Apple Product Event Highlights 508
samzenpus writes: The Apple product event just finished, read below for the highlights.
- Apple Watch:
- Adding Facebook Messenger.
- iTranslate — speak into the mic and hear translations in over 90 languages.
- Physician app AirStrip can monitor vitals.
- New band options, two new finishes gold and rose gold.
- Watch OS 2 comes out September 16.
- iPad:
- iPad Pro announced: Screen is 12.9 inches, 5.6m pixels, A9X chip, with 2x memory bandwidth, storage and graphics performance, 10-hour battery life, 8MP camera, 802.11ac with MIMO, 150Mbps LTE modem, TouchID, 6.9mm thick and 1.57 pounds.
- Smart Keyboard connects magnetically.
- The Apple Pencil stylus: "Highly responsive sensors built into the tip of Apple Pencil sensor pressure, tilt, and stroke."
- Corporate VP from MS Office, Kirk Koenigsbauer talks Microsoft Office for iPad.
- New suite of Adobe apps.
- Apple Pencil is $99 and Smart Keyboard is $169, all available in November.
- New iPad mini 4 $399.
- Apple TV:
- New remote with glass touch surface. 10mm tall, A8 chip, Bluetooth 4.0. Built-in accelerometer and gyroscope, 3 months per charge, charges over lightning. 32GB for $149, 64GB for $199.
- iTunes, Netflix, Hulu, HBO, and Showtime are searchable.
- New cleaner looking UI with Siri integration.
- New OS: TV OS.
- new games and game collections for the family, using your iPhone or iPod Touch as a controller.
- MLB app, NHL Game Center live in 2016.
- tvOS developer beta available today, available to consumers in late October.
- iPhone:
- iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, Silver, gold, space grey, and new Rose Gold. 4.7-inch 6S and 5.5-inch 6S+.
- 3rd-generation A9 chip 70% faster CPU than A8, 90% faster GPU than A8.
- New pressure-sensitive 3D Touch.
- New Taptic Engine
- New Siri feature allows you to speak to your iPhone whether you're powered on or not.
- New 12 megapixel iSight camera. 50% more pixels and 50% more focus pixels for faster autofocus.
- 4K video
- 5MP FaceTime HD Camera.
- Retina Flash, display can light up 3X brighter than usual to be a flash for the front-facing camera.
- Live Photos: Press with 3D Touch and pictures will move.
- iPhone 6 $199-$399, iPhone 6 Plus $299-$499 all on two-year contracts.
- New iPhone Upgrade Program for a new iPhone every year, choose your carrier, unlocked phones, 24-month installment plan starting at $32/month.
- preorder Saturday, Sept 12. Available September 25th.
- iOS 9 available September 16th.
- New iCloud storage pricing: 50GB for 99 cents a month, 200GB for $2.99/mo, 1TB for $9.99/mo.
iBore 6.0 (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:iBore 6.0 (Score:5, Interesting)
I agree with all of that, with two exceptions:
1) force touch on the iPhone for activating contextual functionality (such as peek and context menus)
2) live photos
To be clear, the only one of those I care about is #1 but I could see a lot of people liking #2.
Re:iBore 6.0 (Score:4, Interesting)
I feel the same.
I don't take many photos but I can see the attraction with making them feel more 'alive' without the trouble of shooting a proper video. Often innovation isn't based on entirely new technology but simply using what you have in a clever, simpler way.
Pressure sensitive touchscreens could be huge. The fatal flaw of touch interfaces (IMO) has been the lack of context, there's no 'hover' or 'right button'; a touch is a touch. The ability to distinguish between an accidental brush of the screen, a light touch, a tap, and a firm press could really push the usability of touch interfaces up a few notches.
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Wanna bet?
Re:iBore 6.0 (Score:5, Informative)
Force touch: What happened to long-press?
That takes, well, too long... once you get used to force touch it's more instance.
How much margin on broken screen repairs?
That is laughable, on my existing iPhone 6 Plus there is no way you could press hard enough to break anything with just a finger. You finger would break well before the device.
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I have really strong fingers.
Re:iBore 6.0 (Score:4, Informative)
Really, can you break boards with your hands? I can and have.
You cannot break the iPhone screen with human fingers (or nails). Like I said you WILL break your own fingers first.
Horse hoof: that could probably do it. So if you are a horse, my apologies but you really should state that up front, and not refer to hooves as "fingers".
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Force touch: What happened to long-press?
Nothing. It's still there. Force touch (3D whatever) does something different.
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None of this seems "revolutionary" or "magical". Some of it looks like a rip off of Amazon TV, Google Translate, and the same look as last year's model which was nothing more than a larger look of the year before that's model. What happened to Apple supposedly "leading" the way? Did the sheep cause the shepard to fall behind?
Piss and moan, piss and moan...
This was a pretty exciting photographer release (Score:5, Informative)
Let me tell you why the 6s is the first iPhone "S" update I'm not skipping over:
* Higher res camera sensor, but not just higher res- also has improved photosite separation.
* 4k video (hopefully for slo-mo too?)
* Significantly faster performance ("up to" 70% faster than old model iPhone 6).
* Force touch (useful for quicker multi-tasking and other actions).
* Live Photos - anyone who likes photography is pretty excited about this, especially as it captures just a bit before you press the capture button...
* Motion coprocessor is always-on now so using that feature heavily comes with no battery penalty.
* Taptic hardware on device for better user feedback than mere vibration (as a developer I'm particularly excited about that).
* Front screen brightness can increase 3x normal for short period of time to act as a flash.
Also faster WiFi support and more LTE bands, but I can't seriously so those are features compelling enough for me to upgrade - it's really the ones above, especially related to photography... the newer sensor alone would not have done it, it's the conjunction with other features.
Re:This was a pretty exciting photographer release (Score:4, Insightful)
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That's pretty rich considering Apple's recent refusal to hand over iMessage data [slashdot.org] with a court order... I guess you must not read Slashdot much? Or news in general? Or at all?
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What's the use of a higher res camera sensor with this itsy bitsy small lens with a microscopic apperture?
The Future History of Photography (Score:5, Interesting)
What's the use of a higher res camera sensor with this itsy bitsy small lens with a microscopic apperture?
The sensor does not just have higher res as I said but better separation under the CFA.
I have a real DSLR with a number of lenses that cost north of $1k so I know what truly professional images look like. I am telling you, what Apple is doing is THE future of mass photography. The images already look great for most uses, and even beyond the resolution increase Apple is doing a great job of software that handles mixed WB, low light, super quick focus, and all sorts of other things.
The future I see for any other still camera that does not support Live Photos (or non-trademarked equivalent) is a role relegated to producing images for print. Now I personally enjoy that, which is why I have a DSLR. But I think it's insane to not realize how vastly the camera market will contract as the phones push quality and ease of use inexorably forward and upward.
At some point very soon, being a serious photographic amateur will mean you have a set of attachment lenses for your phone...
Re:The Future History of Photography (Score:5, Informative)
There is a physical limit as to what a lens can resolve, and going to insane pixel count on the sensor cannot overcome this physical resolution from the lens itself...
The only other way to increase resolution is to have a bigger sensor, like in medium format cameras.
There's no way (appart from rewriting the laws of optics) to attach a humongous telephoto lens to a phone camera and expect to have the same resolution as in a full frame DSLR or medium format camera (which are in the 50 to 80 megapixels as we speak).
Sure some software tricks will give an image clean enough for Joe Public to print some 8x10" but I can't see any pro using a phone for serious photography.
And Live Photos? It's a gimmick already available on Nokia Lumia phones since 2012 with the Cinemagraph app, I had it on my Nokia 920. It's fun for a day or two but it quickly becomes boring.
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: The Future History of Photography (Score:3)
DSLR quality? Are these guys for real? I cannot believe the stupidity. Next you will say the ipad pro has a CPU comparable to desktop CPUs.
Re:This was a pretty exciting photographer release (Score:5, Insightful)
Motion coprocessor is always-on now so using that feature heavily comes with no battery penalty.
That's a pretty funny way of saying that if you don't use the motion co-processor you're now going to have extra battery drain anyway. You sound like you paid attention in marketing school. Framing a negative as a feature, well done.
Slingshot (Score:2, Interesting)
Don't recall Live Photos or Force Touch on a Samsung... also Samsung is now woefully behind on both CPU and GPU. It's no wonder they are shedding users like water off a duck.
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The amusing thing behind your whinge is that you EXPECT Apple to do something revolutionary and magical every year.
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Why does there have to be something "revolutionary" every year (or two years)?
Because Apple's stock price won't stay in the stratosphere if they just keep pumping out 'same but better' products like these. It's priced on 'revolutionary', not 'bread and butter'.
Apple Pencil (Score:5, Funny)
This made me laugh more than it probably should have:
Apple Pencil is $99 [imgur.com]
I just hope they don't start requiring an #2 Apple Pencil for standardized tests.
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"You failed because you're holding it wrong!"
Return of the Newton? (Score:3)
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Well, OS X does include a modern version of the Newton's old handwriting engine; if they can get that ported to iOS, *then* it'll be the return of the Newton.
2 year contracts? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:2 year contracts? (Score:5, Informative)
Apple mentioned that in the keynote and quoted both contract prices and monthy payment plan prices, which is what you see on US carrier sites now.
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If they start selling $200-ish phones, sell your stock. That market is a total black hole for profits.
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The major carriers are moving away from 2 year contracts where if you break the contract you have to pay an ETF.
The major carriers are moving toward a 2 year payment plan where if you leave early you have to pay for the remainder of the cost of your phone.
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Welcome to the new boss, same as the old boss...
However, this new system has many benefits, such as "buy a used phone for less, get cheaper service", and "keep your phone past the end of the payments, watch your service price drop", etc.
So actually this is an improvement.
Apple has upgrade plan now (Score:2)
For those that don't want carrier contracts but do like new phones every year, Apple now has an upgrade plan.
But really carriers have already been starting to have similar plans anyone, no contract lock-in but you pay for a phone in installments.
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No phone provider is ever going to advertise the true price of their phones unless required to do so. They're too ridiculously expensive, no matter what brand they are.
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Why is $650 for a 4.7" hand held computer too much? Compared to the options in the past, that is darn cheap!
For that $650 you get a 4k video camera, a 12m picture camera, a multi core computer that can run everything from Office to Angry Birds. It can browser the web, talk to you, check your e-mail, and do a lot of other things.
Frankly, it strikes me as reasonable considering what does into it.
Can you get cheaper phones? Yes. Can you get cheaper phones with similar spec sheets? Yes.
There is a reason wh
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Yeah, they are barely selling any, and those they sell they are loosing their butt on, so they should lower their prices - oh wait, that is Samsung.
Apple is totally honest about the pricing and the alternatives they offer. That they make a lot of money on their phones is a good thing since it allows them to keep updating product lines.
The really good thing is we don't have to listen to you expo,ain why you bought a cheap Apple and it sucks, or like my son that bought a cheap Android phone and after 6 months
Apple Watch Translation (Score:5, Funny)
iTranslate — speak into the mic and hear translations in over 90 languages.
That would be hard to understand. Did they mention an option to only hear once language at a time?
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As soon as you have a stylus you are dead (Score:4, Insightful)
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If you think that's "expensive", I suggest you look up how much a stylus normally costs.
https://store.wacom.com/us/en/... [wacom.com]
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The distinction is that it does not ship with, or require, the pencil... it's just for finer-grained input in select applications, or for artists...
The iPhone officially becomes a spyware (Score:2, Informative)
"New Siri feature allows you to speak to your iPhone whether you're powered on or not."
Which means that the iPhone is never really "off". Which means that it's ALWAYS listening to you. Which probably means that the NSA is listening too.
No thanks.
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Or, perhaps people don't really care...
My GMC truck has OnStar, it tracks where I drive. My phone has GPS and knows where I go. None of this is new.
Frankly, one of these days we're all going to get chipped and while some people will fight it, they'll grow old and die and the rest of us will be fine with it. When you end up with a CPU in you that provides all the power and information of the world and you don't even need a phone, that becomes a quite useful thing.
And yes, they'll be able to track you.
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Amen to that. It is amazing that in this day and age, no one at Apple seems to have noticed just how bloody creepy this "feature" sounds.
It's only "creepy" until you stop to think about how it works.
The PHONE is responsible for interpreting the "Hey, Siri" phrase. That's why it isn't customizable. They have some little, dedicated custom IC who's ONLY job is to listen for "Hey, Siri", and THEN wake up the rest of the Phone to gather up the command.
That's why the first generation of the feature only worked with the phone plugged in. Because they hadn't gotten the custom "Hey Siri" chip back from the fab-house, and had to keep the main SoC
Re:The iPhone officially becomes a spyware (Score:4, Interesting)
"New Siri feature allows you to speak to your iPhone whether you're powered on or not."
Which means that the iPhone is never really "off". Which means that it's ALWAYS listening to you. Which probably means that the NSA is listening too.
No thanks.
I GUARANTEE it isn't "listening" until it hears "Hey, Siri", which it detects LOCALLY.
Can you imagine the standby power requirements to run the WiFi 24/7 JUST to hear you utter one, non-customizable, phrase?
Think before you hate.
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"New Siri feature allows you to speak to your iPhone whether you're powered on or not."
Which means that the iPhone is never really "off". Which means that it's ALWAYS listening to you. Which probably means that the NSA is listening too.
No thanks.
I GUARANTEE it isn't "listening" until it hears "Hey, Siri", which it detects LOCALLY.
Can you imagine the standby power requirements to run the WiFi 24/7 JUST to hear you utter one, non-customizable, phrase?
Think before you hate.
I GUARANTEE it isn't "listening" until it hears "Hey, Siri", which it detects LOCALLY.
I GUARANTEE it isn't "listening" until it hears "Hey, Siri"
"listening" until it hears "Hey, Siri"
Think before you post.
800$ for the iPAD pro? (Score:3)
Look like they didn't only copied the spect of the Surface pro 3, they also copied the price.
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Except not really, because the Pro comes with the pen(cil). So you'd have to throw in an additional $100 on top of that. Not to mention the Surface Pro is worthless without the Type Cover ($120) so you might as well throw in that cost as well for the iPad ($170) meaning that you're looking at an additional $150 to bring the iPad Pro up to spec with the Surface Pro. So, yet again, we're looking at an even more expensive, less powerful Apple device that's competing with superior, cheaper opponents solely on h
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Correction (Score:2)
Apple TV is now 10mm tallER than the old model, not 10mm tall.
AppleTV Search (Score:3)
Lame. I've had a Roku3 for a couple years and it does this very nicely. And yes I have an AppleTV 3 also. I rarely use it. The Roku does everything the AppleTV does, and significantly more.
OK, the Roku won't mirror my iPhone, but that's a pretty minor thing.
Re:AppleTV Search (Score:4, Insightful)
OK, the Roku won't mirror my iPhone, but that's a pretty minor thing.
I use AirPlay fairly frequently - so what qualifies as minor for you is of more importance to some others.
Different strokes for different folks.
New Apple TV - good and bad (Score:2)
- more powerful CPU/GPU
- app store (yeah, games!)
- costs USD$50 less than an iPod touch and runs the same apps from what I understood
- entry-level has 16GB, same as the entry-level iPod touch
Bad:
- the remote has a touch area, which is bad for gaming and annoying for surfing. Swipping makes sense when it's part of the display and you touch what you see, otherwise not so much. There's a disconnect between your movements and what's going to happen on the TV.
- too expensive (more than twice the cos
Not the same apps (Score:3)
costs USD$50 less than an iPod touch and runs the same apps from what I understood
Not at all, it's a different SDK. All apps must be built specifically for the Apple TV. I think I do remember them saying if you bought an app for the phone you'd automatically get an AppleTV version if there was one, but I'm not sure about that.
the remote has a touch area, which is bad for gaming and annoying for surfing. Swipping makes sense when it's part of the display and you touch what you see, otherwise not so much.
Fro
Real Game Controller? (Score:2)
The question is: Will there be other controllers? Game controllers for games like Xbox? Seriously this seems like a massive miss. Of 3rd parties will make one, but seriously it will never get the traction of an Apple sponsored controller.
Too many choices (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm an Apple fan and I'm concerned they are falling into the trap of customer confusion. For example, when I bought my iPad (which I love) I went to the Apple Store and picked up the iPad. It was done quickly and I was a happy customer. Now, there are *5* different iPads.
Which one do I pick? Christ, I have to research this now? What's my use case? How important is screen size, battery life, cost, etc etc etc.. This is why I hated buying anything from Dell.
On a related note, which Apple laptop should you buy? MacBook, Air, Pro? What's the difference? Customer confusion leads to customer paralysis.
Apple's been down this road before. In the mid 90s there were so many different Apple models, Performa, Centris, Quada, God knows what else, that I had no idea what to get. You know which one I got? None of them. That's when I finally went to PC.
In my opinion, Steve Jobs' genius when he returned to Apple was to make it EASY to buy a Mac. Just get an iMac. Pick the color and you're done. Want an iPod or an iPhone? You didn't need to research and weigh the pros and cons of 5 different models. Now you do. I strongly believe a good part of why Apple revived was a clean product line with minimal choices.
I fear Apple is making a mistake that may come back to bite them.
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This is the only valid complaint of Apple I've read today. It's mostly in the naming scheme, though.
They should have
iPad Mini and iPad Mini Pro
iPad Air and iPad Air Pro
iPad Plus
That naming scheme conveys a lot better what you get. Pro is faster, mini is smaller, plus is bigger. Done.
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You've got the iPad Mini to carry around, the iPad Air to use on the sofa, and the iPad Pro to use on a desk. Then you just have the current version or the older, cheapo version.
Doesn't seem like a huge problem to choose between them, to me. At least the Mini 4 is a real upgrade, rather than 'let's throw in a fingerprint sensor and add $100 to the price'.
Larger iPad is appealing, but BT mouse support? (Score:3)
I've been thinking of replacing my iPad 3 and I like the idea of a larger screen iPad, but could they puhleeze add support for a bluetooth mouse?
RDP sessions from an iPad work fine now, but touch just doesn't translate well into Windows UI. A mouse would make an iPad quite useful for a lot of remote admin tasks.
I don't care if you couldn't use the mouse with the home screen or even as a touch replacement, just make it so it can be paired and developers can see mouse events.
I know, I could just buy a regular laptop but they're not nearly as couch/bed friendly as an iPad is, and it's casual settings where I use it most now. But those marginal times where there's a chance I might need to do some kind of work, I find myself bringing my laptop as well because touch is such a shitty way to do Windows UI.
No, a Surface Pro is not a viable replacement. Yes, I do own one and I can't stand the Windows "tablet" mode or its micro-sized app collection, which makes any touch Windows device nonviable.
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iPad Pro? Joke used to be the Redmond photocopier (Score:5, Insightful)
I find the idea of an iPad "pro" stupid enough as it is, but the joke used to be about how predictably Microsoft copied Apple's moves.
So much product fragmentation that is feels a lot like the John Scully years before Jobs came back... ah well they did some good things i guess.
Re:How do I hide this Apple Advertisement? (Score:4, Funny)
How do I hide the stories about a tech giant making a round of announcements on this tech site?
Bitch bitch bitch.
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More importantly is how does Siri answer your questions whether the phone is on or off?!?
Perhaps because the phone is never really off?
Is that really news?
Re:How do I hide this Apple Advertisement? (Score:5, Interesting)
More importantly is how does Siri answer your questions whether the phone is on or off?!?
There is no more "off" as you and I remember it. There is now "responsive" (on) and "not responsive" (what they call off) but the machine is still monitoring you, even when it is "not responsive". Now we know why the batteries are not removable.
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Ford flipped the switch which he saw was marked "Mode Execute Ready" instead of the now old-fashioned "Access Standby" that had so long ago replaced the appallingly stone-aged "Off."
Re:How do I hide this Apple Advertisement? (Score:4)
I've found the "Untethered Hey Siri" jailbreak tweak very useful at times, so it's good to see this coming to official iOS.
This one seems pretty obvious; but it's funny how often the best jailbreak tweaks end up in iOS one or two iterations later. I'm hoping that, eventually, Apple will make the control center buttons customizable - the way FlipControlCenter does right now. That's probably the jailbreak tweak I've found to be the most useful.
Re:How do I hide this Apple Advertisement? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:How do I hide this Apple Advertisement? (Score:4, Informative)
I can't wait to say "Hey Siri" over the PA system at a large event! Should be entertaining.
I have an Apple watch and I glanced at the display during the presentation yesterday. The presenter said 'Hey Siri' and all of the sudden I lost my watch face and Siri came up. It will definitely be a great way to mess with people.
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You could ruin a whole lot of people's days by announcing "Hey Siri call 911".
And you would almost certainly go to jail afterward for "malicious mischief".
Re:How do I hide this Apple Advertisement? (Score:4, Informative)
Generally speaking a phone that's off isn't much use for receiving phone calls. That's why they just go to sleep when they time out, or you tap the on/off switch. But for those time that you genuinely want an iPhone off, you hold down the power button for a few seconds, then swipe to switch off. Then it's really off. No phone calls, no Siri.
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I don't see how a bigger screen and better performance suddenly make this oversized phone a professional tool.
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I don't see how a bigger screen and better performance suddenly make this oversized phone a professional tool.
These days in Apple-speak -- "Pro" == "same as consumer product but faster". Look at the MacBook Pro for another example.
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These days in Apple-speak -- "Pro" == "same as consumer product but faster". Look at the MacBook Pro for another example.
I don't know when you think "these days" starts; but the MacBook Pro has been a model designator for over a decade.
Actually, "Pro", as in "MacBook Pro" actually means more like "More Features" (although "Faster" is usually one of the features).
It's a common marketing term in tech circles: E.g., Surface Pro.
Re:ipad pro (Score:5, Interesting)
"steadily diluting" = "becoming increasingly watered down"
MacBook Pros without a dedicated Ethernet Port have TWO Thunderbolt Ports, each of which can support a variety of "adapters", including Ethernet, don't you?
I do.
However:
1 - I can't plug an ethernet cable into a thunderbolt port. I encounter ethernet cables everywhere I go. The purpose of a nice portal laptop is largely defeated the larger the bag of accessories I need to carry around with me.
Just last week I just grabbed the laptop, no bag to attend a meeting in another building, I had a full charge, and knew it would get me through the meeting. After the meeting I'm asked to troubleshoot a wifi access point that was acting funny... and I need to borrow someone elses laptop because my thunderbolt dongle is in my bag, half a block away.
A pro level ultrabook should have:
i) one full size video out port (HDMI is the logical choice in 2015). Not mini-displayport (my previous macbook pro), not mini-DVI, not-miniHDMI -- full size HDMI. Because that's the plug on the end of the cord provided by the hotel, the conference center, the boardroom projector etc. I'd argue that even bog standard VGA should still be on a pro class unit too. Because if where-ever your standing doesn't have an HDMI projector... odds are you've just been handed a VGA cable.
ii) full size USB-A ports (3+). It can have mini-usb-C and other such marvels if you like, but it should have a few USB-A ports, because that's what all devices you are likely to run into will have. From a barcode scanner, to a printer to an electric piano, to a corneal topographer, to an external DVDRW. I shouldn't need an adapter for this. (WTF new Macbook!!)
iii) gigabit ethernet. Actual ethernet. Not something else that can be ethernet with a $40 dongle.
That is a laptop that can do things, rather than a laptop that can do things as long as you have a bag of overpriced dongles.
As for the thunderbolt port... meh... its nice enough but if I had the ports above I don't need it. I'd get more use out of a serial port.
Yes, I know the laptop would need to be slightly thicker than it is right now. (ie as thick as a non-retina macbook pro. Fine. That's just fine. Give me some extra battery life and improve the cooling system with the space, or make the ram and SSD upgradable.
2 thunderbolt is a security hole. Like firewire. Anything that plugs into your thunderbolt port pretty much owns your laptop.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
I could disable thunderbolt I guess... but that makes using my Ethernet dongle even more irritating than it already is.
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I certainly appreciate the portability of the new MacBook pros with fewer big giant outdated ports littered all over the sides of them.
His point is that they are *not* outdated. You really think having a full-size HDMI, ethernet and 3 USB-A ports (FWIW my macbook air has 2 USB-A ports) makes it any less portable?
Modern Mac Book Pros have two Thunderbolt ports, two USB-C ports and a full sized HDMI. So I guess it's 1 USB and 1 Ethernet port short of a "real" pro machine. Adding Physical Ethernet would actually make the system thicker. Personally I'd rather carry the dongle. Actually, I carry two as I occasionally connect to multiple isolated networks. But I'm happy with the thinner, lighter machine for the other 97% of the time. Then again, I also connect to a lot of old hardware via DB9 connectors and RS485 b
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Modern Mac Book Pros have two Thunderbolt ports, two USB-C ports and a full sized HDMI. So I guess it's 1 USB and 1 Ethernet port short of a "real" pro machine.
Actually his point was USB-A (which is what most devices are), you'd think they'd at least provide a single USB-A for almost all the USB devices out there.
Adding Physical Ethernet would actually make the system thicker.
By what? 1mm - 1.5mm? If you really care about that then you've probably already gone with a Macbook or an Air rather than the Pro as they are thinner and lighter.
But this is an Apple thread so we must be upset that the professionals that require an Ethernet port need to spend $29 for a dongle.
Why must we? And who is upset? Is there a reason you're trying to take a criticism and make it out as though it's some emotional issue and a critical problem? Also it's not about buying a dongle
Re:ipad pro (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't see how a bigger screen and better performance suddenly make this oversized phone a professional tool.
I have to say the only thing I was waiting for from this announcement was whether the iPad Pro would have OS X or iOS. As I think Windows RT showed us, the primary difference between a consumer tablet and a productivity device is whether it uses a desktop OS.
Can I run the full versions of Photoshop and XCode on the iPad Pro? Can I use the desktop verson of Microsoft Office on the iPad Pro? How easy is it to dock the iPad Pro to my Thunderbolt screen to have multiple monitor support? These are the important questions to answer. Everyone knew Apple could create a device that looks like the Surface Pro, we just needed to know if it could be a true laptop replacement in quasi-tablet form.
I'm sure it will still sell like hotcakes though, since iOS still has a much better app ecosystem than Windows RT did. And if the Apple watch can sell, anything Apple creates (for a while at least) will sell.
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For me personally, XCode doesn't make a whole lot of sense on a touch screen device with limited screen real-estate. I'd prefer to use a Macbook. As for Photoshop, there might be a ton of photo applications that do make sense on a touch screen device with stylus support. Whether that needs to be a full desktop version of P
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For me personally, XCode doesn't make a whole lot of sense on a touch screen device with limited screen real-estate. I'd prefer to use a Macbook.
I'll grant you the touchscreen part (though they are offering an overpriced keyboard lid), but not the "limited screen real-estate". They are offering a 12.9" screen. Macbooks have long been offered in a 13.3" size. The iPad will be in a 2732×2048 resolution. I've considered the 11.6" / 12" range to be the minimum for a laptop that could be usable as a real computer (as compared to 10" netbooks). Those 12" laptops would frequently have 1366x768 resolutions. 13"-14" computers are easily usable full time. The iPad Pro's screen is obviously not a limitation. The oversized cellphone apps on it may get in the way, but not the screen.
For working with textual information like you are in Xcode, the native resolution on retina displays is almost meaningless. For example, the native resolution on my MBP 15 with retina display is 2880 X 1800, but the default effective resolution is 1440 X 900 which is the same as the non-retina displays of previous versions. Same with the iPads. The newest iPad Air has the same effective resolution as the original, - 1024 X 768. That's because Apple pixel-doubles the text so it's large enough to read.
You
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Sure, that's nice if your setup currently uses iPads. That doesn't really make this "pro" though. It's just a bigger screen. The iPad Pro doesn't actually have any more relevant functionality than the iPad Air 2.
I would expect a "pro" device to be able to add your lighting hardware as needed, and to be capable of utilizing specialized device drivers when the OS maker doesn't support your device out of the box. A Windows/Linux/Mac device could contain a PCI card that connects directly to a DMX cable, or
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They need to advertise a lot this year. Most rabid fans got locked in two-year contracts last year when they got the 6...
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The summary, as viewed from the front page, was a single sentence with a link.
Re:Not Impressed with any of it (Score:5, Funny)
You mean the Apple PencilTM doesn't knock your socks off?
Two (2) new bands for the Apple Watch?
How about the fact that they got OS2 to run on the Apple Watch?
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He was butt-dialing before it was cool.
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Hey now, that feature is very important... for Apple's profit margins! It insures that their 16 GB phone buyers will run out of storage faster, so they'll spend more money on iCloud storage and make sure to pony up the extra $100 for the 64 GB model next time.
Sadly, I'm only being semi-sarcastic here. Releasing a brand new high end phone with only 16 GB of storage and no expansion slot in 2015 is just evil.
The Rest of the Story (Score:4, Informative)
I'm sure that the people who use microscopes to look at their phone displays might notice a difference, but will anyone else?
Umm, perhaps all the people using 5K retina iMacs? Or even Retina laptops which have resolution greatly exceeding 1080p...
It's not like you take video and never see it anywhere else. Heck, if nothing else you can edit three 4k video streams simultaneously on an iPad pro...
Re:4k video for the iphone??? Really? (Score:4, Informative)
The screen isn't 4k. This is for indie film makers, not for viewing on the phone at full quality.
The point isn't to view 4k video on the phone (Score:3, Interesting)
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Oh, my.... just think of how much money this could possibly save the movie industry, if they only used these new iPhones instead of those expensive cameras.
(eyeroll)
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Smart Keyboard connects magnetically.
Hey! They introduced their own Surface Tablet!
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Lots of regular people are happy to pay $100-$150 for a Netflix box that works well. Google and Amazon have similar products at similar price points.
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XBox One doesn't cost $149, Apple TV does.
That being said, it depends on how you use it. We have a PS4 attached to our main TV, we technically can use it for Amazon Prime streaming, but we don't, we use an Amazon Fire TV box for that.
Why? Because it is easier to use, doesn't have any boot time, uses less power, and has a nice simple voice remote.
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Better, if you live in the Netflix/Hulu/iTunes ecosystem...
If you live in the Amazon Prime eco system, then no it isn't...
We have 2 Amazon Fire TVs in our house, one for the kids, one for us, they are wonderful, fast, and do everything we need. Paid $99 for one, $69 for the other (on special) and they are dependable boxes with quick voice search.
If we lived in the Netflix/Hulu/iTunes ecosystem, I'd buy the Apple TV, no doubt. But you don't need both boxes.
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I call bullshit. And I guess I'm insane because I always use my PS4, and previously, Xbox ONE to use Netflix for ~4 hours a day. It hasn't increase my electricity bill by more than $5/mo (I monitor it regularly). I suspect many others do too (my friends all do), so I don't know what the fuck you are talking about.
$5.00 a month JUST to run your GAME CONSOLE?!?
Holy Fuck! My 15,100 BTU Air Conditioner only increases my summer electric bill by about $15 a month. And that's running almost 24/7!!!
Better watch out! Your PS4 may well decide to sprout a killer energy beam like the M5 unit on TOS, just to feed itself during a gaming session!
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With the chromecast, you have to count the power use of the device to control it too.
Modern game consoles use modified PC hardware. It's no shock they use so much power. Consider they use AMD chips :)
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Call the iPad Pro what it is, the iSurface RT.
Except this one doesn't suck.
without real productivity apps, what purpose does the iPad Pro serve?
Reading magazines and print PDFs without having to scroll around and zoom in on the page?
Re:People still buy apple? (Score:4, Insightful)
yawn, if i really wanted to waste money i'd throw it into the East River.
But if you wanted to spend it on something worthwhile, you'd buy an Apple device.