When it comes to buying a new phone, we have a tendency to stick close to home. In our first look at the purchase interest and intent of the Mobile Nations’ communities, we tapped into the level of demand for tablets, watches, and TV boxes being offered by the biggest smartphone providers. But the smartphone itself remains the primary digital device for many, and plenty of companies have debuted offerings in the past few months that vied to become holiday purchases — or at least a last-minute buy before the calendar flips over. So late last month, we asked over 5,700 readers of Android Central, CrackBerry, iMore and Windows Central to share their thoughts on what could be taking their calls. Even the smartphones that garnered the most interest didn’t muster the same amount of attention as some of the hot (and newer) non-smartphone products like as Android Wear, Apple TV and the Surface Book. There are likely numerous reasons for this. First, there is far greater competition in…

The iMore show brings you everything you need to know about the week in iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple! On this episode Serenity, Georgia, and Rene go over everything they expect—and just plain want!—from Apple in 2016! Including Watch 2, MacBook 2, iOS 10, OS X 10.12, watchOS 3, tvOS 10, Apple TV 5, iPhones 7, iPad Air 3, iPad Pro 2, EarPods, and more! Support the iMore show: Start building your website today at Squarespace.com. Enter offer code IMORE at checkout to get 10% off. Subscribe in iTunes: Audio Subscribe in RSS: Audio Download directly: Audio Hosts Serenity Caldwell Rene Ritchie Georgia Dow …

Square Enix has announced that it will be bringing Final Fantasy IX to iPhone and iPad in 2016. Beyond that, the company has not specified when the game will launch. Final Fantasy IX is a JRPG about a group of eight adventurers as they embark on a journey to stop a war. This new release will include a number of modernization features, including HD graphics, a high-speed mode, auto-save, achievements, and more. The game was first released for the original PlayStation in 2000, and was the last title in the series to do so. The game will be compatible with iPhones and iPads running iOS 7 or later. Source: Square Enix (Japanese); via: Kotaku …

The deconstruction of falling habits. Touch ID 2 made unlocking the iPhones 6s incredibly fast. So fast, some have complained it’s now too fast. Specifically, too fast to see lock screen notifications. So, is it? And if it is, what can be done about it? Spoilers: The answer is: ”it depends”. If your goal is to check lock screen information, then yes—it’s demonstrably too fast. If your goal is to unlock your phone, then no—it might still be too slow. Before reading this, it’s worth going back through the recent articles by Craig Mod, Dr. Drang, and Joel Cieplinkski for context. It shows how challenging it is to meet every expectation and make everyone happy. The legacy problems The iPhone and iPad have very few hardware buttons: Home, Sleep/Wake (On/Off), and Volume up and down. That’s it. Yet, for technical reasons, two of them have historically performed the same job on single click: Wake up the device and present the lock screen. Presenting the lock screen is important be…

If a new shareholder proposal is brought to a vote and accepted, Apple may be required to increase diversity in its upper ranks. The investor-submitted resolution, which other shareholders may have the opportunity to vote on in 2016, calls for Apple to increase racial diversity among its directors and executives. The proposal was made by investor Antonio Avian Maldonado II after he noticed that Apple’s board of directors was a little too monochrome. From Bloomberg: The proposal for an ”accelerated recruitment policy” was submitted in September by Antonio Avian Maldonado II, who owns 645 Apple shares. He said he was spurred to act after looking at photos of the directors with his teenage son, who asked him why nearly everyone was white. The board is ”a little bit too vanilla,” said Maldonado, the creative director for Insignia Entertainment, a music company. ”I want to nudge them to move a little bit faster.” Apple told the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that they sho…

This handy car charger features a Lightning plug at the end of its coiled cable along with a built-in USB port to plug in any additional USB charging cable for juicing up another device at the same time. Grab one while they’re on sale today for $14.95! …