iPhone

How would you like to have a new iPhone 5 without having to pay any money up front? T-Mobile is now making just such an offer.

Many rumors have said the forthcoming fifth-generation iPad will have a form factor similar to the iPad mini, including narrower bezels on the left and right, such that the device can be smaller without sacrificing screen size. Think of it as an oversized iPad mini.

Thanks to everyone who entered iPhone Life's Bi-Weekly Weekend Giveaway! We received entries from 518 people in 32 different countries this week! And we gave away 15 apps and an accessory! 

An emerging class of visual search apps are showing promise in replacing traditional search methods — with camera technology that leverages the power of the web to help you identify and learn about your surroundings. The just-released iOS visual search app, CamFind (currently free) nicely marries image analysis features with language translation and voice input/output and is threatening to relegate the practice of text-entry search to the Stone Age where it belongs!

Critical Missions: SWAT ($2.99) from Critical Force Entertainment is a killer of a combat first-person shooter, especially if your thing is stalking through virtual settings (armed to the teeth) in order to blast in-game bots (or your online buddy's bots). The game physics are quite realistic, and the 3D scenes and graphics excellent. I did not go bananas over the control aspects, but after a few test runs started getting a better hang of it. Several modes of play are available: endless singular stalking/blasting or various team matches. Critical Missions: SWAT is a single bloody-minded combat game best enjoyed with a side of Foo Fighters at extremely high volume! 

But can it stand up to the most excellent Trigger Fist (Free) (reviewed previously here)? Inquiring shooters want to know... Here's how the two shake out in a side-by-side comparison!

T-Mobile, the only one of the country's four largest carriers not yet offering the iPhone, has now begun taking preorders ahead of its April 12 launch. Unlike other carriers, T-Mobile has switched to a new model: customers pay the full cost of the iPhone rather than the subsidized price of $200, but their monthly cost for unlimited voice and data is much lower. Over time, you can save quite a lot of money.

This is the official weekend of the iPhone Life Contest Giveaway! Be sure to enter the giveaway at iphoneLife.com/giveaways! Every other weekend we raffle off tons of great apps and accessories for FREE.

The iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch are great music players, especially if you're using headphones, but the speaker placement in all of these devices is problematic. By directing sound straight down, it doesn't reach the user's ears as well as if the speakers were pointed forward. I've tried gadgets like SoundJaw, which uses physics to redirect audio towards the user, but that don't typically accommodate cases. Enter iPlifier, a Kickstarter project that plugs into the lightning dock. Even if your iPhone is in a typical case, the device directs audio to the user.