Apple Keynote - 09-10-2013

[Z-man]

I started a thread a week ago on the Samsung Unpacked, so I figured I might as well start this thread too.

So - highlights from the keynote:

- iPhone 5 to be replaced by iPhone5C at similar price point. Plastic outside, metal 'skelaton' and the same guts as an iPhone 5.

- iPhone 5S - new camera - has same features as most Andriod devices (burst mode, 1080 video, better flash system)

- iPhone 5S - new A7 chip - 64 bit processor. Wow!

- iPhone 5S - additional M7 chip to do the motion-related computations (like a math-coprocessor)

- iPhon 5S - colors - space grey, champagne gold, white

Thoughts?

[porsche4life]

iPhone 5s... Fingerprint scanner.


If it works well I will use it. I keep my phone locked, and my company requires it, but I hate hammering in a code.


I'm excited to try ios7 on my 4s, and ill get a 5s once I know my permanent work status and if ill be paying for my own phone or not.

[Z-man]

Opps - yeah - forgot about the fingerprint scanner - that could be bit in the future of smartphone / commerce integration.

BTW: I do plan on upgrading my personal iPhone4 to the 5S, and will finally be getting Mrs. Z a smartphone. She's one of the 542 hold-outs still in the USA that uses a flip-phone.

-Z

[JAR0023]

Thoughts?

I'm still happy with the HTC One I purchased last week, and I'm not trying to start a flame war. The wife has one, the kid has a touch, I really like my Ipad.

I waited just to see what all the rumors would be around Iphone and iOS7. I didn't really want to go up the a larger form factor than my old phone but it was on it's last leg.

Two things chafe me with the Iphone and both are software issues that are not addressed in iOS7. To dial up someone with android I just start punching in the numbers that represent the letters in their name. The correct person appears and I hit the send button. Too many layers to get to this with iOS.

The biggest issue I have is with the lack of text re-flow in the iOS devices. With apple when you open a webpage you get the whole page and the tiny text that comes with it. Yes, you can zoom but the format of the page stays the same. To read you have to go left to right then down, back left then right. Pain in the ass. With most android phones when you zoom into a webpage the text will automatically re-flow, or re-format to fill the screen. Reading is a simple scroll down. Android also lets me set default zoom and text size. I know it's a non-issue for many but it's a deal breaker for me. -J

[jyl]

My iPhone is password protected and I'd like to be able to simply touch Home instead of typing in a strong password.

I wonder how broadly usable the fingerprint ID will be. E.g. will I be able to simply touch instead of entering my login & password for PayPal, bank, and other third party services? Or will it only be used by Apple services? I see significant obstacles to use in third party services.

M7 co-processor is a battery saving measure. Don't keep the main application processor running just to receive sensor signals. This approach is being used in Samsung Galaxy as well.

64-bit A7 . . . cool. I wonder if this will permit more processing to be done locally, instead of in the cloud, this reducing latency for things like voice input. Just playing games faster is not terribly interesting to me.

[enzo1]

Originally Posted by Z-man

- iPhone 5 to be replaced by iPhone5C at similar price point. Plastic outside, metal 'skelaton' and the same guts as an iPhone 5.

?

He says, "We've added more LTE bands than any other smartphone in the world."
That suggests that Apple decided to sell the phone all around the world, potentially on new carriers. To do that with the iPhone 5 would have meant redesigning the iPhone 5 to fit the new LTE bands in the casing.
Apple probably decided that it was better off with a plastic casing that costs less to make, and more easily packs in all the bands it wants.

[BlueSkyJaunte]

I'm looking for a "smart" phone that isn't evil.

Google and Apple are already out of the running. I'm starting to feel like a Christian Scientist with appendicitis.

[nostatic]

Originally Posted by BlueSkyJaunte

I'm looking for a "smart" phone that isn't evil.

Google and Apple are already out of the running. I'm starting to feel like a Christian Scientist with appendicitis.

Pick your poison. One of my colleagues is on Windows phone because of the big 3 he thinks they are the least evil wrt your data and what they do with it.

Since I'm most comfortable on a Mac and can do everything I need on it, iOS ends up being a more seamless experience. When I was on Android I pretty much had to use Google stuff to make things easy. Probably is I don't like a lot of Google's stuff. And of the three, they likely are the most egregious wrt what they do with your information.

[dtw]

Wish they had done a 128gb model as rumored. All the other rumors came true, at least the ones I read.

[jyl]

Or you could get a Blackberry. I think they are too clueless to do anything with your data . . .

Android is definitely the worst when it comes to gathering and exploiting your data. Remember, the Android operating system is "free" (open source) to phone makers, Google receives nothing. Yet Google spends huge amounts of money developing the Android OS. How do you think they make a return on that money? The same way they make a return on all their "free" services. Your data.

When it comes to being exploited by someone other than the operating system maker - Android (Google) doesn't do much to monitor or control the applications for the OS, so the risk of hacking, data or identity theft is much higher. Apple's tight control over its OS and AppStore is irritating to some, but there are some reasons for it.

Finally, Android runs the large majority of smartphones, making it a bigger target for hacking - similar to the Windows/Mac dynamic.

Between Microsoft and Apple, I'm not sure which is better or worse. I guess since Windows mobile has barely 3% market share, maybe hackers might not bother much with it?

[Don Plumley]

I picked up a 4S almost two years ago, the 5 was not compelling enough to switch. It think the better camera/flash and fingerprint scanner are worth a couple hundred to me, plus it is lighter for the few times I'm wearing a suit/coat. I am also interested in LTE since I have that on my iPad. I'm not going to stand in a line for it, but will stop by when I'm in the neighborhood.

Biggest decision is if I keep my 4S as a backup phone (for the other two in the household) or trade it in...

[RWebb]

I just want to get away from AT&T...

a friend still has the original iPhone - he's 85 tho...

[willtel]

Originally Posted by dtw

Wish they had done a 128gb model as rumored. All the other rumors came true, at least the ones I read.

This one irks me too. My 32gb 4S is full and I'm tired of being expected to shell out +$100 for a memory upgrade. They added a new camera that will suck up more memory and we are still stuck will the same sizes and pricing tiers we had 4 years ago. Flash memory has certainly gotten cheaper in that time. Just adding the free iLife apps they mentioned will suck up 5gb.

[widgeon13]

I have an iphone 5 and will keep that at least for another year and see what comes in the next iteration. Looking forward to iOS7 though.

[JeremyD]

Originally Posted by widgeon13

I have an iphone 5 and will keep that at least for another year and see what comes in the next iteration. Looking forward to iOS7 though.

me too

[NeedSpace]

I still have the original droid...yes, my phone is from 2009. It still works but it is definitely showing its age. It is really heavy compared to most of the phones outthere now.

I have decided to get the iPhone 5S...after the stream of people stop in the verizon store. Hopefully, it shouldn't be more than a few weeks.

I am looking forward to the new software that will hopefully connected well with my new car stereo. It is a bit of a crapshoot, but I installed Pioneer DVD receiver in my audi. So far, I have been pretty happy with it..maybe 8 out of 10.

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Car/DVD-Receivers/AVH-X5500BHS


Given the software update to the iPhone 5s, I am REALLY hoping there is someway to get this workign on my pioneer. Wish me luck.

[slodave]

Originally Posted by willtel

This one irks me too. My 32gb 4S is full and I'm tired of being expected to shell out +$100 for a memory upgrade. They added a new camera that will suck up more memory and we are still stuck will the same sizes and pricing tiers we had 4 years ago. Flash memory has certainly gotten cheaper in that time. Just adding the free iLife apps they mentioned will suck up 5gb.

RE: Camera. Not entirely true. The 4s is 8MP, the 5s is 8MP. There should not be a big change in picture file sizes.

[Geronimo '74]

Originally Posted by JeremyD

me too

And me.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Originally Posted by Don Plumley

I picked up a 4S almost two years ago, the 5 was not compelling enough to switch. It think the better camera/flash and fingerprint scanner are worth a couple hundred to me, plus it is lighter for the few times I'm wearing a suit/coat. I am also interested in LTE since I have that on my iPad. I'm not going to stand in a line for it, but will stop by when I'm in the neighborhood.

Biggest decision is if I keep my 4S as a backup phone (for the other two in the household) or trade it in...

Very similar to my own situation. I had (and still have, just don't use) an iPhone 4, then picked up a used 4S so I could get the higher resolution camera, Siri, etc. I saw no compelling reason to upgrade to the 5. I see little compelling reason to upgrade to the 5c or 5s. I am staying on my current iOS version until a jailbreak is out for iOS 7 (otherwise I'm unable to run TetherMe which one needs to edit the APN settings to run other carriers). I use Straight Talk which is $45 a month instead of $120 or whatever the stupid rape-me price is that ATT is charging these days. I've happily been doing this for more than a year. I can tether it too if I need to (you're not supposed to but as long as you're not stupid about it you can get away with it).

These devices are really good now but the smart phone model is sort of played out as I see it. Right now all the players (Apple, Motorola, ATT, Verizon, etc.) are just milking it for everything they can. The future really lies with tablet based cloud computing and wearable devices (Google Glass, iWatch, etc.) and augmentated reality overlays, stuff like that.

I just can't see a good enough reason to upgrade from where I am now. Too marginal and incremental. When I finally do (maybe next year with the iPhone 6) I'll definitely be getting an unlocked version. It's well worth the extra money to not be shackled to one of the major carriers - they all suck and they all just try to rip you off - one of the biggest weaknesses with the entire smartphone model (you're dependent on network carriers which largely stink and are almost universally hated by their customers).

[widgeon13]

My wife has a 4 and has for two+ years, checked Gazelle and they will give her $125 for it so she could get a 5C and still have cash left over. She's happy with the 4 for now.