New iPhones: C certainly DOESN'T stand for 'Cheap' You wanted new iPhones and you got them. But if anything, the most surprising thing about Apple's big Tuesday reveal was just how little it managed to keep secret from the tech media ahead of the event. As predicted, Cupertino unveiled not one but two new iPhone models – a first – and just like everyone thought, they are named …
>"So how much will all this set you back? Not too much, as it turns out... $849"
$850 "not too much" for A FUCKING PHONE? What the hell is McAllister smoking? $100 bills steeped in mescaline? Methinks El Reg could cut the staff salaries a bit.
And why no mention of the prices of the unashamedly plasticy cheapo rehash model?
And, speaking as a chemist, WTF is "It's manufactured from a single piece of hardened polycarbonate" supposed to mean? Marketeer for "an injection moulded blob of uber-scratchable plastic with a toughened-glass-esque sales spin applied"? Or have they actually managed to innovate an industry standard ever so slightly less uber-scratchable paint/lacquer finish onto it? My mind is boggling with excitement.
Indeed (plus Samsung at least have been doing a range of colours for their phones too). It's interesting to note that one of the biggest criticisms now for WP is that MS are slow in getting support for full HD.
Full HD - 1920x1080.
Meanwhile, the "retina" display has yet to reach the 720p HD that Android phones were doing almost two years ago.
Apple are now becoming so predictable. Coloured plastic backs are indeed the signature of the Lumia range of phones. They take a little from one rival, a little from another, mix it all together and then condemn the rest as ripping THEM off! Hypocrites!
YES the 5C phones ARE much cheaper, just not to the CONSUMERS. Nice way to grow margin.
Let's be bold and make a prediction - new range of ipad / ipad minis with PLASTIC BACKS! Whoo!
Who'd have thought that?
Fingerprint reader - YAWN. Innovation? Had it on an old lenovo laptop - I hope they've thought of a bypass for it so techies can work on the bloody things without requiring one of your fingers....
I know it sounds like griping, but you'll never get an even remotely mainstream journalist writing honestly about the iPhone's flaws, because it'll alienate so many (normally right-thinking, but weirdly fanatical about Apple) readers and will be claimed to be disproven because it'll still sell pretty well.
I'd say the articles should be summarised as follows: the iPhone is now looking extremely overpriced, with good and better competition from other companies in the market. It no longer even appears to lead in hardware design. The only real reason to buy it is the current maturity of the App Store relative to other stores, but even this is much less apparent than it used to be, and you can probably re-buy all of your non-free apps in another ecosystem and still have a lot more money in your bank account.
Sadly true. Odd that the "but it sells well" never works for the sales on Windows (including 8), or Symbian which was the number one until 2011, and outsold iphone even after then; or indeed Android's overwhelming 75-80% market share today. Plus the metric for whatever sells well will always be twisted (e.g., iphone was a success after one million sales, yet selling millions is a failure for Surface, and the best selling smartphone of all time, the 2009 Nokia 5230 with 150 million sales, is completely ignored).
Note that Google Play now leads in apps - I believe they were first to reach the one million milestone.
Did it ever lead in hardware design? It had some up points (e.g., first with a GPU), but also some down points (e.g., rubbish resolution compared to the competition back in 2007-2009, and first version didn't even support 3G). The Android and even WP flagship hardware now soar passed it, and have done since around the S2, I would say.
While I'm unashamedly a Cupertino fanboi and while I do love the not-so-bloody-serious look of the 5C, this line had me spitting coffee all over my shiny MacBook Air.
"Marketeer for "an injection moulded blob of uber-scratchable plastic with a toughened-glass-esque sales spin applied"?"
Well done, sir, and have a beer, you deserve it.
"$99 on a 2 year contract" is utterly meaningless without knowing what you get on the contract and what the monthly subscription is....
Phone companies can only use this approach for really gullible and clueless punters that can't comprehend the total cost of a contract. I note that it seems to be standard practice in the USA....
@03:15 GMT Anonymous Coward
Polycarbonate is used for bullet proof glass, a'nt it? In 2011 Nokia were machining* the phone case out of a single piece of polycarbonate, Apple are innovating again.
* I think they meant machine finishing: mould it roughly the right shape then precise cut with machine tool.
Fingerprint sensor that looks like it might actually be useful (for unlock and app purchasing) - AND might actually work,
All-new 64bit SoC - pretty damn amazing in a PHONE, FFS
Separate motion co-pro means future accessories won't need to fire up the whole A7 to get their thing on, sounds innovative to me...
Camera that will probably take better pics than your average $150 compact,
I'm not sure what you're looking for exactly in terms of innovation, but if this doesn't flick your switch you might be in for a long wait. I thought readers on this site were supposed to be interested in what's under the shell, and THAT is pretty damn innovative here.
The 5C on the other hand, not so much.
>Fingerprint sensor that looks like it might actually be useful (for unlock and app purchasing) - AND might actually work,
Rather than pins, passwords, gestures, etc... which all DO actually work?
>All-new 64bit SoC - pretty damn amazing in a PHONE, FFS
- pretty damn demented in a PHONE, FFS
>Separate motion co-pro means future accessories won't need to fire up the whole A7 to get their thing on, sounds innovative to me...
Can't see much purpose in making the handset constantly aware of it's motion while it's dormant. Isn't that what wearable stuff is supposed to be about doing better anyway?
>Camera that will probably take better pics than your average $150 compact,
A joke? Any $150 compact will wipe the floor with your $700 iShiny.
">All-new 64bit SoC - pretty damn amazing in a PHONE, FFS
- pretty damn demented in a PHONE, FFS"
I recall a conversation with a friend of a friend MANY years ago when I said his dad was crazy for buying a 486 computer for the family. That was only really needed in a server (such as they were back then!), not a desktop... ;-)
"Rather than pins, passwords, gestures, etc... which all DO actually work?"
You mean like the PIN that people can see over your shoulder, or the thing on Android that actually draws the passcode in bright green for all to see? This isn't going to be highly secure but it can and will stop casual breaking in on phones, and a lot of Fraping no doubt.
>>Fingerprint sensor that looks like it might actually be useful (for unlock and app purchasing) - AND might actually work,
> Rather than pins, passwords, gestures, etc... which all DO actually work?
.. and which are forgotten, copied, written on sticky pads etc etc. Usual for and against arguments apply.
>>All-new 64bit SoC - pretty damn amazing in a PHONE, FFS
> - pretty damn demented in a PHONE, FFS
Matter of opinion, see next for a possible use of all that power. Personally, what I see happen here is exactly what happened when Psion went from 8 bit organisers to SIBO (16 bit organiser): deployment in an easy device before expanding the technology through the range. Is the iPad 64bit? If not, I know where this chip will show up next.
>>Separate motion co-pro means future accessories won't need to fire up the whole A7 to get their thing on, sounds innovative to me...
> Can't see much purpose in making the handset constantly aware of it's motion while it's dormant. Isn't that what wearable stuff is supposed to be about doing better anyway?
Not dormant, but not in need of A7 processing - it's a subsystem. Duh. Same reason you have a separate graphics card which kicks the crap out of your main processor when it comes to chewing on graphic calculations. One of the possible reasons for this is ..
>>Camera that will probably take better pics than your average $150 compact,
> A joke? Any $150 compact will wipe the floor with your $700 iShiny.
.. the camera stabilisation. The idea of taking a couple of images with motion data attached is new, because acquiring and processing that data takes power too - hey, hello, a subsystem suddenly makes sense. And not having moving parts like gyros means less mechanics, ergo less risk of mechanical failure.
Oh, and ever tried to make calls with a $150 compact? No? Funny that.. I'm Ok with sensible arguments, yours aren't.
>>>Fingerprint sensor that looks like it might actually be useful (for unlock and app purchasing) - AND might actually work,
>> Rather than pins, passwords, gestures, etc... which all DO actually work?
>.. and which are forgotten, copied, written on sticky pads etc etc. Usual for and against arguments apply.
... ah, iUsers.. Forgot all about them ... Sorry!
Camera Stabilisation -
-.. is a misnomer as neither the camera nor the optical system is stabilised.
If there is motion, the photos could be messed up regardless of the motion chip captured data. 'Cos, motion chip just captures data, does not apply corrections!
Also you have not used a recent £150 (well, I am a Brit!) compact.. Takes really good pictures nowadays.. Welcome to the present! One can even get a optical image stabilizer with optical zoom if one looks for even the £80 compacts! Don't you come here badmouthing the compacts, you Villain!
Camera Stabilisation -
-.. is a misnomer as neither the camera nor the optical system is stabilised.
Yup - inaccurate wording there - you're right.
If there is motion, the photos could be messed up regardless of the motion chip captured data. 'Cos, motion chip just captures data, does not apply corrections!
Correct, but what I see here is a possible different approach which seems to align this heavy duty motion processing with the camera. To be honest, I can't see *that* much need for motion sensing otherwise, but that may just be a lack of imagination on my part :). What can happen here is basically a removal of mechanics for this insane quest for ever thinner phones - I would have preferred someone to use that space to give more battery power, but it appears Apple seems to think we all just move from charger to charger during the day.
Also you have not used a recent £150 (well, I am a Brit!) compact.. Takes really good pictures nowadays.. Welcome to the present! One can even get a optical image stabilizer with optical zoom if one looks for even the £80 compacts! Don't you come here badmouthing the compacts, you Villain!
:). I wouldn't. I've been a long time user of the Panasonix Lumix range besides my DSLR. I just don't think you can say "more expensive than" if you are talking about devices that just happen to share one single function, namely taking picture - that's comparing apples to oranges, if you pardon the pun..
The odd thing about 64-bit is that with the small amounts of RAM that iphones have compared to the competition (does this still have 1GB?), at the moment this seems pointless. OTOH, with Android phones now reaching 3GB, it won't be long before they need 64-bit to make use of more. But then, I suspect that Samsung et al will quietly switch to 64-bit when it's actually required, rather than trying to grab a headline on some spec. (The first 64-bit tablet was presumably the Surface Pro, or perhaps some other Windows one, but I don't see the Register praising that point.)
Fingerprints and motion processors are gimmicks. Nothing wrong with gimmicks - but it seems like the S4 announcement had about 20 of them, rather than 2.
Fingerprint sensors aren't anything new. They've been around on HP laptops (and others) for years. But they were unreliable in real world situations, and would stop working when dust got into them. We ended up disabling them as standard on all new laptops at our company.
Maybe this one will be better, but looking at the amount of dust and fluff my phone accumulates after a few weeks spent in pockets, I wouldn't want to risk it. There's no mention of whether you can disable the feature on the new iShiny, but to me it seems like an unnecessary (and costly) extra.
64 bit addressing could be used for a unified memory architecture - I think that's the term currently in use to describe the scheme where volatile and non-volatile storage can be addressed identically.
64 bit addressing is optional, 32 bit addressing op codes still work fine otherwise you'd need to recompile 32 bit code to work on a 64bit system rather than just run it.
64 bit processing can improve data throughput, performance and therefore power usage for some computational tasks.
So while if you look at 64 bits purely when it comes to addressing (more than) "4Gb of memory" on a phone then it doesn't make so much sense, but taken in the long run and when accessing non-volatile storage makes a lot of sense.
No, a 64 bit CPU in a phone is not amazing, it's pointless. Unless you've got huge amounts of memory to address, a 64 bit CPU is actively bad. It wastes board space, wastes power, and, unless they've done something funky with the memory architecture, wastes memory because of alignment issues.
So you've never used a 64 bit CPU then? If you had you'd know what's useful about it. It's not just about address space and I've yet to see a 64 bit CPU that can actually address a 64 bit address space, the physical addressability is often only in the 40+ bit ball park. Native 64 bit general purpose registers, often more general purpose registers, wider internal pathways, wider deeper write combining buffers, etc. If you're code is packed full of pointers you want to re-think it with a more implicit data layout so pointers aren't used so heavily, you'll find the end result runs faster too due to less de-referencing and possibly better data->cache line locality.
You have a faster CPU and a slightly better camera, which you get any time you get a new phone. Nothing particularly amazing there. I've never heard anyone complain that their existing iPhone 5 is too slow. The iPhone 5 camera is pretty decent, but it isn't the best, so Apple are playing catch-up here.
So you have a fingerprint sensor to replace the lock screen pin and iCloud password. Maybe it is better than some of the fingerprint sensors I've seen in the past that didn't really work. We will see, but it isn't really a compelling reason to buy a new phone.
Wow you are pleased with an $850 device that'll take pictures like an average $150 camera. And just why is 64bit so amazing? oh yeah cos big number ain't it. "AND might actually work" but then again it "might" not. I bet you'll really enjoy your gold phone. And the rest of us will know what you value at a glance.
S versions never make massive changes, arguably this one does so more than other S versions have.
Remind us again of the major changes that the 5 made over the 4s? Oh, yes it was a bit longer.
"S" versions tend to be evolutions on an existing model range. 3 to 3S, 4 to 4S and 5 to 5S. In my experience, the S version are indeed improvements rather than fully changed devices, I guess in Android world it would be 3.0 to 3.1, 4.0 to 4.1 etc etc.
I don't disregard any phone based on its audience - the fanboi attitude is about as irritating and infantile as the anti-fanboi brigade, so I leave judging a phone on who buys it rather than what it can do for me to the people with room temperature IQ and not yet stable hormonal systems.
Jobs would not have tried to compete with the 'baying-for-tech' mob, such as the commenters we see on here. Apple should have held back on what is a pretty lacklustre lineup launch.
That said, what on earth do you all think any new phone is going to introduce now? A holographic 50" projector screen? Fingerprinting sensors that analyse your blood sugar and call an ambulance for you? A phone that pleasures the wife, makes the coffee, walks the dog and drives the kids to school for you?
Get real, for Jobs' sake at least.
The cheaper version is expensive in everyone's eyes but Apple.
Ok, so contract prices might be lower, but buying outright is a huge chunk of cash and for what? I'd expect a better spec.
As to the 5S, in the real world the only difference in the fingerprint reader. Disappointing and you can understand why the share price fell when it was announced. Also looks like the retina screen ipad mini wasn't able to be finished in time. Though that might appear when iOS 7 reaches the iPads in Oct/Nov.
"Ok, so contract prices might be lower, but buying outright is a huge chunk of cash and for what? I'd expect a better spec"
If you want bigger numbers and lower prices buy an Android, I'm sure you'll be happy. If you want a better phone for actually doing phoney things with and are happy to pay for it then buy the iPhone. On the Apple side of the fence CPU clock is less important than the usable camera or the allegedly heightened security of the fingerprint scanner (time will tell on this one but it does look promising).
"If you want a better phone for actually doing phoney things..."
...then my advise is to get a £25 Nokia or Samsung dumb phone. Tried and trusted technology, long standby and talk time, robust as hell, easy to use (as a phone), and it won't get you mugged or be particularly painful when you drop it down the loo or lose it when out on a bender.
Of course, if you want to run Angry Birds, then you really want more than a phone!
Who else looks forward to the likely soon to be forthcoming reports of Apple owners being relieved of a finger or two via a meat cleaver when their latest Apple device is stolen?
Yawn. You know, it's really time to retire that worn, useless argument. Any modern FP reader incorporates techniques to check if it's (a) a finger and not a celluloid or gelatine copy and (b) still attached to a body (although most versions tend not to check if it's still breathing).
Secondly, no thief with at least a smidgeon of intelligence will chop off a finger if the mere threat of violence can result in the device being unlocked and re-registered with its new knife wielding owner. Criminal charges for theft are a lot lower than for inflicting bodily harm, and only a total loon would go for the stupid option (not that they don't exist, but even thieves know about risk management).
> Any modern FP reader incorporates techniques to check if it's (a) a finger and
> not a celluloid or gelatine copy and (b) still attached to a body (although most
> versions tend not to check if it's still breathing).
No, they don't. Like any other measurement device it checks an aspect that it can measure correlated hopefully with whatever it is you are trying to measure. It isn't doing chemical composition tests, and "temperature"<>"attached to a body.
I have just realised.....
The 'cheap phones' are not aimed at tech minded El Reg readers...
They are aimed at Girlfriends, Wives and Daughters....
My daughter aged 4 saw the pink one and said, 'daddy I WANT that for Christmas!' I asked why and her answer 'its PINK.'
Just you wait and see, it will be a GIRLY best seller, easy to use, works out of the box, simple, all female celebs will be carrying them.
I'm sorry but you are wrong, its arse free.
"The iPhone 5C, he said, is "highly recyclable," featuring arsenic-free glass,..."
See?
P.S. "It's manufactured from a single piece of hardened polycarbonate and is available in five colors: white, pink, yellow, blue, and green." For a few seconds I thought "Nokia!", I wonder why...
"The iPhone 5C, he said, is "highly recyclable," featuring arsenic-free glass,..."
That's nothing. My Android phone's screen is entirely free of Plutonium 238!
And the back panel contains entirely no Murdertanium 666, a substance that leaches out of plastics and stabs random people in your house in the face at night.
Now, to be fair, Murdertanium 666 doesn't actually exist... but that's how I can be sure that my phone contains none of this highly dangerous and alarming substance. Still, it's a good selling point to Daily Mail readers.
No but I thought they might have more sense than to treat their customers like 8 year old kids, "Oooh look you can have nice green one, yellow one or pink one! Ooooh!". FFS!
Can't wait for the first arsehole who will get his mug on the frontpage 'cos he had to have all the colours, some people simply have too much damn free time and money to waste....
I didn't expect the processor to go 64 bit but Apple are saying it brings performance advantages since you get twice as many registers, rather than just literally having 64 bit addressing where the previous has 32 bit. So that shows what I know about the ARM architecture.
I didn't expect ES 3.0 to make an appearance but that's just because Apple has always lagged so much on the desktop. There's still no geometry shaders and Apple already supported extensions for occlusion queries and compressed textures so I guess the step forward for developers isn't so great.
Otherwise? If the finger-print sensor works then it'll be useful but Motorola's a few years ago was never any good. I don't have a Nike+ Fuelband but gamification of health is exactly the sort of thing a feeble-minded person like myself would be manipulated by.
I understand the 64 bit architecture helps with translucency and blurs. Android has now pretty much caught up in terms of smooth scrolling and animations. Apple always like to have an edge in graphical slickness and push the boundaries. Smooth animation with translucency and blurs is one of the ways of implementing a differentiator which makes systems that can't do it so we'll look somehow old hat (most people don't even identify just what it is they like).
There is a down side to this though. IOS 7 on my iPhone 5 suffers low scrolling frame rate on the many translucent table elements. There may well be improvements before release, but if this is as good as it will get I'm a little surprised Apple will have allowed it (I'm sure there will be some retarded yah-boo Apple types who will comment "deliberate in obsolescence" but anyone who has used Apple kit for a while will know they have always in the past proven very careful to preserve/maintain the user experience)
The other thing I understand 64 bit it helps for is fast encryption and decryption, so running an encrypted file system will be higher performance.
"There is a down side to this though. IOS 7 on my iPhone 5 suffers low scrolling frame rate on the many translucent table elements."
I assume you're talking about the beta since the GM was only released a few hours ago. Beta builds of iOS are typically debug builds. Release builds tend to be hugely faster. iOS 6 was also a dog until the final build.
"If the finger-print sensor works then it'll be useful but Motorola's a few years ago was never any good."
Eh? How could it possibly cross your mind to mention the two in the same sentence?
The Atrix had one of those idiot line-shaped fingerprint readers that you had to swipe your finger across at exactly the right speed and angle or it wouldn't work. It was slow and finicky and error-prone. I know a guy who used to have an Atrix and he said the fingerprint reader was beyond worthless.
In contrast, the new iPhone's sensor is almost the entire home button. You don't have to swipe anything or hit a particular angle. You just press the button as you always have and it immediately confirms your identity.
The new iPhone's sensor has about as much to do with the Atrix's sensor as a jet fighter has to do with a VW bus.
"They aren't likely to lure many customers who otherwise have their eyes on cut-rate Android handsets or the low end of Nokia's Lumia line."
I be to differ. I predict you will be surprised by just how much of a difference the iPhone 5C makes to Apple sales. There is a "desire to spend" distortion field that comes into effect when people walk into Apple stores and this will mean people who previously couldn't make the stretch, will be able to.
Apple market share is increasing in the US and the UK and on trend to increase in the five wealthiest EU countries. This will help Apple in China in percentage terms a bit (but a bit being rather a lot in absolute terms when talking of China) but it will make even bigger gains for them in the West. I don't think they are targeting emerging markets at all, rather happy to see improvements in emerging markets (without abandoning their business focus and strategy targeting the high end). Why would they want to compete with all the Android vendors competing downwards on price and who are making almost exactly no profit? Samsung occupy the middle ground but also are wise enough to avoid competing downwards on price. They too maintain their margins.
Yes, and I'm confident I'll be proven right. Same as I was proven right about the iPad being a success when almost everyone everyone commenting at The Register was saying it would be a failure, same as I was proven right about the market dynamic and high satisfaction ratings leading to Apple's market share starting to expand again in wealthy markets once those markets reached smartphone purchase saturation (you will see that effect accelerating BTW). So down vote if you wish and I'll chuckle when looking back at this comment in the new year !
The company that is best set to reverse Apple's fortunes isn't here yet. That will most likely be Xiaomi (not Samsung). They are impacting Apple in China now and could start to impact them internationally from late next year, but most likely not until 2015.
You're forgetting one feature of your typical iPhone user.... incredible snobbery. How many people will want to take out their new shiny, only for some idiot to put them down with a "Oh... you got one of those CHEAP iPhones?"
iPhone owners don't do cheap.
Still.. it will at least shut up all the idiots on here accusing Android owners of only having an S4 or HTC One because they can't afford an iPhone, but really really want one, deep down.
Well to be fair, it's difficult not to display just a hint of snobbery when you see Samsung going it alone, striding forth all "see we can innovate without copying" and coming up with the smart wrist-brick. Apple is a company that can at least be relied on to call out the elephant in the R&D lab before it makes it out the door. Whether they can continue to do so without Jobs is open to debate, but we shall see. I suspect they will.
>"Maybe this [fingerprint sensor] will be better, but looking at the amount of dust and fluff my phone accumulates after a few weeks spent in pockets, I wouldn't want to risk it."
The keynote said something about the sensor scanning below the skin, so in theory dust shouldn't trouble it too much.
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They've missed a real opportunity to beef up the base model storage, and perhaps remove the incredibly expensive increments (£80 for an extra 16gig in this day and age?). As a confirmed fanboi, I'll not be buying, purely on that point alone, I imagine I'm not the only otherwise guaranteed sale they've lost.
I find it slightly worrying that was my first thought before getting round to thinking of the interesting possibilities it brings. I'd like to think its because I live in the area with the highest level of mugging in the Uk, but I concede it might well be my personal cynicism.
Next years update will probably include the requirement for a warm finger with a pulse.
It's essentially the original 5 in a plastic case. However, this isn't necessarily the whole story; I'll wait for the networks to announce their contract details. Depending on how much Apple sells these devices to the networks, the TCO might not be too bad.
Still, I think Apple is failing to see the direct threat from Amazon, and the growing threat from Google Play, who are getting increasing numbers of punters to part with their credit card details. From a business perspective, I think the real prize is using cheap, compelling hardware as a Trojan horse to sell everyone everything (everywhere).
"Yes, because Apple doesn't have any kind of online store for apps, music, films, tv shows or books that might already have millions of credit card details."
A credit card on Google's records is likely one not on Apple's. Google's customers might have a reputation for being a bunch of free-loading freetards, but the times, as they say, are a changin'!
"So what we have in the iPhone 5C, then, is essentially a plastic version of the iPhone 5 – and that's reflected in its cost."
Without a 5C the old 5 would've dropped to the same price anyway so this is all about maintaining Apple's receding margin in a more competitive market.
Nothing wrong in that of course, but let's not get carried away.
No challenge to the low end smartphone market which is growing rapidly in all markets, the Google Nexus 4 and Nokia Lumia's 520 / 620 have a clear run into the Christmas market, and will do well when people realize they perform most smartphone tasks for 1/3 of the price.
"how little it managed to keep secret from the tech media ahead of the event"
Interesting how the media scrambles to get info about new iPhones parts, but doesn't seem interested in Samsung's why is this?
Hence Samsung's watch came as a surprise.
Also interesting how Android is trouncing iPhone/iPad for units shipped, but very few use them for web-browsing, is this because any deployment of Android regardless of wether it's in a smartphone/pad is counted as if it is or are they just sitting on suppliers shelves or are they just crap for web browsing (which I doubt).
Curiouser and curiouser said Alice
Totally different animals. Apple is a marketing & design house. Manipulating press and consumers is their bread and butter. Samsung on the other hand actually makes stuff (including much of Apple's stuff - until Jobs shat a "thermonuclear" brick when he saw Android).
Did you ever see an Android phone before the iPhone?
I have, they looked like a blackberry nothing like what it became after because Samsung & co don't do good design (look at their watch for their design when they can't nick it).
If Samsung is so wonderful why is Dyson now suing them ? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24023430
(was going to put a a link from el Reg, but it appears the don't want to upset Samsung).
If you know any web admins ask them what the percentage of mobile web browsers that access their sites are you will be surprised Android sales are not reflected in web traffic, why because android marketing men are spinning the figures.
Apple keeps pointing out that they are the only mobile manufacture that tell you how many devices they've actually sold.
Looking forward to the thumbs down from the Spamsonites :P
for anyone talking about android is not in the web browsing market.. Been to India last month and the retailers are saying that the whole nation is starting to get into the smartphone market and they do not look like buying iPhones. Instead all Androids (locally made to Sammy's) are the craze.. Aaaannnddd.. they do browse! That will be a huge number in the web traffic which can trounce easily the numbers.. keep watching..
I am buying a 5S because it has functions I want like a better camera and better processor. I maintain Semiconductor processing equipment and I use my phone constantly for work. Be it videos of how a tool is running, pictures of equipment failure, documentation and procedures.
Go to the iTunes store and look up engineering apps or graphing calculators or any other scientific things you want. With the faster processor they are only going to get better and better.
I plan to write it off on my taxes as a work tool.
If you want just a phone you don't need it. Get the 4s for free with a two year contract or buy somebody else's.
I am buying a 5S because it has functions I want like a better camera and better processor. I maintain Semiconductor processing equipment and I use my phone constantly for work. Be it videos of how a tool is running, pictures of equipment failure, documentation and procedures.
You're full of shit.
I've worked in a lot of fabs. If you were found using anything resembling a phone in a fab, security would beat the shit out of you with it and shove it up your ass on the way out.
What a fucking moron...
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i worked for various OEM vendors for over 25 years. Machine Technology Inc, Silicon Valley Group, DNS electronics/ Sokudo. Do you even know what I am talking about?
I am working direct now but all of the vendors I work with come down with their phones and nobody says anything.
Some fabs told us what phones to use because they had repeaters inside the Fab for that carrier. We had phones because they were more useful than pagers. Sometimes we would have to call the factory, it is a waste of time to leave the fab to do that. At first they tried to keep out the camera phones but after awhile they gave up. Too useful. We all signed NDA's anyway. I had access to the control charts which are much more important than a picture of a piece of equipment.
I am sure that there are still some Fabs that don't allow phones. I have supported plenty of sites that did Government work.
Who did you work for, and how long have you been out of the industry?
If you want a decent phone and a very good camera, forget the iPhone, get a Lumia 1050 (or is that 1020). That takes much better video and pictures than the iPhone. And it will work very well as a phone, since Nokia actually do know how to make phone HW.
Since those seem to be your two main use cases, the iPhone is not a suitable device.
Let me put one piece straight, I am an Android fan through and through, I have owned a Samsung Galaxy 1, 2, and 3. I have never been a fan of Apple to be honest, but the one thing I admired was how Apple just took the competition apart when Steve Jobs took the stage or presented a new device, he oozed innovation. Unfortunately now that he is no longer here, Apple now slavishly copies the competition and no longer innovates.......they might hve 200bl dollars but they sure arent using it very well.
Bollocks.
Copying the competition my ass. Have you even read any of the specs? Ok the 5S looks similar to the previous version, but that's about it - A7 64bit, iOS7, motion co-pro, bleeding-edge fingerprint scanner fully integrated with the OS, just how much f*ing innovation are you looking for?
I can't believe I got sucked in AGAIN writing a response to some moron wailing about ' where's the innovation' but seriously; you bleat about Apple being all about the shiny shiny, here they make some major changes under the covers and you complain about that too because it's not shiny enough for you.
And you call that innovation? Fingerprint technology has been around for years, I have a laptop at home thats got a fingerprint reader built in to its touchpad. The only difference here is its on a phone and not a laptop, although I suspect Apple will try and pretend that they 'invented' it with one of their crazy patents. Motion stuff you can already get on the Samsung S4, and while a 64 bit Processor sounds cool, what actual usefulness does it bring to the end user? It's not shiny I'm looking for its new ideas, and Apple seem to have run out of them.
64bit, Innovation? Sorry, that's simply a slightly faster processor. Something that's been going on in every other phone/desktop/tablet for years. Its not innovation, it's evolution. Innovation would be brand new features (for a phone), like the fingerprint thing, which seem to me to be a sensible idea.
So, these changes are obvious, easy .... So Apple is just lucky to have made them first?
All you denigrators must be from the same stable as those who said, when the first mainframes appeared, that one or two would provide all the computing power necessary for the whole British Isles for eternity.
Good job there are politer people with more foresight for those of use who appreciate changing technology.
By the way, those who must slag off people with whom they disagree in disagreeable, obscenity laden terms really ought to get an education (so that they can learn to express themselves properly in writing and speech) and anger management help. I wonder if they behave the same way at work if they disagree with colleagues, assuming you have found some hapless employer, or to friends or family (if they still have such).
Jobs certainly oozed the appearance of innovation the guy was a showman. But I can't help feel that the true innovation was the big touch screen no buttons [Don't mention the slightly earlier LG equiv, it wasn't really the same]. And the innovation was that they bit the bullet and did it, plenty of other people had seen it as an option.
But what innovation here? really?
64bit processor, evolution not revolution. Is this ARMs innovation? Are they copying AMD or TI or <how far back you want to go>. It's a bump in a road somebody was going to decide it was worth it to go over it first. Genuine consumer benefits I would have thought as ZERO.
Bleeding-edge fingerprint scanner? it's not a new idea and they BOUGHT the company that made them! Where's the innovation? How the hell do you know it's going to work? How do you know it really is "fully integrated with the OS"? You got one? When the apple foums fill up with people screaming they can't do X, Y, Z because their fingers are scanning what do you think apples reply will be?
Used IOS7? How innovative is it in your personal opinion?
Any evidence whatsoever that a motion co-pro will actually help in anyway with anything that anybody cares about?
Phone wise I'm neutral here, I've got an iPod touch, I've got a cheapo Android phone. But company wise I'm astonished again and again at the naivety of people who treat a carefully stage managed apple product launch as the equivalent of an independent review by someone with a clue.
"When the apple foums fill up with people screaming they can't do X, Y, Z because their fingers are scanning what do you think apples reply will be?"
Won't happen, at least for the forseeable future as according to All Things Digital, the biometric scanner will be for Apple's use only to unlock the phone and verify iTunes purchases.
http://allthingsd.com/20130910/iphone-developers-wont-get-fingerprint-reader-authentication-option-for-now-anyway/
"...but it is a significant upgrade."
Did Apple gas the world's media with hysteria-inducing drugs at the unveiling?
Pretty much every tech news outlet and market analyst has been saying the same thing, but for me this has been the least substantial upgrade I've ever seen from Cupertino.
64-bit isn't significant in the phone space. It wasn't significant in the PC market 10 years ago when it became de facto standard in CPUs. Perhaps In the gaming space, for higher fidelity visuals - but then the sort of games the massively vast majority of the market play on phones don't make much use of the graphics technologies that most phones have had for the past few years.
That leaves us with a fingerprint sensor to unlock your phone, a slightly tweaked camera and flash, and the option of a gold case.
To be honest, Apple's literature says it all - "we've managed to do all this clever stuff you'll never notice without even changing the design, or increas... err, decreasing the battery life". All smartphone makers may end up at this apparent dead end, but Apple seems to have won that race.
What were you expecting? What else could they have come up with? Even if they released a "phablet" phone like some people seem to want (I plan to get a Galaxy note 3 - never having used Android or IOS before myself) - it's still just a bigger screen, nothing revolutionary.
Doubling processor performance(is it still dual core, or is it quad core now?), doubling the memory(assuming the rumor site I just checked was accurate in which they stated 5S has 2GB vs 1GB on the 5), the fingerprint sensor, new OS (which looks pretty ugly to me)..
Myself I can't think of much left that can be done in the hardware space that is revolutionary at least for a while - people should get used to focusing on the software changes, on whatever platform it is.
And software is something that Apple has down pretty good at least the app store stuff. IOS seems far an away the first priority of almost any mobile app developer, with android being distant second.
People seemed equally unimpressed with several previous iPhone launches, yet that didn't stop the things from FLYING off the shelves..
One thing I haven't seen anyone mention (assuming it's accurate) - I recall reading a while back that China Mobile(the one with ~700M subscribers, assuming I got that name right too) didn't do subsidized phones on contracts the way the US carriers do.. maybe they will start with the iPhone 5C I don't know.
So while the $99 price on the 5C seems really cheap, for folks in China it may not be(esp given the average income of those 700M subscribers).
You need to remember your buying into the ecosystem, not just the phone, the ecosystem is huge for Apple - it's relatively non existent for Windows Phone/Nokia(same goes for most Android devices too). Whether it is the massive app store, or the seemingly endless supply of i-accessories I believe a lot of folks take that into account more than the base specs of the phone(or at least they should) when purchasing.
El Reg says iPhone 4S is looking old.......shit, it's probably still 3-4x faster than my HP Pre3.
I think he was expecting... well hoping maybe, for people not to watch the show and scream "AMAZING INNOVATION" when there wasn't much/any.
To a lot of people here I don't think the issue is that Apple doesn't innovate. It's that when they don't everybody screams that they have.
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Well.. For a company with such brilliant engineering minds and consumer focused managers, they should have addressed the two major issues in the mobile phone market... well f**k it .. just the one.. BATTERY LIFE.. If they had innovated there and delivered a two days - no charging needed battery life phone, I will sell my first born to buy that one..
But hey wait, I have bought a Nokia Asha 210 and it already does it! along with whatsapp! That is my main phone and my media player will be the Note 3 when it sells a bit cheaper than £599 to replace my original note...
64-Bit on desktops havsn't taken off because it requires too many people pulling in the same direction. All the major browsers have 64-bit versions which while technologically superior are in real terms inferior to 32-bit browsers just because the vats majority of websites haven't migrated. Big software companies aren't going 64bit because there's still a significant number of users on 32 bit only Windows XP, especially in the big contract markets and the list goes on and on.
Apple do have a chance at getting traction with 64bit because of its closed nature, all they have to do is release the next iPad and iPad mini with 64bit SoCs and say that iOS10/11 onwards will be 64bit only. By that point the 32bit hardware (iPad 2-4, iPad mini, iPhone 4-5c) will be end of life and devs will be forced to update apps to be 64bit.
So, whilst other manufacturers are busy adding useful functionality to their phones, Apple tweak theirs a little.
No waterproofing. No forward-facing stereo speakers. No screen that works when wearing ordinary gloves. No SD card (no surprise when you can charge silly money for 16GB). No NFC. No wireless charging.
No, instead you get a fingerprint scanner, which will have to be bloody good for anyone who does manual work for a living. Imagine a builder or plasterer who wants to make a call... hold on lads, anyone got some soap? I need to make a phone call... yeah, right. It may surprise some Apple owners, but, people who get their hands dirty do own iPhones too. In an accident and got blood on your hands? Can't call an ambulance? Oh well, natural selection at work I guess.
64-bit? Hmm... interesting that apps will need re-compiling to take advantage of those extra bits. Presumably this means that any apps compiled for 64-bit architecture, will not run on 32-bit phones? Two versions of the same app? Fragmentation anyone?
Me? I'll take a Z1 and a 64GB sd card... giving me a 5" screen, 20.7 MP camera, waterproof, dustproof, NFC (Sony SmartTags make NFC usable) and 80GB. All that, and much cheaper than the smaller-capacity 64GB 5S at £709.
In cold weather, e.g. on the ski slope or just a chilly walk on a miserable, Winter day, using a touch screen mobile is scarcely doable before the thing stops ringing while one pulls off the gloves to find the mahine and use it. Wearing ski gloves, or almost any gloves, one can not even just answer it. There are some special gloves that will work (or carry a sausage: I seem to recall a report that a sausage would work as well as a finger). But the fingerprint authentication will not work even with special gloves, I assume.
I wonder if one can still select PIN authentication in place of or as an alternative to fingerprints. Can one set a pin for some users instead of an extra fingerprint? Can one store prints from several fingers or the tip of one's nose or even ear (ear prints are supposed to be more unique than fingerprints) of the same user, in case a really nasty accident renders the authorised finger unusable temporarily or permanently?
IOS uses the PIN length to decide the complexity of data encryption, I think. How will this work with a fingerprint? Always the highest level?
Slightly different: I have not seen an unambiguous report of the way that intelligence services are getting at iPhone data; but the implication from what I did see is, that they can not. They get at the data archived/synchronised onto a PC. So, if one does not connect the mobile to a PC, nor use the "cloud", the implication is that the data is safe within the mobile. Even if it is backed up and synchronised with a computer, just turn the computer off when not logged in. I wonder too: if one is using an encrypted disc storage (as provided with OS X or through additional software with Windows, then the computer version should be a little more secure, depending upon the effectiveness of the encryption (probably just a minor inconvenience if the investigator has got his hands on the machine). I do not know about Android security: but with IOS, using a six digit PIN gives a tighter encryption of the mobile contents. So we need more detail of the real possibilities for data access on the mobile as opposed to during transmission or on the PC.
"The 5s is an average phone with a small screen, an outdated OS, no nfc"
Ok, I'll go with overpriced, but size of screen? No, I don't want a Jumbotron in my pocket. Outdated OS? No worse than Droid - in fact, moving to 64-bit and a glossed up GUI is hardly obsolescence or lack of development. No NFC is hardly a big thing in the same way as a finger-print scanner isn't a game changer.
I like the Porsche analogy though. You might be onto something with respect to the perception of cheap.
Porsche had a classic high end sports car in the 911, but they still built 'cheaper' models, such as the 924 and the Boxster. The point being that 'cheap' is relative. If you expected Apple to release a proper low end bargain-bin smartphone, then you may as well expect Porsche to bring out their own Ford Fiesta.
Let me explain...
You're at a party, had a shandy or two too many and have nodded off into a gentle slumber.
Your mates, being mates, decide that this is the perfect opportunity to shave your eyebrows off, draw a penis on your forehead, take a photo with your phone and send to all your contacts.
With a PIN, or unlock pattern, they're stuck. Can't get in. Fingerprint scanner? Perfect... try each finger until it unlocks... Bob's your uncle.
Seems to me that the very time you need security, when you're drunk or just asleep, is exactly when this technology becomes a serious failure.
Fingerprint scanning... insecure by design.
Strangely enough, I usually leave my phone in the car when I go to parties, football games and other places I don't expect to be using it so it won't get nicked. It's been a long time since I've had a quick nap at a party, but I most certainly won't be bringing my phone with me. Maybe my mates are a bit slow and haven't twigged to all of the fun that can be had by shaving off peoples eyebrows and sending a pic to all of their contacts with their own phone. Whew, lucked out there.
Even though I use a Mac, I'm not interested in getting an iPhone.
If you get drunk enough at a party to pass out cold to where your "mates" can shave off your eyebrows and draw on your forehead, you sort of deserve to have them get in your phone.
Though I fail to see why using your phone for the picture rather than taking one with theirs and texting it to you (or posting it on Facebook) is a necessity for this sort of prank.
I presume that it will be possible to set iOS to require a fingerprint AND a PIN, so if you're on your way to that sort of a party, you might want to add a PIN or password for the night. You'll still no have eyebrows and a penis on your forehead when you wake up in the morning, but at least no one will have been able to get into your phone, because that's the worst of the three, right?
Your mates, being mates, decide that this is the perfect opportunity to
Nah, that's old hat.
If they was real mates, they'd carefully sandpaper the prints off your fingers while you were asleep, then you'd be f*&^ed next time you needed to make a phone call.
Even if you had locked your phone in the car.
"Your mates, being mates, decide that this is the perfect opportunity to shave your eyebrows off, draw a penis on your forehead, take a photo with your phone and send to all your contacts."
I think you need a better dictionary. Someone does that to you, they're not a "mate", they're an asshole who needs a good kicking. And if you hang around people like that voluntarily, you deserve everything that happens to you, because you're probably just as bad as them.
I get the feeling some commentards on here really need a reality check and a sense of humour transplant. You REALLY believe that I have friends that would do that? Bloody hell.
It was obviously a joke situation, you didn't pick on the bit where I implied iPhone owners are invited to social outings and have friends?
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Yes, and that’s why they make bumper cars out of solid metal case, and not plastic with a big rubber ring around them, otherwise the force of the impact would just pass through the rubber without being absorbed and damage the things inside its trying to protect, just like the force of an impact would pass more easily through a rubber case then a metal one and damage the phone…
oh wait…
I haven't read anyone here dissing the plastic. As far as I'm concerned it's the best thing Apple's done here. I hate their all glass all metal monstrosities. Wife has one, when I need to fiddle with it I'm terrified of dropping or scratching the thing and I find it uncomfortable to hold with it's sharp edges.
Of course these problems go away with a plastic bumper but then what's the point?
The bare shiny is only really useful for cliche web designers whose idea of a website front page is someone smirking at the camera with an iMac in the background and an iPhone in their hand.
For instance: http://webdesignledger.com/inspiration/18-examples-of-beautiful-image-usage-in-web-design
Just got back from a month+ in the Philippines and Hong Kong.
1: Even in the tiniest mobile markets on the littlest Philippine islands are displayed plenty of US$400 and US$500 smartphones. Even more surprising, regular people own them too. People that may live in what we would call a shed, they have the latest $500 smartphone. Middle Class is spreading fast.
2: Contracts? It seems to be 99.99% PAYG. The monthly plans on offer are so cheap ($10 data plans) that the margin isn't going to significantly subsidize a $500 phone over two years (obviously, do the math).
3: Huge phones seem popular. Tiny phones are not Flash & Splash enough. iPhones are too small to be the most desired. iPhablet and make it snappy!
4: 3% of a billion is a big number.
Hats off to ARM for designing a 64 bit core that works in a phone. It's just that Ubuntu has the best plan to make use of it with their idea of a phone that when docked runs full Ubuntu Linux; hell, if Ubuntu was running on something like a Nexus 10 with a 64 bit ARM and 8 gigs or more of RAM ...
... I'd play Angry Birds on it!
And everything on an Android handset defaults to the Info-snatchers, and everything on a Windows Mobile defaults to the evil Empire. Apple don't have a search engine of their own, so they'll default to whoever upsets them least (hence today, it's Bing).
Note the heavy handed use of the word DEFAULT? You can change it....
Oh, and in other news, the Pope defaults to Catholic.
Most people i know with an iPhone have that annoying home button app that gives you a home button on screen all the time. Most say its because after about 10 minutes in a sufficiently humid country (so anywhere in SE asia)... the home button broke.
I wonder if this will be any different.
As ever, if i do buy one, i wont rush ... lets wait and see if they have another "holding it wrong" problem.
No, you do not HAVE to do any such thing.
Do n't like the contract? Look at one of the many other suppliers. You know that within weeks there will be a range of contracts available.
As for your choice:
1. Is the device so hard to shift that they have to give it away?
2. Judging by the vast numbers of people screaming for it, clearly it is a winner.
"1. Is the device so hard to shift that they have to give it away?"
no, but it costs less so the network can subsidise it for people who don't want to be shafted on the phone & the contract. Cheap doesn't have to mean bad.
If your choices are dictated by what other people want and do I suspect you are Apples core demographic.
Some people make choices for themselves, and actually don't care if they have the latest shiny you know.
Still, there will be queues for days for this, just as there always is.
Ok, I'll admit to be being a fan of some (not all) Apple products, but I'm becoming less and less so, given the frankly drug-addled design decisions it's been making recently.
Gold and Silver options? 64bit processing? Fisher price UI? *this* is what Apple identified that it's customers want??? What f*ing market research were they doing??? Christ, take one look at your competitors Apple, and you can see what the market wants...
For the first time in ages, I will not be upgrading my iphone. Time to look for something a bit classier, with a bigger screen, more useful gadgets and more storage.
"but it is a significant upgrade"
...
"Interestingly, even given all of these features, Cupertino's stated battery life for the iPhone 5S is identical to that of the iPhone 5C."
What are you talking about, did you see something different to the rest of us? A new CPU, motion sensor, supposedly better camera and a fingerprint scanner. How does that count as significant? A new CPU should be more battery efficient (ignoring the Tegra line there), a motion sensor won't be active unless apps are using it so shouldn't cause drain by itself and a fingerprint scanner.... BEHOLD! THE GREAT INNOVATORS, APPLE!
I'm no Apple fan (I know, I hide it well) but surely it's clear to most now that they have massively lost their way. A slight upgrade and a plastic rehash of last years model aren't going to set the market alight.
I was thinking that surely apple must realise the most important feature they are lacking is one that every phone I have owned in the last 10 years has had (with the exception of my iPhone)... A memory card slot. In the beginning it didn't matter - the camera on the 3G was shit. But the 4s and 5 have better cameras and the apps are getting bigger and bigger. I don't want some gimmicky fingerprint reader that probably doesn't work, I just want a fuckin' memory card slot so I don't have to clear my phone out on a weekly basis.
Apple = Dicks.
A slot would let you buy the cheaper, lower-capacity models then expand them via dirt-cheap memory cards. This doesn't benefit Apple, who would rather you paid them the extra markup for a higher-capacity version.
Not making them expandable also forces people who aren't sure if they might want the extra capacity to pay the extra upfront anyway if they're in doubt. It also has the benefit of forcing obsolescence, as the ever falling price and increasing capacity of flash storage over time makes your phone's storage look puny.
I've been tinkering with iOS development using iOS 6 SDK, XCode 4.x, OSX 10.8 on a fairly old unibody MacBook.
How will developing/releasing apps be affected by iOS7 - will I have to upgrade XCode (which requires the new OS) to be allowed to release apps now or can I still build against the iOS 6 SDK as before? I'm not sure my Mac will even support Mavericks...
Yes - once IOS7 is released you'll need the new xcode to release apps (and test with the IOS7 simulator, which is a really good idea unless you just want to cross your fingers and hope everything works!).
Your Mac will probably support mavericks unless it's really old - OSX support goes back quite a long way.. we've only ever had to junk one mac (an old one that didn't support Mountain Lion, so became useless for development) so far.
"Another new component is the M7, which Schiller described as a "motion coprocessor." That's as in physical motion, rather than onscreen motion; the chip works with the accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, and other sensors to track how you move throughout the day, and to provide support for fitness apps."
Let me correct that for you Mr Schiller, "a motion coprocessor, a chip which works with the accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, and other sensors to track how YOU move throughout the day, and to provide support to the NSA and others we are supplying the data to."
Looks like I'll be hanging on to my 4S for a bit longer then. Potentially I could have gone for a 5S if it came in a 128GB flavour, though that would have cost a fortune SIM-free. I mean Apple are never going to put in an SD (or similar) slot, so it's going to have to be internal. They probably expect us all to plonk everything in the (i)Cloud and use all the 4G to drag it down...
All that aside I'm a bit meh about the 5S.
"plus a flash with two LEDs – one cold, one warm – that can choose from 1,000 possible color temperatures to best match the environment" - that's the only bit that's an actual innovation that I can see.
So it's still too small, too expensive, and iOS is still too much like all the previous versions.
Pass.
"If you know any web admins ask them what the percentage of mobile web browsers that access their sites are you will be surprised Android sales are not reflected in web traffic, why because android marketing men are spinning the figures."
The first thing most Android users do is change the User Agent string on their browser to IE7 / Safari so to stop automatically getting shitty mobile sites on their screen which is usually big enough to accommodate a normal 'desktop' website.
On Apple ishite of course you cannot change the user agent hence their disproportionate lead in web server stats.
"The first thing most Android users do is change the User Agent string on their browser to IE7 / Safari ...."
I assume that you are taking the piss. Most users of any browser on any platform, including software engineers, never even think about the UA string and would not know how to change it unless working in that field or have looked it up, assuming they are even aware of it.
I hear that Android based mobiles are the vast majority of smart phones in circulation, with nearly a thousand million activated. So, you are suggesting that there are five hundred million Android users who have changed their browser UA strings. Well .... I should imagine five hundred more like.
Tell you what, ask your mother, father, siblings, random shop assistants, office staff, players in the pub darts team or football team: let us know how many know about this, or even what browser or operating system they are using.
I just had a look at the iPhone 5C video ad on the Apple uk site
http://www.apple.com/uk/iphone-5c/videos/#video-product
The phone looks good but the video just reminded me too much of the video on
http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/nestle-mocks-apple-in-kitkat-4-4-ad/
Someone is selling Lumia 520s on Amazon for £110.
The fact is that much like PCs, phones have basically hit a plateau. I don't need more speed - the bottleneck on my Nexus phone is with the network, not the phone. And it's not like I'm rendering frames for Peter Jackson. I use apps for telling me the next train home, playing some noddy games.
Over half of mobile phone users do not secure their mobiles as they find it too inconvenient to set and enter a PIN.
So, the report surmised, Apple is not trying to increase the security level per se; it is just making it easier for the user to apply and use any security.
That seems, to me, to be an excellent motivation.
This is Apple.. that have been identified as OPENLY allowing the NSA to peruse their systems as they please.
And now their newly released iPhone has a new "feature"... a fingerprint sensor. So it's never sent to apple... really... how to hell do we know?!
I, for one, will not be putting my finger anywhere near one. I'll stick to my pin-unlock on my HTC One ta!
Very sceptical about the colours. Same nasty lurid green and yellows as the ElopSoft phones. £469+ for a "looks just like an iPhone 5, until you realise it is made of plastic" handset.
Steve Jobs would not have let this through even the initial planning stage. Mind you, Steve Jobs would NEVER have allowed a marketing 'crat to do an Apple product launch -he had very fixed ideas of where marketing people belonged.
There's the first mass-market available product with a 64bit ARMv8 processor, yet noone considers it a breakthrough ... on the other hand, like cars, having a sports car with a flat-12 engine doesn't mean acceleration / speed are any different from the competitor using a v6 one. To be proven ...
Must admit that I'm otherwise sort of underwhelmed as well; good design/looks and well-though-out usability are selling points for sure. Apple made their brand on that for decades, and haven't failed on that front with the new iPhone either.
But visible, in-your-face-cool features which weren't available in either Apple's own or its competitor's older models, where are those ? Apple hasn't even played catch-up here, much less leap-frog. And there are even unique Apple facilities the new baby could've used, like, how about a thunderbolt interface to connect the phone to accessories, like, gasp, external storage ... How about a geeky change to the camera app to do manual focus / aperture, say, using the volume control buttons ? Or camera RAW, another first (?) in a smartphone, definitely if you did it for HD video using your own new codec ? Maybe a well-working OCR app that'd allow me to create my own ebooks from the old paper collection ?
It's an expensive development board to get your hands on ARMv8, if that's what you want ...
"But visible, in-your-face-cool features which weren't available in either Apple's own or its competitor's older models, where are those ?"
Er, you don't think an awesome fingerprint scanner is an in-your-face-cool feature? It means no more time wasted unlocking your phone. Maybe you LOVE typing in your PIN/password/whatever every time you unlock your phone but personally I hate it, and would happily pay $100-$200 extra if that meant I didn't have to do it anymore. Even better that the technology is straight out of a spy movie, and completely revolutionary compared to older fingerprint scanners (which were almost all crap).
Is it just me, or does the tyranical approach to product secrecy of Jobs seem better than this "lets leak stuff constantly for months pre-launch as a form of hype" current approach?
The products might be hit and miss, but at least Jobs knew to put on a show. At the moment everyone is a bit *meh*.
Fanbois will buy anything with an apple logo on it, and I bet they will buy both models, so they can apple up there apartments even more. Then when Apple have wrung that sponge dry and realise that they aren't selling any more they will either
a. Drop the price
b. Make a mini version
c. release an newer model 6s 6c 6x 6y ...
> c. release an newer model 6s 6c 6x 6y ...
Gold & Silver just came out... Before Apple comes out with 6th-gen X & Y, they need Ruby & Sapphire, Diamond & Pearl, Black & White (ok we already have these, so I guess these are Black 2 & White 2).
Of course, the proper fanboi's gotta catch 'em all!
'Unlocked versions without a contract will be more expensive – $549 for 16GB and $649 for 32GB. Those aren't really bad prices for a modern smartphone'
What? They're fucking terrible prices - a Galaxy S4, HTC One, Xperia Z & Lumia 925 can all be had for less money as sim-free and unlocked. - and are far more desirable than a shitty poor mans iPhone.
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