Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Apple didn't bring Elvis back, either

Another Apple announcement--nothing to report, really.  Yes, I'm kidding.

I've already seen the fanatics on both sides hammering out comments.  Geez!

I suspected that unless the company brought back Elvis, there was nothing really important, and the company would go out of business in short order.  It's an obvious conclusion, isn't it?

I'm glad to see a number of phone choices with realistic storage sizes.  (It's odd that my 32 GB iPhone 4S was enough but not my 32 GB iPhone 5c.)  Double the storage is good, especially since the world has changed.

The fingerprint scanner will be available for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.  That's a good thing because they're introducing a rather comprehensive payment system and payments can be done with a touch of your thumb.

Do the new phone sizes (4.7 and 5.5 inch) change things?  They will make a difference for those people who think bigger is better without being able to discern much of anything else.  Of course, for people with huge hands, the 5.5 inch model will be helpful.  The bigger model's 1920x1080 resolution ticks another box as it meets full HD resolution.

The operating efficiency enhancements are more important and they've switched to more powerful and more capable processors, switched to larger batteries, and you may get better battery life in your real world experience.  Of course, a lot of your battery life depends on your carrier, and how much you use those new, bigger displays.

I'm a bit enamoured of the LG G3's display but of course, not with the battery life.  Samsung has also been showing its best components with little regard to real life usage but they do have great displays.

My only question is whether a bigger phone will suit me?  I remember looking at the HTC One (M7) and thinking that it was too large, along with its Android competition.  I was so close to buying one of those or the LG G2 and I wanted something smaller.

I'll be looking forward to iOS 8 at some point, but I doubt I'll be an early victim, errr, adopter.  Too often Apple doesn't finish their thoughts and leaves users hanging.

Is anyone interested in the Apple Watch?  I wish that I was.  It is interesting, but starting at US$349, I won't be buying one.  Do I wear a watch now?  No, so it would be something new for me to take off and forget somewhere.  I have a load of watches I have not worn since 2004, so it would take a very good reason for me to wear one.

The user interface looks incredible and I think they've got good ideas in there, unlike the other brands--something Samsung will want to borrow.  (Even if you don't like Apple, it's obvious that Samsung has used products from Apple, Nokia, Motorola, BlackBerry and others as design templates for many products, coming close to verbatim copies in many cases.)

I've seen people who are crazy about watches, and I know for a fact that shopping channels like ShopNBC/ShopHQ have special programming just about watches.  There are customers out there.

I've been wondering how Apple will collapse not just health-oriented watches and monitors business but the industry of runners' watches.  I could see the company buying Polar and other smaller companies in the business.

The only real surprise I got was the lack of iPad replacements.  Update: Late October launch event?

Oh, and what's not a product but a change in the way we'll all do business is Apple Pay.  Strange to think about it but it may finally put to rest checks, cards, and even cash within 20 years.  Apple has a way of putting together procedures to make life easier.  I'm not saying that it will be perfect and it will take a few generations of devices before it's into everyone's wallet, but it has a good chance of making payments easier.

There need to be a lot of things in place before I would trust it, but I say that about everything.  I'm not trusting of current physical cards and procedures.  I want to sign for purchases of $10 or more--not $50 or more.

Of course, the government will have to do some research because Apple is claiming some counter fee that card issuers should pay it for sales going through their system.  It should be interesting.

Update 2014.09.19: The iPhone lines are being satisfied all over the world.  I can't imagine how or why people would switch so often.   Would I pay the ETF (early termination fee) to get a newer phone?  It had better wash dishes and cook for me, if I'm going to pay extra.  They cost enough with or without subsidies.  I know both sides of the story, and yes, if we didn't have contracts but could get similar service without it, I would pay the full price for a phone.  Standing in line for a new phone that hasn't been tested by millions of people yet?  No, thanks.

iOS arrived the day before my birthday this week.  I'm interested but considering the typical flaws, I would rather wait until version 8.1 but considering how long it took them to get to 7.1, I might turn blue in the face holding my breath.  We'll see how many security issues are outstanding in 7.x.

Oh, and if you're on the iPhone 4S, you might want to wait--there may be issues, as there were with iOS 7 and iPhone 4.

Update 2015.01.01: I had updated to iOS 8.x and was constantly up against my storage limits.

About three weeks ago, I got an iPhone 6, even though the products were in somewhat limited supply still.  I went from the 32 GB iPhone 4s and iPhone 5c to a 64 GB iPhone 6.  This was the second iteration of the 64-bit processor, so I felt a bit comfortable.  However, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are still not fully supported by third party apps.  There are some strange bugs, also.  iOS 8.2 is in beta testing.

Performance is great, and battery life is better, even though the display has increased in size.  It seems odd being past 480x320 pixel displays.  It also seems odd having switched once a year.

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