Tag: iPhone

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Apple

Apple Special Event “Hi, Speed”

Apple's Hi, Speed Event Poster

Today Apple announced four new phones: iPhone 12 Mini, iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max and a new HomePad Mini.

Updates to iPhone are incremental in nature and can be expected yearly with each new iteration being only slightly faster, more efficient, and more capable. This year’s new set of phones are no exception. Unless you call 50% faster “only slightly”, which is one reason why the title of today’s event is, “Hi, Speed”.

Here are some highlights from today’s event.

iPhone 12

All four versions of the new iPhones contain Apple’s proprietary A14 chip. With circuitry separated by a mere 5 nanometers and 11.8 billion transistors, the performance and efficiency of this chip is the fastest cpu in any smart phone. The only chip even close is last year’s A13 chip.

iPhone 12 Pro back camera

The main reason to want such crazy fast speed is machine learning. It’s the key to computational photography and in turn that’s what makes such great photos from iPhone 12 possible. The iPhone 11 Pro has eight dedicated machine learning cores and this year that number grows to 16. Apple’s new flagship phones are now capable of 11 trillion operations per second up from last year’s paltry 6 trillion.

A14 Bionic is the first 5-nanometer chip in the industry, with advanced components literally atoms wide. Forty percent more transistors rev up speeds while increasing efficiency for great battery life. And a new ISP powers Dolby Vision recording — something no pro movie camera, let alone any other phone, can do.

Also interesting is the inclusion of MagSafe technology for phone charging and accessories. No more worrying about whether your phone is placed on its wireless charging pad correctly because the magnet will straighten itself. I’m also intrigued by the idea of paring down to just the leather wallet attachment shown below with built-in magnetic action.

iPhone 12 MagSafe and wallet

HomePad Mini
Apple HomePod Mini stock photo

It’s been long speculated that Apple needed a HomePod Mini in order to compete in the smart speaker market against lower cost smart speakers from Google and Amazon. It remains to be seen how the sound quality of the HomePod mini stands up to the original but I’ve always wanted to add a second HomePod for the bedroom where the heavy bass isn’t so important, so I’m tempted.

And, as for rumours that the free year of Apple TV+, is going away, it appears to still be on offer that, “For a limited time, eligible customers who purchase a new iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple TV, or Mac can enjoy one year of Apple TV+ for free and three months of Apple Arcade for free.”

Here’s Apple’s 51 Second summary of the event:

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Apple

iPhone SE 2020

Apple Newsroom:

Apple today announced the second-generation iPhone SE, a powerful new iPhone featuring a 4.7-inch Retina HD display, paired with Touch ID for industry-leading security. iPhone SE comes in a compact design, reinvented from the inside out, and is the most affordable iPhone. The new iPhone SE is powered by the Apple-designed A13 Bionic, the fastest chip in a smartphone, to handle the most demanding tasks. iPhone SE also features the best single-camera system ever in an iPhone, which unlocks the benefits of computational photography including Portrait mode, and is designed to withstand the elements with dust and water resistance.

iPhone SE comes in three beautiful colors — black, white and (PRODUCT)RED — and will be available for pre-order beginning Friday, April 17, starting at just $399 (US) [$599 CAD].

“The first iPhone SE was a hit with many customers who loved its unique combination of small size, high-end performance and affordable price; the new second-generation iPhone SE builds on that great idea and improves on it in every way — including our best-ever single-camera system for great photos and videos — while still being very affordable,” said Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing.

Except this new iPhone SE doesn’t “improve” on small size when the form factor has moved away from the original 4″ size of the original.

I’m guessing the reason for the larger size is that just as the original SE used the form factor and internal layout of the iPhone 5, the 2020 iteration will do the same with an iPhone 8 layout. There is no ready to implement layout of internal components that includes iPhone XS camera, the iPhone 11 Pro CPU and the battery size of the iPhone 8 (which may be required for that high end A13 Bionic processor… I don’t know) that would fit in the original iPhone SE shell.

Michael Tsai:

“So, this is a better, cheaper iPhone 8, but unlike the original SE it seems unlikely to inspire down-switchers. The wildcard is that, if we all end up wearing face masks for an extended time, Touch ID could end up being more important than any new feature in the forthcoming iPhone 12.”

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Apple

Apple Special Event 2019

Animated Special Event Apple Logo

Today Apple broadcasted their annual special (iPhone) event. While the naysayers came out again this year complaining that in the age of leaks today’s iPhone 11 event would be a disappointment, however, the folks in Cupertino did not let me down. CEO Tim Cook skipped over his usual update to get started right away… Here are the highlights.

Apple Arcade
100 “groundbreaking” (I’m not too sure about that) new games for iPhone, Mac, iPad and Apple TV with new games added each month. It will be interesting to see what it’s like in the free trial period.

Apple Arcade available September 19. Your unlimited access costs $4.99USD /month.

Apple TV+
$4.99USD per month — Free for a year with the purchase of a new iMac, Mac, iPad, or iPhone. Launching November 1.

iPad
Apple has updated the iPad. These new standard edition tablets have:

  • 10.2” Retina Display
  • A10 Fusion Chip
  • Smart Connector (previously only available on Pro models)
  • 8MP Camera
  • Touch ID

Seventh generation iPad orders start today at $329USD and will be available September 30.

Apple Watch
I’ve been crazy about Apple Watch when I purchased a first generation Apple Watch back in May of 2015. I’m now on my third Apple Watch (last year I got myself a 4th gen.) and I LOVE IT!.

Along with the 5th generation of the watch, Apple is helping roll out three new health studies:

  1. Apple Hearing Study
  2. Apple Women’s Health Study
  3. Apple Heart & Movement Study

Enroll with the Apple Research App (available in the US App store later this year).

Series 5 new features highlights:

  • New always on display! while still maintaining 18 hour battery life.
  • A built in compass
  • International emergency calling (for cellular capable models)
  • New colours including two models made out of titanium, as well, ceramic is back.

I doubt I will be upgrading if only because my 4th Gen is still serving me so well.

This year’s Apple Watch remain the same in size as last year’s model. The price starts at $399USD and will be available September 20th. They’re keeping the Series 3 in the lineup for $199USD.

iPhone
As predicted, three new iPhones will hit the shelf on September 20th. They are: iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max.

The Pro model comes with three cameras, the standard f1.8 26mm wide lens, a 52mm telephoto f2.0, and a new 13mm f2.4 ultra wide. It also comes with the 12mp camera on the front facing camera allowing new photo abilities such as access to slow motion selfies… they call them slofies.

Apple’s previous flagship chip, the A12, was already the fasted chip in a smartphone. The new A13 Bionic chip extends Apple’s lead with the still fastest CPU and GPU ever in a smartphone, capable of 1 trillion operations per second.

Phil Schiller came out to present the iPhone 11 Pro. Its stainless steel design will come in two sizes — the standard 5.8″ and the iPhone 11 Pro Max at 6.5″. All sizes will come with a fast charge 18W adapter.

The phone comes with a triple camera system, each recording 12mp of data.

The three focal depths and apertures are as follows:

  • Wide 26mm f1.8
  • Telephoto 52mm f2.0
  • Ultra wide 13mm f2.4 (with 120° field of view)

These new iPhone models for the first time make use of the U1 chip. It makes possible a new user interface for AirDrop that uses your direction to orientate your friends’ avatars on the interface in relation to you.

There was also a sneak peek at “Deep Fusion” — Phill described the new technology as, “Computational photography mad science”. Part of that science will allow for “night mode” something that other phones have had for awhile but nevertheless, an interesting improvement on previous models.

The third party app, FiLMiC, looks pretty neat. It allows for simultaneous recording of multiple cameras giving one lots of shot options to edit together later. It even allows for recording both front and rear camera at the same time which will be neat for rollercoaster rides and documentary style interviews. The FiLMic app will be available later this year in the app store.

There is a new Quicktake mode (not to be confused with this Apple QuickTake camera). Allowing users to easily and almost instantly switch from still (or livephoto) mode to video mode.

And last but not least, the iPhone 11 Pro will have improved FaceID with a greater angle of view and is even faster.

The three models are priced starting at

  • iPhone 11 $699 USD
  • iPhone 11 Pro $999USD
  • iPhone 11 Pro Max $1099 USD

Orders begin this Friday at 6:00am MST and shipping starts September 20th. Speaking for myself, anyway, I think it’s just about time to get a new phone.

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Apple life technology

iPhone 6

This week the world was introduced to iPhone 6. Last week I had my credit card number compromised which meant I wouldn’t have to stay up all night to order a phone that won’t even ship to me until October. I did, however, get a new card in the mail yesterday and the phone which I have been anxiously holding off through three generations of iPhones (four if you count the 5c) will finally be on it’s way in just another week. The photos I’m going to take are going to be amazing… I can’t wait.

Some might argue that spending so much money on a new Apple device would actually be much better spent on buying Apple stock. The $500USD that was spent on my first ipod (the iPod Photo 40gb) would have been a better investment in Apple stock considering that same $500 would now be worth $12470. While I really loved my iPod, it wasn’t worth $12.5K.

So this time around, I decided to have my cake and eat it too. I invested in the spring and so far I’ve made enough to pay for my iPhone just out of earnings. The tough part is deciding to pull my money out now or to let it ride for the long haul. This little chart, What if I had bought Apple stock instead? would suggest I should let it ride.

Update: it has arrived!

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Miscellaneous

Foursquare

Foursquare is the iPhone app that rewards social behaviour.

It’s not out yet, but according to The New York Observer, it should be available in time for SXSW.

“What we wanted to do is turn life into a video game. You should be rewarded for going out more times than your friends, and hanging out with new people and going to new restaurants and going to new bars—just experiencing things that you wouldn’t normally do.”

So, a video game that rewards being adventurous and outgoing in, you know, real life?

Kottke is calling it the new Dodgeball. One significant change I’m wondering about, will it work in Canada?