Apple Developing Curve Screen iPhones and Improved Sensors 243
An anonymous reader writes "An Apple insider who asked not to be identified because the information is classified told Bloomberg that Apple's next iPhone models will come with curve displays and enhanced touchscreen sensors that can detect heavy and light touches. The two models -- 4.7-inches and 5.5-inches -- would be Apple's largest iPhones. Apple is still developing the two models and the person disclosed that Apple could launch the devices in the third quarter of next year."
Still inferior and twice the price (Score:2, Insightful)
Still with an OS that lacks features that have become standard in other platforms, still with sucky app management, still with a lack of control for a device you won.....all for twice the price of an equivalent Nexus phone.
No thanks. A phone where I can't install a browser of my choice(not just a reskin), download torrents on, use widgets(yes, they greatly increase productivity) on or not have every damn app as an icon on a home screen isn't much use to me.
Nexus - still on the fence (Score:5, Informative)
Still with an OS that lacks features that have become standard in other platforms, still with sucky app management, still with a lack of control for a device you won.....all for twice the price of an equivalent Nexus phone.
No thanks. A phone where I can't install a browser of my choice(not just a reskin), download torrents on, use widgets(yes, they greatly increase productivity) on or not have every damn app as an icon on a home screen isn't much use to me.
I just bought a Nexus 5, coming from an iPhone5. I still haven't figured out how to get widgets on my lock screen (apparently, it's *not* just a setting in security - all the JB guides refer to things that KitKat doesn't permit). I sure hope that isn't a feature regression, cause I can get weather on my iOS7 lockscreen (with a drop-slider). Furthermore, during setup/install, I had to enter my wifi password twice (once before update, then after update it forgot all my settings), and it blanked out in an enitre screen. Add to that the fact that the built-in PDF renderer failed on 2 documents I tried to download, and that swiftkey is slow to load, the Chrome location bar is poorly spaced (causing me to wipe out several addresses), and the general confusion about how things are done (there's a search app and the browser app - look and behave similarly but aren't the same).
The bluetooth seems to work better with apps on my Nexus, and the screen real-estate is nice. But ... there are a lot of things that the previous-year iPhone did much better/cleaner than the Nexus does. I'm not going back just yet - but so far it isn't a bed of roses here. Hoping I can sort out some of these expectation misses before I feel forced to send this device back.
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Out of curiosity, what would you say the iPhone did better?
I don't have KitKat so can't help with that, but don't assume the bundle browser is chrome unless it actually says chrome. If it doesn't, may well be worth getting Chrome or Dolphin.
Also, why would you need swiftkey? The android keyboard does the same thing now.
For searching, you shouldn't need an app, just use the search bar at the top of every home screen.
Widgets on lockscreens are still there...
It sounds like you just have to learn a different wa
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Also, why would you need swiftkey? The android keyboard does the same thing now.
Swiftkey allows you to type in two different languages without autocorrect issues. This is a HUGE deal for people who use regularly use different languages when typing on their phones.
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You think it's an advantage to be able to use different browsers. But it's no advantage if the one that's pre-installed is a piece of shit, and you have to seek out a good one for yourself.
The default Android browser these days is Chrome. It is about as good as it gets.
And funnily enough both the browsers you recommend for Android are based on Apple's Webkit.
You mean KDE's KHTML? It is an open-source library - lots of people have contributed to it, certainly including Google.
That said, while I don't use other rendering engines these days I'm certainly happy to have a choice - it keeps Google/Apple/etc honest.
widgets on the lock screen (Score:3, Interesting)
First you need to check that box in security as you saw.
Then at the lock screen sweep from left (all the way left) to right. You'll get to a blank screen with a plus sign on it. Click the plus sign and you can add a widget.Now if you want that to be the default widget instead of one you have to sweep to get to, then you have to sweep back to the main lock screen, click and hold it and drag it to the "remove" item at the top.
The setup/install is screwed, you do have to go through setup at least partially twi
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I've also finally managed to order a Nexus-5 to replace my iphone 4... I haven't got it yet but have used and own other Android devices... There are a handful of annoyances with Android devices that iphones don't have but the reverse is also true... I'm switching my phone from IOS to Android primarily due to cost and screen size. My general perception is that IOS is just cleaner and Android is more hacky...
My annoyances with the Android devices I've owned or used before:
- When a text message comes in, it
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Keep in mind that this is like a Windows person moving to OSX. It's a completely different OS and you need to realize up front that things are going to be different. Not even necessarily better or worse, just different.
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Still with an OS that lacks features that have become standard in other platforms, still with sucky app management, still with a lack of control for a device you won.
sweet how did you win an iPhone? Like a contest or something?
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I'm curious what you mean by "sucky app management". One of the things that really bugs me about Android is that the standard way of removing an app from a device is to go into Settings > App Management > Pick the app > Uninstall, which then pops up a dialog box confirming deletion. On iOS, I just have to tap and hold the app icon, then tap the x, which makes the app disappear instantly. iOS seems to have the clear advantage there.
Put your
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Nope. As soon as I start dragging the icon, it shows the home screen. There's a "Remove" target I can drag it to, but it doesn't work because that's for removing stuff from the home screen.
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Removing applications has been this awkward on every Android device I've owned. Samsung Galaxy Tab 2, Sony Xperia Pro, HTC Desire Z, and Google G1. Another phone too somewhere in the middle, but I can't remember off the top of my head which it was. This isn't a problem that is limited to a single manufacturer's customisations, they have all been pretty shitty.
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For you perhaps, but it's exactly the right thing to do for most users. Average users don't install hundreds of applications. When they install an application, it's better for them to have it immediately available than tucked away somewhere they have to go find it. If they do use a lot of applications, they can easily move it out of the way.
Why not?
Apple is back! (Score:5, Funny)
At last! It's nice to see Apple innovating and taking the lead again.
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Mod, mark this "insightful", or "flamebait".
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Obvious flamebait as Samsung has been demoing this for quite a while now, Apple just trying to play catch-up and labeling it as innovation, same shit, different day.
More reasons for iShit to be import blocked at the U.S. Borders.
Mod, mark this "whoosh".
I believe the article title is incorrect. (Score:5, Funny)
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Now Apple will patent it and sue Samsung for copying them. That's what history will remember.
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"That, IMHO, makes a bit more sense than curving it from side to side..."
Except after you think about it. A phone curved that way doesn't travel as well, doesn't lay flat, and isn't well suited to being used in landscape. It's OK to hold in your hand and worse otherwise (which is most of the time). The single argument in its favor, that the microphone is closer, is contrived. That doesn't matter at all.
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Apple's star team of designers and engineers has rethought the whole concept of the phone screen from the ground up and designed a completely new metacarpal retina display that gives the user a profound and natural experience, as the screen follows the natural motion of your thumb and responds to your touch in a way that's completely superior to previous flimsy attempts at curved screens by lesser companies.
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::SNORT::
Good thing I wasn't drinking, yet.
+1 funny
Out of curiosity... (Score:2)
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Android has a show pointer locations setting in developer options that gives the size and pressure of the touch (among other things) and it seems to give a good indication of both. At least on the 3 devices I've owned, not sure if they all work that well.
Cheers
The cost of consonants (Score:5, Insightful)
"...iPhone models will come with curve displays and enhance touchscreen sensors," Why not, "curved displays and enhanced touchscreen sensors"?
I'm not so much a grammar Nazi as someone who believes that if you're going to write something for a large (or even small) audience you should make an effort to write clearly in respect for that audience. I'll probably get the "You jerk, you know what he meant!" response but I stand by my point.
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"...told Bloomberg that Apple next iPhone models will come with..." and "...would be Apple largest iPhones."
Why not "Apple's next iPhone" and "Apple's largest iPhones?" Because as girlintraining posted elsewhere,
"Dice doesn't have dedicated slashdot editors anymore. They are editors of a dozen or so sites. Really now, what kind of quality do you expect now that they've sold out and now monetize the web synergies to create a new market paradigm of customer-focused informational advertisements?"
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Apple decide to remove verb tense, as it just clutter the interface and provide no additional information.
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You're criticizing the grammar of a submitter's summary? You must be new here.
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ed touchscreen sensors"?
I'm not so much a grammar Nazi as someone who believes that if you're going to write something for a large (or even small) audience you should make an effort to write clearly in respect for that audience. I'll probably get the "You jerk, you know what he meant!" response but I stand by my point.
He probably meant to to say "I'm not so much a grammar Nazi as someone who believes that if one's going to write something for a large (or even small) audience one should make an effort to write clearly in respect for that audience. I'll probably get the "You jerk, you know what he meant!" response but I stand by my point."
I'll probably get the "You jerk, you know what he meant!" response, too, but I stand by my point.
iWatch? (Score:2)
Maybe the curved screen is for the planned iWatch. Apple tends to use tricks so the press and industrial spies don't know accurately what feature will go to which product.
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That is how I would design a smart watch. Not watch sized, but a widescreen smart phone worn on the arm.
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Have you ever put your cellphone into your poket?
These would likely win customers back (Score:5, Interesting)
From discussions, it is mainly the large screen size that draws many people to these Samsung devices. Leaving out the tiring arguments of fanboys of each camp, non-technical people liked the iphones just fine, sometimes preferring the way it works, but mainly they prefer a bigger screen.
Myself, I prefer a compact phone - I have an iPhone 4S and would love it with 5S guts. But it is obvious that Apple should have been selling bigger phones since a good time already. So, considering that the brand still has goodwill amongst non slashdotty users, I can imagine that they will win back some users with these bigger phones.
Regarding the technical changes. I like the idea of a pressure-level sensitive sensor. I can imagine that a curved screen will look very posh (nothing wrong with that, in fact since a number of years I like buying things that are nicely designed, even if at a premium), but it's to my mind not really a true value add. I do expect that a curved screen will look much more natural on an eventual iWatch.
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The majority of the large-screen demographic in Asia is women, not men. They want a single device and have bags to carry them in regardless of size. Men are more likely to have a smaller smartphone and a tablet to go with it.
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Pressure sensitive touch screens won't be very useful on a mobile device. When you are holding the phone in one hand you have fairly limited ability to vary the pressure you touch with. There are not many applications where it could have much practical purpose.
Anonymous coward? (Score:2)
An Apple insider who asked not to be identified because the information is classifiedâ¦
In other words, an unverifiable rumour from an unverifiable source. It appeared first on MacRumors, where it has some justification to appear because it is about rumours. It does not fit under "news for nerds", because it isn't news.
Samsung patent (Score:2)
Apple has chosen as its trademark a small, flat, long, and narrow rectangle with rounded corners. And Apple made a big deal over this. Apple made their bed, let them sleep in it.
Samsung ended up with the rounded smooth shapes. Samsung should patent the look and feel of phones with curved screens. They could file separate patents for different curvatures.
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Apple has chosen as its trademark a small, flat, long, and narrow rectangle with rounded corners. And Apple made a big deal over this. Apple made their bed, let them sleep in it.
Samsung ended up with the rounded smooth shapes. Samsung should patent the look and feel of phones with curved screens. They could file separate patents for different curvatures.
Err... they do?
Samsung has design patents on its own phones too.
You don't think design patents are unique to Apple do you?
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Samsung ended up with the rounded smooth shapes. Samsung should patent the look and feel of phones with curved screens. They could file separate patents for different curvatures.
They not only should, but they have. Samsung has design patents for their Galaxy phones (I haven't looked for others). Design patents that consist of a list of design details, including corners that are rounded in a certain way.
Apple Developing != Apple Selling (Score:3)
Apple develops many things that never go to market. Inside sources usually give up this information for a chance at being important.
Classified. You keep using that word. (Score:2)
Now, there can be trade secrets, that's an entirely different thing.
Curved screens are so '90s (Score:2)
And an inconvenience (Score:2)
"So put it down the other way."
"Yeah but I can't see the screen."
Credible? (Score:2)
I like how everyone takes this rumour as EXTREMELY credible, like this is definitely what we're getting next year. Apple works on lots of stuff. They've probably been working with the ergonomics of curved screens in mockups for years, but who knows?
I like Apple rumours as much as the next guy, but this is clickbait. Nobody knows what Apple will do for their phones next year. They'll be faster, and maybe they'll be bigger. They'll probably have a different design, but I suspect that the design will actually
Why the big screens? (Score:2)
I'm pretty sure I know the answer to this... but am I the only one here who actually likes having a small phone? I guess it's a trade-off. I'm willing to give up the convenience of having the extra screen real estate for having a small phone...
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" A 4.7" display is clearly in the realm of "difficult to use with one hand"..."
A 4.7" display is trivailly easy to use with one hand. The Moto X has a glorious form factor.
"Getting an Android phone with a 4" display generally means buying one with severely downgraded internal specs, leaving Apple to pretty much own the high-end compact smartphone market segment."
Yeah, like smaller batteries, lower clock rates, lower resolution screens, and dual core processors...just like an iPhone. The problem with Andr
Heavy and light touches? (Score:2)
So they're finally adding height and width to their touch data. Such innovation. /s
Re:Curved Display? (Score:5, Funny)
Is this for anti glare or something?
No, I think it is to extract more money from wallets.
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Is this for anti glare or something?
No, I think it is to extract more money from wallets.
Aside from novelty, the point of a curved display is to squeeze more screen area into the same footprint.
I've never understood curved TVs, but I can see the appeal of curved phones which need to fit comfortably into palms and pockets.
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One benefit of squeezing more screen space into the same footprint is that your thumb will have an easier time hitting the edges. It sounds like a pointless technology at first (at least for phones), but it at least has the potential to be useful.
Re:Curved Display? (Score:4, Interesting)
My first thought is that it would be to prevent screen damage - if the display is curved and you place it face down on a flat surface there will be only two points of contact.
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You've hit the nail on the head.
ie. Nobody has a clue what it's for.
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Nobody has a clue what it's for.
Perhaps it is a woman-thing.
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Nah, it doesn't have wings on the side.
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Nobody has a clue what it's for.
Perhaps it is a woman-thing.
If it's curved and can vibrate, women will find the clue sometime, if only for the geeks around here asking stupid questions when on a date.
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Likewise, place it on the backside and it will annoy the hell out of everyone whenever you nudge the table
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Hmm, never had that problem with my Galaxy Nexus. Granted, if I'm stupid enough to drop a breeze block on it or leave my phone on the floor for someone to step on, then yes, the very large radius of curvature of the screen may enable the phone to deform. However, odds are that if I stand on my phone it will be damaged regardless.
The funny this is that just because the screen is curved, it doesn't mean the back has to be curved.
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While technically true it'd be much thicker than necessary at the edges if you made the back flat.
I'm assuming, perhaps wrongly, that when they say the screen is curved it's convex from the viewer's POV.
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Aside from novelty, the point of a curved display is to squeeze more screen area into the same footprint.
Huh? What are you smoking? I think you should lay off it...
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PS: Let's do the math!
What's the cosine of 5 degrees? That's the new size if you bend a screen by 10 degrees (5 degrees each side of the center line)
My calculator says cos(5) = 0.9962 ... so it's less than 0.5% smaller.
Plus it looks awful: http://www.bloomberg.com/image/ibdaG6emCoQY.jpg [bloomberg.com]
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It's even worse than that. If w is the telephone apparent width, and alpha the bending angle, the screen's true width is
truewidth = alpha * (w/2)/(sin(alpha/2))
For w=2 inches and alpha = 10 degrees, truewidth = 2.00254 ; barely 0.1% better.
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I think it's time to create some buzzword-bingo cards for these.
We can mark squares off whenever anybody says "more screen area", "fits better in pocket", etc.
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I don't have my number head on this morning, but if you're referring to foreshortening I was thinking much the same thing.
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The claim is "More screen in the same space!!"
As a mathematician, I'm having trouble understanding what goes on in people's heads when they say things like that. It's so obviously not true.
Whenever I see one I'm going to point out how it increases screen reflectivity and makes it harder to see.
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i they meant the phone can be longer but curved so that it is the same length/width as a noncurved phone, the problem is just the height or depth is increased which probably isn't that big of a deal. but which way is it curved? like a half-tube, or a bridge?
Apparently math makes people's heads spin even on slashdot.
The point of all those numbers up there was to prove that you'd have to curve it by a ridiculous amount to make a noticeable difference in width/height (eg. more then 1% shorter/narrower) .
Re:Curved Display? (Score:5, Insightful)
No, I think it is to extract more money from wallets.
Yep. It's a "novelty" - a conversation point.
All it has to do is look weird and people will find ways they think it's "better" to justify it to themselves.
http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/29/samsung-galaxy-round-hands-on/ [engadget.com]
The sad thing is: In a few years we'll all have this whether we want it or not, there won't be anything but curved phones in the shops. After that they'll start selling us "classic shape" phones at a premium price. So it goes.
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Monitors were actually better...
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Monitors were actually better...
... and used to be round as well. But curved into the other direction (bulging out towards the reader, rather than in, away from him)
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Is this for anti glare or something?
Actually, with a curved display, there's more probability of glare.
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Yep. It's very obvious in this video: http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/29/samsung-galaxy-round-hands-on/ [engadget.com]
More glare.
I'm going to enjoy pointing that out to proud owners.
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Re:Curved Display? (Score:5, Funny)
Not if you wear sarcasm pants.
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It seems to be the most natural position for it. I put it in vertically, and it ends up horisontally.
And since my legs actually bend in that area, it makes it a lot easier to curl up into a fetal position every time Apple news is "leaked".
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Why would you put the phone horizontal? That would be rather uncomfortable.
Maybe, so that it bulges out more?
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How do you know which way the screen curves? All I see in the article is this:
curves downward at the edges
Which is ambiguous at best.
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Slashdot should implement a sarcasm sign.
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there is no wrong way to hold a phone.
Of course there is. Upside down, with the speaker next to your mouth, and the mic next to your ear. But you'd still get excellent reception (even though the audio would be shit)
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Is this for anti glare or something?
It seems to be a mixture of 'pointless novelty for its own sake' and 'human legs are roughly cylindrical, so slightly curved objects fit better in pockets that would otherwise be a bit small'.
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How much more, exactly? Have you calculated that before telling the world?
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Obviously not. He wouldn't have made that "point" if he had.
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He also said "shorter device" instead of "narrower device", when it's curved *vertically*.
And he did that on a 'nerd' website.
Yep. I think Apple has found their target market. They've run out of new features but this will have people queuing up all night to buy a iPhone6.
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The curve will be around the horizontal axis, just like the other curved phones that already exist.
The Pesky Facts [google.es] are against you I'm afraid.
Plus: Is it worth it to gain 1mm...?
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They heard everyone else was doing it so they wanted to make sure everyone thought it was their idea. Like all the other stuff they come up with (and patent).
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Is this for anti glare or something?
A curve can make glare worse by focusing the light
Nope, this is just some stupid marketing gimmick. They spend years telling us that flat screen TVs are the way to go, now they're making them curved again.
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Is this for anti glare or something?
You can see in this video, the glare is *much* worse.
http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/29/samsung-galaxy-round-hands-on/ [engadget.com]
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A curve can make glare worse by focusing the light
Indeed [livescience.com]...
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Let's get this clear, it's a fucking phone, dammit, not a way of life
It would be a little more believable without all the foaming at the mouth.
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+1 NSAs
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I do not think it means what you think it means.
I agree. He's a dickhead. Sure, it's Apple and they will sell millions of this thing anyway. But still, one has a bad work ethic if he goes revealing things like this. He should try to be a team player.