Let's talk Iphone

[gellar]

Screen size is damn near the last thing in the world I care about. To be honest the 4/4S form factor are fine by me, I'm just interested in new software and functionality. Oh I'd always take more battery life.

[Soulchilde]

So will Apple broadcast the event?

[Bullwinkle]

1pm EST:  http://www.ustream.tv/ltktv

[Blackjack]

I think we're at the point where hardware is going to be subject to the law of diminishing returns and become just about incremental upgrades. The current design and the pending upgrades are pretty solid, and I would hope we wouldn't see change for the sake of change. Where the most innovation can occur is the software and OS. I have a feeling we're going to continue to see larger evolutionary leaps there.

I think eventually they'll just embed an iPhone in one's butt, and you can turn it on by swiveling your hips or bouncing a buttock against a wall. 

imho, the one good thing of wearable concepts that stick the UI in your actual line of sight is instead of people looking down at their smartphones and ignoring you (I was at Chipotle last night and looked back to see a row of 4 people staring down at their smartphone screens, slack-jawed; I could've lifted all their wallets and they wouldn't have noticed ), eventually people will look right at you, and ignore you, since you'll be behind their embedded smartphone HUD. 

Also, people will have car accidents because they can't see the road past their in-sight smartphone HUD, instead of because they were looking down texting "where R U?"

Anyway, for those into parsing clues, the various blogs suspect they'll also reveal... well, maybe people don't want to know, so I'll put the link/info in spoilers...

Spoiler for Hiden:

http://appleinsider.com/articles/12/09/12/apples_website_reveals_iphone_5_name_ahead_of_unveiling

With the name iPhone 5 already hinted at in Apple's invitation to its media event, search results on the company's website now appear to confirm the name of its next-generation iPhone. Also confirmed by the website are the debuts of a new iPod touch, iPod nano, and a new version of iTunes.

[Blackjack]

Here's a few liveblog links (sometimes streaming stuff and liveblogs get gummed up during these events, so it's good to have a few options). Again, it's 10 a.m. Pacific, 1 p.m. Eastern.

CNET
MacWorld
Endgadget
PC World

[Ralph-Wiggum]

Please, please, please let them announce a new iPod Touch. I don't think my old one can take much more abuse (and already shuts down by itself practically every time I try to use it when it's not plugged in).

[Blackjack]

Blackjack's Reader's Digest^TM summary of the live blogs...

1:09 EDT: The "We're Apple.... aren't we awesome?" stage of the event is well in progress...   iPads are everywhere, used by everyone, they're gonna take over the world! blah blah

1:12 EDT Today, they're taking it to the next level. Making a huge leap. Very exciting news to tell you about iPhone, and to do that Phil Schiller is going to come on and talk to us.

And it's raising out of the stage on a platform.

[CeeKay]

damn, the holographic Steve Jobs rapping with the holographic Tupac is surreal......

[CeeKay]

finally, talk about the iPhone.

[Blackjack]

finally, talk about the iPhone.

What do you want me to say?   Wow, does a long telescopic pole come out of the bottom now?

"So, iPhone 5. It is made entirely of glass and aluminum. It's designed and built to an exacting level of standard unlike anything we, or anyone in our industry, have made before."And... it's taller!  

It's a 326ppi Retina display, 4-inches. 1136 x 640 resolution. Same width, but taller.

[CeeKay]

"So, iPhone 5. It is made entirely of glass and aluminum. It's designed and built to an exacting level of standard unlike anything we, or anyone in our industry, have made before."And... it's taller!  

the base of the stand is actually the new battery

[CeeKay]

and the Apple Store is in 'we'll be right back' mode, so I'm guessing pre-orders are going up very soon.

[Soulchilde]

So far unimpressed..  Wanted a larger screen..

[CeeKay]

BOW TO APPLE FOOLISH MORTALS!

[Ralph-Wiggum]

So far unimpressed..  Wanted a larger screen..

It has a larger screen.

Dan Moren:
iPhone 5 has a Retina display of 326ppi, and it's stunning. Every iPhone to date has had a 3.5" screen, and the new one has a 4" screen and 1136x640 resolution.

Or did you mean larger than 4"?

[Soulchilde]

So far unimpressed..  Wanted a larger screen..

It has a larger screen.

Dan Moren:
iPhone 5 has a Retina display of 326ppi, and it's stunning. Every iPhone to date has had a 3.5" screen, and the new one has a 4" screen and 1136x640 resolution.

Or did you mean larger than 4"?

Yes

[CeeKay]

not 1, not 2, but 3 microphones!  3!!!  T-H-R-E-E!!!!!!!1!

[Soulchilde]

Ughh new connector

[CeeKay]

"We're creating a bunch of accessories to make more money off of you help you with that."

[CeeKay]

$199 for 16GB. $299 for 32GB, $399 for 64GB.   hits the 19th.

[Blackjack]

Please, please, please let them announce a new iPod Touch. I don't think my old one can take much more abuse (and already shuts down by itself practically every time I try to use it when it's not plugged in).

iPod and iTunes updates being talked about right now.   Though the audience is apparently snoring through the iTunes improvements descriptions...

7th gen Nano actually sounds pretty awesome, here's the iPod Touch 5th gen details so far:

And, 5th gen iPod Touch:
6.1mm thick, 88 grams in weight, looks to offer similar styling as before but slightly more squared back.

aluminum on the back with a brushed finish

Same 4" Retina screen as iPhone 5

Dual-core A5 processor (believe that's iPad 2's?)

Up to 40 hours of music playback in the touch, 8 hours of video. Slightly increased over the 4th gen Touch.

New iSight Camera: five megapixel iSight camera. Backside illuminated, f/2.4, five element lens; and same sapphire crystal lens cover and panoramic feature as iPhone 5.

Loop on lower back of case (which will drive case manufacturers CRAZY imho) to put a lanyard on it for more secure handling

1080p video now with image stabilization and you can use iMovie right on it.

720p camera for the FaceTime HD camera on the front.

Siri Support

Five colors -- raw aluminum, black, blue, yellow and red.

*No 4G, so put away the "use an iPod Touch as an iPhone" ideas...

[Soulchilde]

Had to step away did they discuss which features of iO6 would work on the 4 & 4S?   

[CeeKay]

iTunes:



hopefully they let you choose between the new interface and the old one, because new interfaces are not always better.

[CeeKay]

the iTouch is up now.  4 inch display like the i5. A5 processor.

[rittchard]

$199 for 16GB. $299 for 32GB, $399 for 64GB.   hits the 19th.

Phone hits the 21st, iOS 6 hits the 19th.

[CeeKay]

$199 for 16GB. $299 for 32GB, $399 for 64GB.   hits the 19th.

Phone hits the 21st, iOS 6 hits the 19th.

ah, somehow skipped over several lines on the Endgadget feed.

Had to step away did they discuss which features of iO6 would work on the 4 & 4S?   

from the feed:

iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, 3GS, new iPad, iPad 2 and iPod touch all are getting iOS 6.

[Crusis]

I'm also underwhelmed. Hmm. I thought I would be more excited for a new iphone.

[Laner]

I was hoping we would see a 128GB model of something, but I guess thinning it down and Apple's insistence on putting everything in the cloud comes first.

[TiLT]

Wow, that was completely underwhelming. I'm not an iPhone user, but I at least expected Apple to come up with something to really challenge its rivals on a technical level. I'm sure there's something going on beneath the hood, but to me this presentation seemed to be all about "look at what we can fit on the screen now!", when the iPhone 5 screen actually has far less pixels than its competition.

[Blackjack]

I was hoping we would see a 128GB model of something, but I guess thinning it down and Apple's insistence on putting everything in the cloud comes first.

They did eliminate the 16GB option on the 5th Gen iPod Touch (while still offering that in 4th Gen form). So I think they see people gradually focusing more on larger GB devices. While I doubt 128GB is in the cards, I did hope 64GB device prices would drop a bit at some point.

btw, here's my cobbled together list of iPhone 5 details, mostly from Endgadget's live blog:

Spoiler for Hiden:

Pricing
Same [w/ contract] price as the 4S. $199 for 16GB. $299 for 32GB, $399 for 64GB.

iPhone 4 is now free on contract. 4S is now $99.

Pre-orders start on Friday the 14th. Shipping on September 21st in the US, Canada, UK, Germany, France, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore.

20 more countries in October

iPhone 5
Entirely glass and aluminum

World's thinnest smartphone, blah blah. Weighs 112 grams. 20% lighter than the 4S.

7.6mm thick, 18% thinner than before.

It's a 326ppi Retina display, 4-inches. 1136 x 640 resolution. Same width, but taller.

All built-in and Apple apps updated to use the display. Developers supposedly can quickly update their apps to take advantage of it. Non-updated apps will be letterboxed.

Touch is integrated into the display, so it's thinner and sharper, less glare in sunlight.   

44% better color saturation, full sRGB rendering here.

New chip, the A6! 2X faster CPU and 2x graphics compared to the A5
   22% smaller, too, and more energy-efficient.
 
Faster app launching, saving images, load music app, viewing attachments in keynotes, ~2x performance across board.

Battery life: 8 hours of 3G or LTE talk time or browsing. 10 hours on WiFi browsing.       

Wireless stuff
Single chip for voice and data, and a single radio chip as well.   

HSPA+ is 21Mbps, DC-HSDPA is 42Mbps, and LTE is a max of 100.   

GPRS, EDGE, EV-DO, HSPA, HSPA+, DC-HSDPA and LTE!

Automatically switch antenna connections

There's also 802.11a/b/g/n, and it's dual-channel, up to 150Mbps.
   

Carriers
Asia: KDDI SoftBan, KT, SK telecom, SmartTone...   

Canada: Rogers, Telus, Bell, Fido, Virgin...   

In the US: Sprint, AT&T and Verizion. All will support LTE.

In Europe it'll be on DT and EE. [for LTE]

Camera (mostly unchanged hardware-wise, but thinner and some features of note)
It's an 8-megapixel, 3,264 x 2,448 backside-illuminated sensor, five-element lens and f/2.4 aperture. Same as the iPhone 4S but thinner.

Dynamic low light mode. It evaluates nearby pixels to give up to 2 f-stops greater low-light performance.

sapphire lens crystal cover -- durable and clear.

new image processor in the A6 to reduce noise and includes "smart filter" to do better at color-matching.

"It's really powerful to deliver amazing low-light photo capture."  40% faster image capture.

Official panoramic mode: sweep the scene vertically to get the most resolution, then just swing your phone. Results in 28MB images.

Video Camera
1080HD
better video stabilization, face detection and shoot photos while taking videos
front facing camera now 720HD, backlit
FaceTime over cellular networks (finally), no info on which networks
Three microphones: front, back and bottom
wide-band audio, requiring carrier partnerships (offers improved audio)

Connector
-New connector, 80% smaller, all-digital connection, etc. Will offer adapters as acessories.

Now folks can add, "Is that all? No holographic Face Time? No built-in force field generator? No built in Viagra dispenser. No vibrator? WTF, Apple?!"    

As far as the screen size, they've made it clear they feel the current width is best for one-handed phone use so clearly they won't budge on that. So if one needs a wider screen (vertically speaking), one should Go Android. Or buy pants with a jumbo pocket for the upcoming iPad Mini. 

[Soulchilde]

looks like my 4S will get the full iOS6 features (not sure about the camera and I doubt it), so I can hold off.  


- edit - looks like the Panorama camera feature will work.  So, yeah I think I'm out

[th'FOOL]

...when the iPhone 5 screen actually has far less pixels than its competition.

Say, what? Um, retina display?

[Calavera]

...when the iPhone 5 screen actually has far less pixels than its competition.

Say, what? Um, retina display?

Arguably all high end phones are retina at this point. My Evo 4G LTE is 312 ppi, but it's 1280x720, which was the point TiLT was making. The iPhone 5 doesn't have a 720p display, which it's competitors have. At the distance I normally hold my phone, my Evo's display is a retina display.

I think the bigger issue with the iPhone 5 screen is that it's not a whole multiple of the prior screen sizes so application scaling won't be direct 1 to 1. Applications will have to be stretched to fit the screen.

[Blackjack]

Try to remember that time in.... January 2007...

A look back at the first iPhone debut day (at Macworld, which Apple doesn't attend anymore, afik)
http://www.networkworld.com/slideshow/64156#slide1
*The good old days when everyone was skeptical/cynical, instead of jaded.  

Interesting irony -- Jobs said it was "literally five years ahead of any other mobile phone" in Apple's press release on it. And here we are, five years later. Which means... what does that mean? I guess now the iPhone is "current." 

[wonderpug]

Interesting irony -- Jobs said it was "literally five years ahead of any other mobile phone" in Apple's press release on it. And here we are, five years later. Which means... what does that mean? I guess now the iPhone is "current." 

Here we are five years later and every phone looks like an iPhone.    I think he got that one right.

[Rowdy]

$199 for 16GB. $299 for 32GB, $399 for 64GB.   hits the 19th.

This actually had me excited for a minute - I thought maybe they decided to join the real world as far as pricing goes.  But no, it's still $699 for a phone according to my apple store.  Yawn.

Edit - just read not compatible with existing micro-SIM cards!  Interesting.  So I couldn't buy one and put my old SIM in anyway in order to retain my existing contract and data plan.  Apparently it's sign a new contract with the cell companies or nothing.  Since that amounts in Canada to indentured slavehood to Rogers, I guess I can definitively take iphone5 off my interested list for my next phone.

[TiLT]

...when the iPhone 5 screen actually has far less pixels than its competition.

Say, what? Um, retina display?

Wow, you're really buying into Apple's marketing buzzwords, aren't you? "Retina" is just a word they use to describe the particular DPI they set for the iPhone. It has absolutely no meaning beyond that (apart from the regular meaning of the word outside of phone technology), despite Apple's claim to the contrary. With the size of a cell phone, the only thing that matters is the resolution, and Calavera already covered that.

So yes, the iPhone 5 has far less pixels than its competition. 194,560 pixels less than Calavera's example, to be precise, which is less than 79%. That's a pretty big difference.

[th'FOOL]

Uh, no, I'm looking at the pixel density of my iphone and ipad and there are only a small amount of devices on the market that come close to the crispness (yes, Calvera's example is one of them).  To say "all high end phones have retina" is disingenuous. I am a designer, I do know a thing or two about resolution and pixel density (as well as marketing buzzwords )

Frankly I find the Evo too large for a phone, so I'm glad Apple kept the screen down to a size that can fit comfortably in a pocket still.

[JCC]

My wife is definitely bummed about the modesty of the screen size, which would be a downgrade from what she has now (in size, if not in quality). I'm amazed they stayed below 4.3 inches. I also think they suck ass for changing their connector - unless they actually changed to a standard micro-USB one which would have been way too customer friendly.

I'm sure the phone will still be a magnificent device for the many that want it. We'll see if my wife ends up being one of them.

[Isgrimnur]

I'm hoping next year will bring phones with full HD resolutions.