iPhone Atlas

Still printing photos at home? That's a pricey blend of printer ink, photo paper, and iffy output quality.

Of course, you can use any number of apps to upload photos to your nearest Walgreens, Costco, or the like, but then you're looking a car ride -- and have you seen gas prices lately?

For a cheaper, more convenient way to turn iPhone or iPad snapshots into actual prints, check out FreePrints for iOS from photo lab PhotoAffections.com. True to its name, the app delivers free 4x6 glossies to your door, up to 85 of them per month. … Read more

iOS 6 users who want to grab a cup of coffee at Starbucks can now pay for it through their iPhones.

Launched yesterday, the latest update to the Starbucks iOS app stirs in support for Apple's Passbook.

Starbucks Card owners can add their accounts to Passbook directly through the app. Once that's done, customers can pay for food and beverages, check their card balances, reload the card with more cash, and add rewards to score free drinks, all through the iPhone.

Unveiled in iOS 6, Passbook lets users store electronic copies of tickets, coupons, boarding passes, and loyalty … Read more

Sales of the iPhone 5 have been unfazed by the Apps Maps debacle, according to analysts.

Demand for the new phone apparently continues to run high, as supply-chain manufacturing plans remain unchanged, says Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu. Apple still estimates a ship time of three to four weeks for the iPhone 5.

Complaints over the many mistakes in Apple Maps have surfaced since the app debuted two weeks ago. But Wu sees this as a short-term problem, and one that may have been unavoidable.

Since Maps is software-based, the analyst is confident that Apple will make the program "… Read more

Apple Maps has taken it on the chin for its faulty data, but a new study cites one advantage for the beleaguered app.

Apple Maps chews up less data -- just one-fifth as much -- than does Google Maps, according to Onavo. Running both apps through a series of scenarios, the analytics firm found that the average amount of data downloaded by Apple Maps was around 271 kilobytes. In contrast, Google Maps consumed around 1.3 megabytes on average.

In certain cases, such as zooming in to a specific spot, Apple Maps proved seven times more data efficient than Google … Read more

It might not be easy to use an iPhone to record and edit a Hollywood-style short, but it's possible.

Anna Elizabeth James and Michael Koerbel, the duo behind Majek Pictures, have a history of seeing how well the latest Apple devices handle cinema production values, not just point-and-shoot video, and this time around they've used an iPhone 5 to create "All Up To You," an amusing 96-second mini-musical about running out of gas in the desert with only Siri to help.

Creating the short was a scramble to find dancers, to print app icons on boxes, … Read more

By now most everyone knows about Apple's deficient Maps app in iOS 6 -- particularly those who counted on the former Google-powered app for public transit directions. Apple CEO Tim Cook publically apologized for the Maps app and said the company is working to make the app better. But in the meantime, if you need public transit directions, you're going to have to rely on third-party apps from the App Store.

Before you start sifting through hundreds of transit apps, I put together this collection so you can get the help you need right away. It's important … Read more

Back before the iPhone 5 was a known quantity, back before we even knew it was definitely going to have a larger screen, the iPhone was already a great gaming handheld. Millions of people know that. Gamers may hate to admit it, because the iPhone lacks physical buttons. It doesn't matter.

What the iPhone did to mobile gaming has reverberated across the industry, forcing the Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation Vita into catch-up mode, battling for second and third place. Free-to-play and the very concept of redownloadable gaming apps -- not to mention the rebirth of indie development -- can all be traced to Apple's App Store and this little handheld device. … Read more

Verizon iPhone 5 owners bit by Apple's Wi-Fi bug won't be charged for any excess cellular data used as a result, the carrier said today.

iPhone 5 and iOS 6 owners have been complaining of various problems with Wi-Fi networks since their release last month. For certain Verizon subscribers, the iPhone would actually use up cellular data while connected via Wi-Fi.

In response, Apple rolled out a software fix yesterday, at least for Verizon iPhone 5 users, that lets them update their devices to resolve the issue.

The bug could've easily racked up data overage charges for … Read more

Now that you have your iPhone 5, you've probably noticed that not all apps take advantage of the wider screen. I've been noticing that the updates have been pouring in fairly quickly, but unfortunately, I still have a lot of pillarboxed apps and games that show black spaces on each side.

For this week's collection I put together three games that look absolutely fantastic on the iPhone 5's larger display. The first is the latest in a popular arcade-style racing franchise and gives you more viewing area as you blaze around the track. The second is an action RPG that pits you against demonic beasts as you hack and slash your way to saving a kidnapped queen. The last is the newest version of a popular soccer series that might be the best sports game available on iOS.… Read more