Apples Week of Hardware Updates

Next week Apple is having an event to announce something. We are pretty sure it is the Apple TV service and Apple News subscription service. When Apple has an event we normally speculate on what new hardware they might announce. Well, Apple must not want to focus on hardware next week so they let us know this week.

iPad Air and iPad mini:

This will be a running theme through all of this. The device is the same except they swept out the old chip for a new faster chip. Now we have faster iPad Airs (we are back to the Air name now) and the iPad mini isn’t dead. Both iPads are now sporting an A12 Bionic. With last years iPad update, we got use of the Apple Pencil but it couldn’t register things like how hard you are pushing on it. Well, now you can use the original Apple Pencil with the new iPad Air and mini just like you could on the original iPad Pro. You can pick up the new iPad Air for $499 starting next week or $399 for the iPad mini.

iMac:

The iMac line is now faster as well. The 21.5 inch iMac now has a faster 8th generation quad-core processor from Intel and sports Radeon Pro Vega graphics. The 27 inch iMac now has a 9th generation 6 core processor or you can get it with an 8 core processor. The 27 inch iMac has the same graphics but runs 50% faster. Just like the iPads, you can pick up the new iMacs next week. The 21.5 inch iMac will start at $1299 and the iMac 27 inch will start at $1799.

AirPods:

AirPods just what we have been waiting for, or am I the only waiting for this? Either way, we finally have new AirPods. The new ones are like everything else pretty much the same as the old ones but in this case, the new AirPods add a new feature. You can now use "Hey Siri" with the new AirPods. With the current ones, you can only activate Siri by tapping one of the pods. This is nice if like me you connect your AirPods to say your iPad and then leave that room and want to just say "Hey Siri" instead of tapping your ear. Along with new AirPods Apple is offering a new wireless charging case for the AirPods. You can buy the case with the New AirPods for a bit more or buy the case separately to use with your original AirPods. You can Get the new AirPods for $159 or $199 with the wireless charging case. You can pick up the wireless charging case for $79 if you want it later on or use with your original AirPods. You can pick up your new AirPods next week.

Mondays the Day:

Next week is going to be a busy week for the Apple Store with all this new hardware. I think the only thing left to be updated is the iPod Touch and Apple TV. With Apple's announcement being center around a streaming service, if they have an updated Apple TV they might wait until Monday to announce it. None of these products got major overhauls that some wanted but they are all faster now may have a new service or two on Monday.

The new iPhones

Today was the day that I and I'm sure a lot of others have been waiting for. Today was the Apple event where they announced the next iPhone. They also announced a few other things and we will do what they did, and get threw those things first.

We have to start off with the venue. This years event and I'm sure any other event they do from now on, took place at the Steve Jobs memorial theater. This is a venue located on the new Apple campus. From all the videos and photos I have seen it looks vary beautiful. They then opened the event with some words from Steve Jobs and talked about him. It was very nice and sincere.

Now lets start the on slaughter. Apple Watch Series 3 was announced with with faster chips better wireless and new bands. But what is a surprise is the inclusion of cellular. With the series 3 you will be able to use the watch with out your phone. The watch will use your same phone number so you can get calls and texts and iMessages when your phone isn't around. Even with the extra cellular things inside it the watch is about the same size as the series 2. The watch will even get up to 18 hours of battery life. The Apple Watch Series 3 will go on pre order on September 15th and will start at $329 with out cellular and $399 with cellular. They will be available in stores starting September 22nd.

Now its time for the little engine that could, the Apple TV. One of the things I keep hearing people complain about the current Apple TV was no 4K. Today Apple addressed this and added HDR. The Apple TV 4K has a slightly faster chip to handle 4K and HDR and will have TV OS updated to display the UI in 4K. As far as what you can watch on the Apple TV 4K, will be iTunes movies will be updated to 4K and cost the same as HD movies. Netflix and Hulu will also be bring 4K streaming to the Apple TV with 4K. If you have any Movies you have bought on iTunes that get a 4K version your perches will be upgraded to 4K free of charge. Apple TV 4K will start at $174 for 32 GBand $199 for 64 GB, you will be able to pre order on September 15th and pick one up on September 22nd.

Ok here it is what you have been waiting for the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus!

Right just what everyone said it would look like. Yeah I'm pretty sure this was a troll on Apples part. This is also kind of what I predicted in my last post, which you can read here. The iPhone 8 and 8 Plus is the more traditional styled iPhone with a home button and the normal bezel.
It has a slight new look over the iPhone 7 with glass on front and back. They say its their most durable glass though I don't know about that glass on the back. As always we get faster chips better cameras and support for for faster wireless standers. The iPhone 8 will also have wireless charging with Qi wireless charging standard. So if you have a Qi wireless charger you can just plop your phone down on a pad and charge your phone. The iPhone 8 will start at $699 for 64 GBs and the iPhone 8 Plus will start at $799 for 64 GBs. Just like everything else you can preorder September 15th and will be available September 22nd.

Now lets talk about what we really wanted to see, the iPhone X. This is the phone we have been hearing about for months with the edge to edge display. The whole phone is screen with just the tiny little bezel. This phone has no home button and has a super retina display. The screen is also an OLED display. It has image sensors out the wazoo. HDR support and the list just goes on and on. 

The real difference seems to be the front image sensors for facial recognition, which will be used for Face ID. This will work a lot like touch ID but with your face. It will recognize your face no mater what day or night, hat or scarf. This also will bring better facial tracking for things like Snapchat and Aniemjie which is a iMessage app that will let you animate your emojis. This also brings portraitmode to the selfie camera.

The iPhone X will not have a home button, instead you will swipe up to go home and swipe up and pause to do multi touch. It will also support all the wireless standers that the iPhone 8 dose including wireless charging. They also showed a charging pad that they will be coming out at some point called the Air Power. This is a pad that will charge your iPhone, Apple Watch, and Ear Pods all at the same time. The iPhone shows a little animation showing the devices being charged.

iPhone X will come in space gray and silver. It will also start at $999 for 64 GBs and will also have a 256 GB model as well. Unlike the other products announced today the iPhone X will go on preorder October 22nd and will be available November 3rd.

That is everything announced today by apple and I will also add, after the announcements I checked for updates on my iPhone running the iOS 11 public beta and I got a iOS 11 update not beta number this time. This is the GM build. So if you are running iOS 11 developer beta or the public beta you can update to iOS 11 today, for everyone else they will have to wait till September 19th. Get your credit cards ready and your F5 keys ready for Friday when most of these things go up for preorder.

Apple Event Predictions

This week on Tuesday Apple is set to make an announcement and we pretty much already know its going to be the new iPhone. As I do pretty much every year I get the blogging craving and need to write what I think might be in the new iPhone. Lets get started!

iPhone X

Lets start with the name or names. Normally we could predict the name by going up one number or adding a S to the current name. This year is a different year compared to others. This year is the 10th anniversary of the iPhone. Most people seem to agree that they will show a phone called the iPhone X for the anniversary and this will most likely be the most expensive iPhone. But that will probably not be the only phone they show off, they will probably brake the trend of iPhone # then iPhone #S, and go from iPhone 7 to iPhone 8 and 8 plus. 

These Phones will have most of the new features of the iPhone X except for maybe one or two minor features. These phones will probably start at a cheaper price then the iPhone X. So the line up will probably be iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone X. 

Infinity Screen

Now lets talk about the thing we all use everyday the iPhone screen. Now I think most people seem to think this will be the same for all models, but I think it might be different. I think one of the key features of the iPhone X will be a top to bottom edge to edge screen. This is what most Android phones have been moving to and that look vary sleek. Most people have been making renders of a iPhone looking like that as well. 

But most people seem to think that is what all the iPhones will look like, I think this style will only be the iPhone X and the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus will look and have the same screen as the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. iPhone X will need something to make it different and I think that might be one of the things that makes it different from the 8.

Touch ID or Face ID

The iPhone X will also need something else to make it different from the iPhone 8. We have been hearing rumors about touch ID leaving because of the bigger screen. Also if the screen is bigger we will be seeing the end of a physical home button on the iPhone X. Unless they figure out how to make the Touch ID sensor to work under a sheet of glass the iPhone X will not have Touch ID. Instead they may use Facal recognition in replace of Touch ID. 

The iPhone 8 and 8 Plus having smaller screens will still have a physical home button and will have the normal Touch ID. Im sure they will come up with some reason the iPhone 8 won't be able to use Face ID so it can be a iPhone X only feature.

Storage

This one shouldn't be too much of a shocker but the rumors have been saying that the new iPhones will start with a 64 GB configuration instead of a 32 GB configuration. We might even see the max storage go to 512 GBs that might be a iPhone X only storage size.

Conclusion

These are probably the mayor things that will be different from the current iPhones. These phones will also have new and faster processors, better cameras, and they will all run iOS 11. I think the prices for the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus will be similar to what the 7 and 7 Plus are now but the iPhone X will be the one that start higher at $999 or $1,000. So now we wait and see, lucky we only have to wait till Tuesday.

Hello Again Apple October Event

Another day another company unveiling new things. Today that company was Apple. We got a few new announcements. In short we are getting a new Apple TV app and MacBook Pros. So lets get into more details of this announcements.

Apple TV:

Apple showed off a new app for the Apple TV called TV. The TV app is a hub for everything you are watching on Apple TV or your other devices. App makes it easy to find something to watch or continue to watch. There is a section called up next that shows movies and TV shows that you have been watching and by clicking on an item will launch the right app and begin playing right where you let off.

TV will also have a section for your iTunes movie and tv show library along with a store. The store though seems like more of a recommendation thing. It shows you shows and movies you might want to watch and when you find something it will open the app or install the app if you don't already have it. They also showed off Siri being able to find what live content you want. They showed it off with some football games that Siri was able to find the right app it was on by just telling it what team the presenter wanted to see.

This seems like a good update for people that have the new Apple TV and other iOS devices.

Macbook Pro:

Now on to the whole reason for todays event, new MacBook Pros. Apple showed off new MacBook Pros, a new 13’ and 15’. Booth models have what Apple is calling the touch bar, it goes right where the function keys use to go. The Touch Bar changes depending on what app you are using, if you are using iTunes you will see controls to Play puse and scan what you are listing to. The bar can also be customized as well. The touch bar also introduces touch ID to the mac.

Now that isn't the only thing new. The new MacBook Pros are more powerful than last years and thinner. They went on for a bit about this, comparing it the the Mac Air which almost seemed like they where trying to say the Mac Air is dead. I have not confirmed this yet. The 13’ even comes in 2 models one that has the Touch Bar and one that has the old function keys.

The 13” with function keys ships today. While the 13” with touch bar ships in 2-3 weeks and the 15” model ships in 2-3 weeks as well.

The rumor of the touch bar is something I was hoping it was true, and today I found out it is. Im going to have to go to an Apple store and take a look at it when they have them on display.

Happy Surprise Apple Update Day

Happy surprise Apple update day. Apple decided to drop iOS 10.1 and Mac OS 10.12.1 today. For the most part this update is a minor update. It fixed a few bugs and security fixes. But for iPhone 7 users this added the Portrait filter that really takes advantage of the new camera on the iPhone 7. Ive been using the public beta since I got my iPhone 7 just for that filter. Here are some shots I took with it.

Apple also released an update for watch OS and TV OS as well so if you have an apple tv or an apple watch you might want to update those as well.

Dos and Don'ts of iOS 10 Public Beta

Today is the day some of us have been waiting for, the iOS 10 public beta is here. As I type this I'm sacrificing my iPad Air 2 to the beta gods. This got me thinking, other people are doing this too and some of them might be first timers. Which is fine its a public beta anyone can sign up and get the bits. So I thought it might be helpful to make a quick list of dos and don'ts when using the public beta, and a lot of these things can be used for other betas as well.

Back-Up

Before you do anything at all, even before you sign up for the public beta program do your self a favor and do a local backup to your computer. Even if you do iCloud back up do a local backup. If you need to roll back to a stable build of iOS it will make things go quicker if you have a local backup.

Screenshot (27)

Play with your Apps

After you have installed the public beta bits, open some of your most used apps and mess around with them to see if they still work. Just remember this is a beta and none of the apps from the app store are optimize to run on iOS 10 so just be thankful they even open up. Also make sure your apps are all up to date. Sometimes its not an OS thing that is making them crash it could just be a bug that the developer already fixed. But if they do not and you really need the apps to work just roll back to iOS 9, that is why the first tip was to backup.

IMG_0238

Don't bug the Devs

Maybe some of your apps don't work and it might be, because of some changes under the hood in iOS 10. Please for the love of god don't go to the app store and write bad reviews about the app and give them a 1 star. Right now the 3rd party developers can not fix any iOS 10 related problems. If you have a problem with a app that could be a iOS 10 issue file a bug report in the feedback app.

App-Store

Feedback App

The feedback app will help not just you but also apple and 3rd party devs too. This is a public beta test so the whole point is to get feedback from users to find bugs and to suggest things you might want to see in iOS 10 or future updates to iOS 10. This is also where you can tell develops about crashy apps so they can make fixes and can have them ready when they can put iOS 10 optimized apps on the app store.

apple_feedback_assistant_icon_thumb800

I hope these tips help when you are trying out iOS 10. Just keep in mind that this is beta software and it will be buggy so don't get too mad when things break.

New Everything

Well the announcement happened and yes we are getting a new iPhone 6S and 6S Plus. But we also got a few other things like a new Apple TV and iPad Pro. Booth these things I really didn't think we would ever see.

Apple TV:

After years of waiting we finally get a new Apple TV. The new Apple TV has an app store we finally get an app store, and Siri. The updated hardware also allows for concal gaming. The new remote has touch area, controls for volume, mic, and a button to switch the source on your TV.

The App Store finally comes to the apple TV. We have been waiting for this for years. The apple TV will be able to use apps like your phone or tablet. Though they will have to make some changes to there apps to make them work on the TV but they can be universal just like the App store on your iPhone or Tablet. You buy once and have access on all your iOS devices. Though the new Apple TV docent run full iOS but it runs a version called TV OS.

I do find it interesting that the new Apple TV is like a conceal it has it own games and exclusives just like an Xbox or PS4. Though your probably not going to be playing Halo or Call of Duty on the Apple TV, so they wont have to worry about Apple. Who should worry is nintendo they have had a lock on kid and casual gamers. With the DS and the Wii U Nintendo has been happyish with their market. Apple has been slowly eating the way at Nintendo's hand held monopoly with the iPhone and iPod Touch and now with the Apple TV being able to play those iOS games on the TV Nintendo might have a problem.

iPad Pro:

Since I got my first iPad which was an iPad 2, Ive wanted a iPad with a bigger screen. But we are getting just blows what I wanted out of the water. The iPad Pro isn't just a bigger screen though it is 12.9 inches, its a way more powerful iPad that takes advantage of iOS 9. Really when you think about all the stuff that iOS 9 is going to do it should have been obvious that something like the iPad Pro was coming vary soon. The Pro will have some accessories a Smart Keyboard cover which is just like the Microsoft Surface though its an Apple device so maybe it will be better than the surface keyboard. The other accessories that artist might like is the Apple Pencil. Its a styles for the iPad Pro that will allow the iPad to detect force so you can have darker lines or lighter. Depending on what you are a pro in I think will depend on what accessories you get. I guess I should shatter your dreams like they did with me. The iPad Pro will start at $799 for 32 GB and goes up to $1079 for 128 GB and Wifi+cellular. Though remember its as Pro device so these prices do make sense. I was a little disappointed with the storage sizes I would have thought maybe we might see at the high end a 500 GB iPad Pro. But at least they didn't do a 16 GB modal.

iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus:

Well hear is what everyone knew we were going to hear. The iPhone 6S and 6S Plus which really was what people where expecting. It was a lot of improvements. 3D touch was one of those things, its like the right click of touch. Depending on how long or hard you touch something on the screen different things will happen. One of the things they showed off was touching the camera app gives you a jump list of different options like quickly getting to the selfie camera or taking a video. Speaking of videos they showed off a thing called live photos which is something the camera will do by default. If you touch a photo it will give you a short video of when it was taken. If you have every seen any of the harry potter movies and notice how the pictures and paintings come to life, its almost like that. The other improvement is the camera it has a 12 Mega Pixel camera. Other than that not much has changed. If you are ready for a new iPhone the 6S or 6S Plus will probably be a good upgrade. Now as far as getting the phone Apple is giving you a new option, the iPhone upgrade plan which will allow you to get a new iPhone every year. Apple will let you pay a $32 fee and when they come out with a new iPhone you just return your old one and get the new one. The 3 major carriers in the US will let you do this. Though Sprint has a iPhone for life deal right now which is only $15 a month. Though thats really only good if you are in a area where Sprint works well.

Final thoughts:

I think this is probably one of the most star studded line ups Apple has had in awhile. We got a lot of things that we have been waiting for, for awhile. Out of everything I have seen I want the Apple TV the most. I will probably get the 32 GB model cause who am I kidding I'm probably going to load it up with games.

The Big Day

Tomorrow is the big day for Apple fans. We get to see the new iPhone and maybe afew other things. The first thing being the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus. Its a S update so there probally wont be too much of a change to the phone. Im sure it will have that one thing that will make you most of us want to get it. Though from all the rummors forse touch might be that thing. To me that really dosent compel me to want to get it. But we will see tomorrow what will be the sell for it. We will also brobally see a iPhone 6C and 6C plus. These will be slitly cheaper verions of the the current 6 and 6 Plus. They may also come in bright colors like the current iPhone 5c.

Rummors of seeing a iPad Pro with a bigger screen. This is something I’m intrested in because Ive wanted a iPad with a bigger screen and with true multitasking coming in iOS 9 I think it makes sence that we would see a this. I have been using the public beta on my iPad Air and being able to do PiP with videos is just sooooo cool.

The last thing people have been talking about is a update to the Apple TV. This rummor has been flooting around for years now and truely I will not beleive it untill they say it. The new Apple TV woud have updated hardware and have access to the app store. They are also saying a new touch screen remote that has access to Siri. Im not really sure about this cause we have seen the headlies before "Apple set to refresh Apple TV” then after the announcement the headline is “Apple pulls new Apple TV from presentation”. We’ve just been burned to many times be this. Though it is a needed.

Though there is another thing I have been thinking about. The invetation for the event is “Hey siri give me a hint” This has been fun to play with on the iPhone but could this be a clue for something. Some have been saying this could be a clue about a new Apple TV that could have Siri. This would but them inline with Roku and Amazon TV since they have voice search having siri would but them little ahead of the compation. But what I really think what we might see is siri coming to the Mac in an update to El Capitan like a 10.11.2 or somehting or they could do it as like an app and put it in perveiw like they did with the App Store when it came out. It would be something to compete with Cortona on Windows 10. Also I just would really like to have it. The closes thing we have to it now is Google Now in chrome but I really would like to have siri.

Well we will see what happens tomorrow.

OSX Now With Photos

For everyone running OSX Yosemite and waiting for the Photos app well its finally here. Back at WWDC last year when Apple was showing off OS 10.10 they showed the new Photos app which would come in a later update that would replace iPhoto.

Photos app is made to look and work just like the photos app on iOS. This will also allow you to use iCloud Photo Library on your Mac. This will upload all your photos to iCloud and allow you to view any photo in your library on any device. Up until now the only way to could do this on a desktop was by going to icloud.com.

Photos also have the same controls for editing your photos which are a lot better than what was in iPhoto. The one tool I noticed that is in the desktop version that isn't in the mobile version is the heal tool. For those who don't know the heal tool lets you get rid of any pimples or scares that you might have when you take selfies.

When Photos was announced it left me and I think a lot of other people with a dilemma. I had recently bought Aperture which is more powerful than iPhoto. But Photos is a replacement for booth iPhoto and Aperture and they as of today are no longer getting any future updates. choices were switch to Adobe Light Room or wait for Photos to come out and switch to it. Well Im impatient and so I went to Light Room. Now that Photos is out I regret my decision. Light Room is a grate if you are a pro photographer. But for me I'm not a pro I'm not shooting in RAW with a DSLR I'm shooting with my iPhone. I went to Aperture because there was some editing tools I wanted that iPhoto could not do. Now Photos can do a lot of what I wanted that iPhoto couldn’t. So after paying for a year of Light Room and PhotoShop I will probably be using Photos as my management system.

Well at least PhotoShop was part of that deal and I do use PhotoShop enough that its worth it. But back to Photos you can get it today by going to the Mac App Store and checking for updates you should get an update for OS X 10.10.3 which has Photos and a lot of other changes. Its just Photos is kind of the major thing.

Here are the Patch notes for this update:

iCloud Redesign Coming Soon

It looks like Apple pushed out a new iOS 7 design of icloud.com. All the web apps but the iWorks web apps have been redesign to have a flatter look to them. I didn't see any new functionality to any of the apps. The only thing new I saw was in the reminders app their is a schedule view for reminders. But out side of that nothing new but there looks. I'm still hoping one day they will add Photo Stream to icloud.com. You can check out the new look today if you want at beta.icloud.com just know things might be buggy. Here are some screen shots I took of some of the apps.