Stuff:
A major change in Apple’s iOS 7 update was its sleek, minimal aesthetic; however, the amount of motion now found within is anything but minimal.The net result: “It feels to me like the whole screen is moving, and it generates a sort of motion sickness. I feel dizzy and can feel the very beginnings of nausea kicking in.”
It’s not as bad as full on motion sickness for me but I do find the animations to be annoying eye candy I wish I could toggle off.
One billion dollars in 3 days. Wow. For comparison, it took Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 16 days to hit $1B, back in January 2012. Then Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 hit $1B in 15 days this past December. 3 days is astonishing.
Grand Theft Auto has been keeping Take-Two afloat during the down times, as the series has an extremely long tail (the volume of sales over time following release). Not only does a new release spike revenues, but it also incentivizes gamers to investigate the back catalog (sometimes spurring purchases of already owned games on new platforms). GTA V will be even more significant should the title see staggered releases on PC and next-generation platforms (as I suspect it will). At this point, Call of Duty is going to have a nearly impossible time beating GTA’s sales this year, ending a four-year streak.
With numbers like these, it is no wonder that Apple has added support for game controllers into iOS 7. Will game controller support be the force that erodes the chasm between iOS devices and traditional consoles like the Xbox and PlayStation? Time will tell.
Go get ’em.
I don’t think there is anyone more qualified to do this type of high-end technical review.
Shortly after Apple’s iPhone event ended on September 10, I walked into a room to speak with Apple executives about the new devices. During that meeting, I was also given a green iPhone 5c and a gold iPhone 5s to review, both running iOS 7—I’ve been using those two phones for the last week.
Apple today announced that iPhone 5s, the most forward-thinking smartphone in the world and iPhone 5c, the most colorful iPhone yet, will be available to customers on Friday, September 20 at 8:00 a.m. local time at Apple retail stores and at 12:01 a.m. PDT at the Apple Online Store. iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c will be available in the US, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore and the UK.
John Gruber:
One interesting note: the 5C and 5S have a price overlap at $199. At that price, you can get either a 32 GB 5C or a 16 GB 5S. For those who don’t care about technical specs, I think the $199 5C is going to win.
I agree with John on this. Generally, I feel the people that would have purchased a new iPhone anyway will get the 5s, but at this price point, you may see some people switch for the colors.
Currently, pre-orders are scheduled for delivery one week from today. Will be interesting to see the pre-order numbers.
Learned a lot from this piece.
Capacitance readers are more complex, instead creating an image of your fingerprint by measuring the differences in capacitance between the ridges and valleys of your fingerprint. They leverage the electrical conductivity of your sub-dermal skin layer, and the electrical insulation of your dermal layer (the one where your fingerprint is). Your fingerprint is effectively a non-conductive layer between two conductive plates, which is the very definition of a capacitor. The fingerprint reader senses the electrical differences caused by the varied thickness of your dermis, and can reconstruct your fingerprint.
The Touch ID sensor in the iPhone 5s is a capacitive reader, embedded in the home button. That was a good choice on Apple’s part, since capacitive scanners are more accurate and less prone to smudgy fingers, and can’t be faked out with a photocopy of a fingerprint.
The question I have is, are capacitance readers susceptible to Play-doh copies of your fingerprints. This is a technique used to defeat some fingerprint technologies.
In case you missed it.
The iPhone 5S ships is based on the Apple’s own 64-bit ARM A7 System on a Chip (SoC). This is a major step up in raw processing power.
Biometric authentication requires a significant amount of CPU horsepower to pull off without being sluggish, as would strong end-to-end VPN encryption, both of which are likely necessary for the iPhone to continue to attract corporate attention.
The inclusion of so much horsepower is more than just a nice win for the iPhone line. It’s also a win for the next iPad, as well as a sign that iOS platforms are stepping up in class, rivaling desktop machines and game consoles. More fodder for the folks who champion the opinion that we’ll someday see a convergence of the iOS and Mac OS X platforms. Personally, I don’t see that happening any time soon. I love my MacBook Pro and can’t imagine using my iPad or iPhone in the same way. But I do see the possibility of that changing over time.
After Apple’s iPhone event ended this morning, I had a chance to spend a few minutes with the two new phones and wanted to post some thoughts. […]
Apple will hold its much-anticipated iPhone event this morning at its Cupertino headquarters. I’m here and will bring you live updates as they happen. As with all live updates on The Loop, we’re going old school, so refresh your browser for the latest updates.
The event begins at 10:00 am PT.
Apple on Tuesday sent out invites for a special event to be held on September 10, 2013 at the company’s Cupertino, Calif. headquarters. According to the invitation I received today, the event will start at 10:00 am PT.
It is widely expected that Apple will introduce a new iPhone at event.
It’s a big deal, but I don’t think it will come as much of a surprise to most people.
Android is a festering pit of malware, but you already knew that.
Those that listened to Amplified last week may remember I mentioned wanting a nice dark purple iPhone will The Loop logo on the back. Maybe this is the place I can get it done.
A new advertising campaign allows companies to pay CNET to repost positive reviews on their homepage. Guess who took advantage of that program? You guessed it, Samsung.
Apple products took the top positions for the smartphone and tablet categories in a recent survey conducted by Nikkei PC magazine. In fact, multiple Apple products landed in the top three in both categories.
They forgot better looking too.
There’s an interesting bit about halfway through talking about Apple’s increased presence in India of late. That’s a potentially huge market for Apple.
Ron Offringa:
Last week in my opinion piece about why I think Android users should consider the Moto X I opened up the article with an admission: I currently use an iPhone 4S and I plan on getting the next iPhone. This wasn’t supposed to be a secret (if you follow me on Twitter then you would have noticed that I use iOS most of the time). On the Droid Life Show I have shown my iPhone and discussed using my iPad. That said, I know that a lot of readers did not know, and more importantly, were surprised or upset to read that I use an iPhone.
Much respect Ron.
Benedict Evans:
A new, cheaper, high-volume iPhone would have the potential to mitigate or even reverse this trend. Clearly, like current low-end Android, it would sell to a demographic with a lower average engagement and purchase rate and so the average iOS rates would drop. However, it would mean that iOS’s reach would expand significantly at the expense of Android. How would a $200 or $300 iPhone sell? Easily double digit millions, possible up to 50m units a quarter.
Great article.
Headlines blazed across the Internet this week that Google Play revenue grew by 67 percent, while Apple’s App Store only grew by 15 percent during the same time. Something about that seemed odd to me.
Very smart article from John Gruber. Also note that Gruber refers to a possible new iPhone as “lower-cost” and “lower-priced”—I don’t expect this phone to be cheap in any way.
This universal mount raises the bar, allowing gadgets to be placed on a premium pedestal that matches their beautiful design and quality. One of the most user friendly mount ever designed, eleMount sticks to any flat surface and doesn’t care if you prefer Apple or Android or like to keep your case on. eleMount works just as you’d expect. No suction cups, no locks, no instruction manual. You only need one hand to mount your device.
I like the look of this. I don’t want ugly clamps and plastic pedestals—I’d rather buy a mount from a company that cares as much about design as the company that made my iPhone.
Vauhini Vara for The New Yorker:
“In terms of a sort of a sea change for BlackBerry,” the company’s co-C.E.O Jim Balsillie said at the time, referring to the iPhone’s impact on the industry, “I would think that’s overstating it.”
To me, the reason that BlackBerry fell is the attitude of it’s co-CEOs at the time. That was the company’s downfall and it went on so long, they may never be able to recover.
Some interesting numbers from Benedict Evans.
After reading this review, I’m left with a “ho-hum” feeling.