Twitter for iPad gets a new landscape UI, profiles with header photos, and enhanced photo streams

Twitter just updated its universal iOS app with a few new improvements, the most notable of which is a new landscape UI for iPad. Other aspects of the iPad UI have been slightly tweaked over the previous version, while version 5.0 of the app also brings new profiles with header photos, photo streams on profiles and events, and various other fixes and enhancements for both the iPad and iPhone client.

Among the improvements to the iPad UI: Tweets now come in a compact view and can expand with a single tap to view videos, web pages, and photos directly from within your timeline.

In a post on the official Twitter blog, Product Manager Sung Hu Kim took us through a few of the updates:

Home

Tweets come alive in the new Twitter for iPad. Expand Tweets with a single touch to see beautiful photos, rich videos and web page summaries right in your timeline. Dive into the content with another tap to see the photo, play the video or read links from the web in fullscreen mode.
Connect

Keep conversations going by tracking your interactions with other people: See who has followed or mentioned you, retweeted or favorited your Tweets.
Discover

Tap into a stream of useful and entertaining information personalized for you. Read news stories that are popular within your network, see which Tweets and accounts are favorited and followed by the people you know, see what topics are trending, and find great new accounts to follow.
Me

Express yourself by adding a beautiful new header photo to your new profile. It appears consistently above your Tweets on iPad, mobile apps and twitter.com, and you can change it anytime. You can also remember the moments you’ve shared on Twitter by swiping through your photo stream on your profile or tapping photos to go fullscreen.
What’s New in Version 5.0

Twitter for iPad / iPhone 5.0
- New Twitter for iPad
- New profiles with header photos
- Photo streams on profiles and events
- Other improvements, polish, and fixes

Apple’s next huge data center will be in Hong Kong !!

Map of Hong Kong post handover

We’ve received word that Apple is building another enormous data center—this time in Hong Kong SAR, China.

Apple recently finalized a location in the New Territories region of Hong Kong near the Shenzhen China border for the data center. We spoke to a bidding contractor employee who, on the condition of anonymity, told us the planned data center’s scale is unprecedented for his business: “There is simply nothing to compare it to and therefore it is hard to make estimates on size based on the materials required.” We were told that construction is to begin in Q1 2013, and it will likely take over a year for operations to start in the data center. The aim is to have it operational by 2015, which is the same time that Apple’s Spaceship Campus 2 is scheduled to go online.

Apple is currently reviewing bids from various local and international companies for the construction of the data center.

Google and other companies typically select Hong Kong for their Chinese data centers because of the Special Administrative Region‘s “One country, two systems” autonomous legal structure which seems to keep the Mainland Chinese Government’s hands off the data physically housed on its soil.

Google says it chose Hong Kong as a Data Center location for the following reasons:

    Hong Kong offers an ideal combination of reliable energy infrastructure, a skilled workforce and a location right in the center of Asia, which has made it a trading powerhouse and a great place to provide services to our users around the region and globe. As with all of our facilities around the world, we chose Hong Kong following a thorough and rigorous site selection process, taking many technical and other considerations into account, including location, infrastructure, workforce, reasonable business regulations and cost.

Google did not mention it, but a big factor is likely also that Google and China have big “trust issues,” which involve a Mountain View security breach and the Mainland’s efforts to censor Google’s search results. Apple would also want to avoid physically putting its servers in Mainland China to avoid government snooping.  At the same time, Apple wants to be physically and politically close to its fastest-growing region and the world’s most populous nation.

Google’s Data Center is being finished in Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate in Kowloon. We were told Apple initially considered the same area, but the plots of land were not suitable to the construction cost/scale.

Greater China is Apple’s fastest-growing region and the biggest smartphone market on the planet. Apple CEO Tim Cook told analysts in July 2011 that Apple was “just scratching the surface” in China:

    Overseas markets
    China was very key to our results. As a reminder, for greater China—mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan—year-over-year it was up over 6 times. And the revenue was approximately $3.8 billion during the quarter. And that makes the year-to-date numbers through the three quarters we’ve had thus far around $8.8 billion. So this has been a substantial opportunity for Apple, and I firmly believe that we’re just scratching the surface right now. I think there is an incredible opportunity for Apple there.

Apple’s move here makes a lot of economic sense. Instead of renting data center space at a premium, Apple rolls its own infrastructure to save a lot of money. In addition, by building its own space physically close to China, it can improve performance of all those data packets, which will not need to traverse the Pacific from Apple’s U.S. Data Centers.

Apple currently has a data center in Newark, Calif., and it recently completed its biggest 500,000 sq. foot-installation in Maiden N.C. Apple is in the planning stages for additional data centers in Reno, Nev. and Prineville, Ore.

We hoping to hear more specifics in the coming weeks.

iPhone 5 Reviews: Thinner, Lighter, LTE "Stunningly Fast"

The embargo has just lifted on the first iPhone 5 reviews. Apple has provided some publications with an early review unit of the iPhone 5. We are collecting some of the more interesting points from each review, but you can click each title to read the full writeup. The iPhone 5 will officially launch on September 21st and will be available in retail stores beginning at 8am.


CNet Review

- "The screen size lengthening is subtle: but, like the Retina Display, you're going to have a hard time going back once you've used it."
- "LTE, in my tests, ran anywhere from 10 to 20 [Mbps], which is up to twice as fast as my wireless router's connection at home."
- "Still pictures taken while recording video aren't shot using the normal 8-megapixel Web cam; they're screen captures of the video itself. The aspect ratio is different, and the image quality's a bit weaker."
- "callers I reached via speakerphone noticed a crisper, clearer call on the iPhone 5 versus the iPhone 4S."
- "The phone's lasted roughly the whole day each day, unplugging around 8 a.m. and engaging in a mix of calling, web surfing, video playback, downloading, game playing, FaceTime calling over Wi-Fi and LTE, and even a little 4G LTE hot spot use via my MacBook Air."

The Loop Review by Jim Dalrymple

- "If you told me that I would be able to see another few rows of emails or more of a Web page, I don’t know that I would see the importance, but when you look at the iPhone 5, it’s more than that. You have to see it to get an idea of what can be done."

The New York Times Review by David Pogue

- "The new phone, in all black or white, is beautiful. Especially the black one, whose gleaming, black-on-black, glass-and-aluminum body carries the design cues of a Stealth bomber."
- "The camera is among the best ever put into a phone. Its lowlight shots blow away the same efforts from an iPhone 4S."
- "It’s just too bad about that connector change. Doesn’t Apple worry about losing customer loyalty and sales?"




iPhone 4S vs 5 photo via CNet

Engadget Review by Tim Stevens

- " At 112 grams it's 20 percent lighter than the 4S, a figure that doesn't seem like it would make much of an impact. It does -- so much so that it's the lightness, not the bigger display or the thinness, that nearly everybody praises when first getting a chance to hold the iPhone 5 in their own hands."
- "the Lightning connector is infinitely easier to connect. It slots in nicely and does so regardless of orientation, plugging in right-side-up or upside-down."
- "More problematic is the speed of this new connector. " -- Based on USB 2.0, so no faster than existing connector/cable.
- Taking photo speed is much improved.
- "On our standard battery rundown test, in which we loop a video with LTE and WiFi enabled and social accounts pinging at regular intervals, the iPhone 5 managed a hugely impressive 11 hours and 15 minutes."
- "In general, iOS 6 has seen some nice nips and tucks where it needed it. iCloud integration is tighter, Safari is better and the overall experience is more polished. But, it isn't a major step forward in any regard. "

Wall Street Journal Review by Walt Mossberg

- "I found the new iPhone screen much easier to hold and manipulate than its larger rivals and preferred it. In my view, Apple’s approach makes the phone far more comfortable to use, especially one-handed."
- "The iPhone 5′s battery lasted between 9 and 12 hours every day, in mixed use. For most people, the phone would last the day without recharging."
- "The biggest drawback I found is the new Maps app. Apple has replaced Google Maps with a new maps app of its own. "

T3 Review by Luke Peters

- "Don’t get us wrong, it’s a miracle how Apple has shed so much excess podge and millions of people will love the lightweight design, but we preferred the more robust, weapon-like nature of the 4S."
- "Given that iPhone 4S users can upgrade to iOS 6 and do just about everything the iPhone 5 can do, and that Android users can get similarly impressive handsets for less dosh, we reckon the smart money won’t all be going on a new iPhone this year, even if the mass market can’t get enough of it. It’s good, very good. But it’s no longer the best around."

Others

- TechCrunch Review by MG Siegler
- USA Today Review by Edward Baig
- Pocket Lint Review by Stuart Miles

Overall, the reviews are very positive. Regular iPhone users seem to enjoy the added space. Everyone seems to comment on the lightness and thinness of the device. Apple's 2x speed claims and battery claims seem accurate. The new Lightning connector seems to be physically nice, though there is disappointment there is no speed improvement in syncing as compared to the old sync cable/connectors.