Mac Roundtable 2013.09.10 Episode #219

Hosts this week include:Allison Sheridan – NosillaCast Mac Podcast http://podfeet.com @podfeet Chuck Joiner – MacVoices http://macvoices.com @chuckjoiner Bart Busschots – http://bartb.ie @bbusschots Don McAllister – ScreenCasts Online http://screencastsonline.com @donmcallister Steve Stanger – http://stevestanger.com @tmasteve In this episode we talk about today’s announcement of the iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s. Random iOS 7 due out 18 […]

Hosts this week include:
Allison Sheridan – NosillaCast Mac Podcast http://podfeet.com @podfeet

Chuck Joiner – MacVoices http://macvoices.com @chuckjoiner

Bart Busschots – http://bartb.ie @bbusschots

Don McAllister – ScreenCasts Online http://screencastsonline.com @donmcallister

Steve Stanger – http://stevestanger.com @tmasteve

In this episode we talk about today’s announcement of the iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s.



Random

iOS 7 due out 18 September
iWork + iMovie + iPhoto – Free on new devices

No new versions – very disappointing – iWork in particular does iCloud REALLY badly, and integration with the Mac versions is frustratingly bad – these needed an overhaul, not a firesale! Maybe new Mac versions are on the way (wishful thinking?)
Don’t forget all iWork apps have been re-tooled for 64-bit. Maybe some improvements?

It now makes sense why this was not streamed and not held in a real venue – they had very little to say

First September event without a single iPod – not even an iPod Touch!

No “Phablet” size option – thankfully
iTunes Festival promotion seemed odd

Emphasising that they can broadcast HD quality video just like a TV network perhaps – Ahhhh ha…

New Apple store looks awesome
Lots of Lady GaGa between festival promo and iOS 7 promo
Continuing with the laid back dress — Jeans, most had untucked shirts.

Interesting Stats:

700 millionth iOS device to ship next month – that’s a big ecosystem

iPhone 5c

5 colors in polycarbonate – “Unapologetically plastic” – very Apple to embrace plastic instead of trying to disguise it.

I think that’s what my prescription glasses are made out of
Polycarbonate is a stupidly generic word – it basically means “plastic made from Carbon and stuff” – your glasses are probably quite different to these iPhones    never mind then!
iOS 7 recognizes the color of the phone and the background matches

Silicon covers – ugly? – New covers not meant for us… For the kiddies!

Absolutely not to my taste, but they might appeal a younger audience – they are definitely playful and bright!
Nope, not ugly…very slick and art-deco looking. Play well with the look of iOS 7
Cases will be made fun of, but the video shows off the contrast and possible combinations that will appeal to many – I still think it’s barfy looking…maybe for kids like you, chuckYeah, Daddy-O…kids like me. Now, I’ll go get some bongo-playing time in.
Saw this tweet “Hey, wrap that new colorful iPhone in a laundry basket!”

4″ Screen, A6 Processor, larger battery than the iPhone 5, 8MP camera
“More LTE bands than any phone in the world”
16GB $99, 32GB $199
Preorder 13 September, available 20 September in 5 countries including China

iPhone 5s

Silver, Gold, Space Grey

The change to the “black” phone from black with a black edge to black with a slate edge and back is a massive improvement – I bought a white iPhone for the first time ever with the 5 because that black band looked terrible to me.

A7 64bit

2X faster at CPU & Graphics Tasks
CPU performance from original iPhone to the 5s = 40X improvement. 50% of that improvement is the 5s alone
GPU performance from original iPhone to 5s = 56X

Added M7 Motion sensor – accelerometer, gyroscope and compass without waking the A7 (a shot at the FitBit class of devices? Precursor to iWatch?
Battery life

8 hrs 3G data, 10 hrs LTE data, 10 hrs wifi, 250 hrs standby

Camera

faster lens f/2.2 <– was f/2.4
15% larger active area on the sensor
1.5 micron pixels are bigger than before – Lumia 1020 has 1.12 micron sensor pixels
“True Tone Flash” combines two flashes – one white, one warmer – first on any camera (not just cell phone camera)

Companies have tried dual flash before and failed: http://www.tested.com/tech/smartphones/2517-how-much-difference-does-a-dual-led-flash-make/

Takes multiple photos to find the sharpest
Auto-image stabilization
Burst mode 10 fps and it picks what it thinks is best one (or best few to represent an action sequence)
Slo mo – 720p at 120fps
10MP
Panorama adjusts exposure as you pan (a big shortcoming of the old pano feature)

“Touch ID”

Unlock the phone and enter Apple ID
500 ppi resolution, 360° readability
laser-cut saphire crystal + stainless detection ring + touch ID sensor + tactile switch
Fingerprint detail stored on chip only, not directly accessible through software, never sent to a server, not backed up to iCloud and not backed up to your computer – bascially, like a TPM chip on a PC motherboard.
Phil did a good job explining just how much valuable info we all have on our phones in the intro. Passcodes are a friction point that puts off about half of iPhone users from protecting their data. By making it easier to be secure, heck, even making it sexy, more people will protect themselves.
Since it can do more than one fingerprint does that mean multiple people could authenticate to the same phone? Yes, but still only one iTunes account. 
Buy stuff via App store (iTunes?) with your finger print. 
No API for 3rd party devs to auth off – at least not yet. Hopefully that rolls out next year. I really want to be able to get into my 1P without needing to enter my strong password each time.
Fascinating article about finger print scanning for the iPhone by Geppy Parziale who has 15+ years of professional experience in pattern recognition and machine vision http://weblog.invasivecode.com/post/57447455012/will-a-fingerprint-sensor-be-apples-next-hit

Pricing

16GB $200, 32GB $300, 64GB $400
Leather cases @ $39 (green, white, light blue, orange, black, red)
No pre-orders so far, so there will be the lines Apple loves
Why pre-orders for the 5C and not the 5S?

iPhone 4S – 8GB free

Jony Ive Video reminds us of Spoofs: http://www.apple.com/iphone-5c/videos/#video-product
 – do we really need to pick on Ive? YES! I want to know how Jony gets his beard / 5 o’clock shadow that perfect. We need to introduce a drinking game — Everytime Ives says “Defines”, drink!

Cool seeing Elvis Costello but not sure why he was part of the show? Not really a music event.