to be already on the move preparing for the last quarter of 2011. It’s hard to point a specific launch date, but it seems that within the next 8 weeks Apple will surprise all of us with the new iPhone 5, iOS 5, and iCloud. Stay tuned!

[Thanks: http://www.padgadget.com]

Bloomberg reports that the European carrier is handing out coupons for the device to customers who ask for it without actually calling the device the iPhone 5. A company spokesperson told the outlet the move is based on expectations of the phone being hard to get once it’s released.

A follow-up report by German language news site Focus.de (as picked up by AppleInsider) notes that this pre-ordering process is being intentionally kept low profile, with no mention of it in advertising or its online store. Instead, customers will need to go into the carrier’s retail stores and request a reservation for the device.

Deutsche Telekom did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation of the program.

Apple and its carrier partners received more than 600,000 pre-orders for the iPhone 4 last year, resulting in a number of hiccups for those trying to reserve the device for purchase on its first day of availability. Apple then had trouble keeping up with demand, with new orders taking weeks to ship out to new buyers and causing customer lineups at Apple’s retail stores and carriers that were selling the device.

Deutsche Telekom became the second European sales partner for Apple following the launch of the original iPhone in 2007. The two companies proceeded to launch the handset on Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile network in early November.

Apple’s next iPhone is expected to be released in October, marking a departure from the company’s longstanding tradition of a summer release. The timing also coincides with when Apple typically holds its annual event to spruce up its lineup of iPods and The Apple TV.

[Thanks: http://news.cnet.com]

Unlike the mobile version of Safari or the stock browser that comes pre-installed on Android, Dolphin actually looks and feels more like a computer browser, with easy tab navigation, sidebars for bookmarks and site feeds, and a smart URL completion feature.

Unlike the Android version, the iPhone app is actually powered by the phone’s default browser, Safari. It just acts as a sort of layer on top of the browser, but functionally speaking it should act just about the same.

MoboTap recently received $10 in venture capital so we expect more good things to come from this company.

[Thanks: http://appscout.pcmag.com]

Dolphin for the iPhone version 1.0 offers features like the Webzine, which presents web pages in an easy to read article format, Gestures to quickly perform custom functions, easy, one-click sharing to Facebook or Twitter, the Speed Dial to access bookmarks quickly, tabbed browsing, SideBars that contain bookmarks and tool bars, the customizable MenuBar, and customizable user agents. Users of Dolphin for Android should feel right at home with the iPhone version.

Dolphin for iPhone is free and available in the iTunes App Store now. Take a look at the video below to see the Dolphin Browser in action on the various platforms it is available.

[Thanks: http://www.mobileburn.com]

An Apple TV, which would run the company’s operating system, would allow people to do many things with their televisions they cannot do now. The most important of these would probably be the ability to run Apple apps. This would permit consumers to download applications from Apple’s store which has hundreds of thousands of products. The Apple TV would allow people to switch from Facebook to Google to their calendars all on one device in the living room.

Apple’s risk of failure is greater than it was in the multimedia, smartphone, and tablet markets. The iPod was launched into market in which multimedia devices were cumbersome and a great deal of music was pirated. The iPod was a first-of-its-kind device with seamless controls. The related ITunes store was a single stop shop for what became thousands and thousands of songs, all available at one place.

The iPhone was released when the smartphone industry was in its early stages. It was a sector dominated by Research in Motion’s Blackberry, which was much more a business device than a consumer one. Apple was able to use its iPod brand success to sell the iPhone. And, the much-used Google (GOOG) Android operating system reached the market well after the iPhone was far down its road of success. The iPad was also early into the tablet PC market. It benefited from the wild popularity of the iPhone and the App Store–a ready place for consumers to personalize their tablets.

Apple’s risk is that the TV market is already crowded. A number of large consumer electronics companies make screens. More importantly, the television in the consumer’s home is already attached to an array of powerful boxes from NetFlix, cable companies, satellite TV firms, and game console manufactures which include Microsoft and Sony.

[Thanks: http://www.dailyfinance.com]

One of the first applications with iOS 5 compatibility to be approved was “Camera+” from developer tap tap tap. As noted by Cult of Mac, the release notes for version 2.2.3 of Camera+ noted that the software features “compatibility with that upcoming OS That Must Not Be Named.”

Less coy about iOS 5 support was “Mashable,” which updated its own iPhone application this week to version 1.5.4 and advertised that the software now has “iOS 5 compatibility.”

The software updates have led to wishful speculation that the release of iOS 5 could come sooner than expected, perhaps earlier than the fall debut Apple previously announced.

However, while some software may now be “compatible” with iOS 5, the latest builds released on the App Store are likely still based on the iOS 4.3 application programming interface provided by Apple. Developers are able to test application compatibility with iOS 5 by using the latest beta of the forthcoming software update.

There is no indication that Apple has begun approving applications based on the iOS 5 API. For example, last year Apple began accepting applications based on the iOS 4.0 API only 10 days before the update became publicly available, allowing software to take advantage of new features such as multitasking.

That means any iOS 5 software currently available on the App Store likely does not yet take advantage of new features in the forthcoming update. With iOS 5, developers will be able to take advantage of new functionality such as Notification Center for prompting users; Newsstand for purchasing, organizing and updating newspapers and magazines; and system-wide Twitter integration.

[Thanks: http://www.appleinsider.com]

Last week, Apple announced that it’s iPhone App Store has reached 15 billion downloads. Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, said “In just three years, the revolutionary App Store has grown to become the most exciting and successful software marketplace the world has ever seen.” “Thank you to all of our amazing developers who have filled it with over 425,000 of the coolest apps and to our over 200 million iOS users for surpassing 15 billion downloads.”

Solid Growth From Android As Well

Google’s SVP and advertising chief, Susan Wojcicki, said that the Android Market has 250,000 apps and 6 billion downloads on 135 million devices. This is very promising growth. In just two months, the number of devices has risen from 100 million to 135. This is most likely due to the incredible amount of new Android smart-phones and tablets newly released. Since Android tablets haven’t become really popular yet, most of the 135 million devices are smart-phones.

iOS Still Bigger Than Android

Larry Page from Google stated that there are 550,000 new Android activations every day. That’s an a 10% increase in just 2 weeks. Android is growing at an alarming rate. Despite this, iOS still massively outnumbers Android, by about 65 million. (iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad). In any case, iOS is bigger than Android as a mobile platform.

Android To Surpass iOS

The question is, how long will Apple stay at the top? At Android’s current growth rate, they will catch up in 8.5 weeks. This means that Android could pass iOS in just two months if people stopped buying iOS. However, Apple might be able to slow down Android if they announce some new hardware. This smart-phone market race is certainly starting to get interesting.

Last week, Apple announced that their iPhone App store has reached 15 billion downloads. That’s 425,000 apps and 200 million iOS users in just 3 years. According to Susan Wojcicki, the Android Market has 6 billion downloads on just 135 million devices. The number of Android devices has grown from 100 million in the last two months. According to Larry Page from Google, 550,000 new Android handsets are activated every day, an increase of 10% in the last two weeks. At the current rate, Android will pass iOS in a matter of a few months. Apple can slow them down, but how they do it will be interesting.

[Thanks: http://www.secaucusnewjersey.org]