writing about tech

Month: September 2014 (page 2 of 2)

Apple Watch, Apple Pay, iPhone 6 Announcement Thoughtstream

  • Cool work with that livestream, Apple.  Love the way it keeps cutting off.  Hope you aren’t going to brag too much about your cloud services today…
  • Whelp, guess I’m reading live blogs instead. Way less exciting this way. Way to ruin the mood out of the gate, Apple.
  • Holy shit this is the fastest event ever. They must have a lot to talk about.  I bet this would be way more exciting with a functional live stream.
  • iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.  Look just like the leaks.  I would’ve gone with iPhone 6 Pro, but eh.
  • “Retina HD” is one way to name something, I guess.
  • 1080p resolution for the 5 inch – interesting.  That’s lower than the guesses made by Gruber.
  • The live stream is working!  And now there’s a Chinese translation over it, because reasons.
  • Okay, that “Reachability” feature looks like something out of Samsung’s playbook.  Or even something Samsung would’ve rejected.  Gross.
  • I’m actually pretty excited by the motion co-processor stuff, especially if it really can differentiate between running and biking. No exercise tracker has nailed that yet.
  • Still 8MP, but I’d argue that’s all you need for a good camera phone.
  • With that camera bump, I really expected OIS.
  • Ah, there it is…but only on the Plus. Shame.
  • Burst Selfies. Yup, that’s what the world needed.
  • iOS8 is still pretty great…and that’s about as much time as Apple spent on it, too
  • Apple finally bumped up the storage in their models, though of course they couldn’t bother to put 32 GB in the $199 model. Because margins.
  • 40 minutes for the new iPhones. That’s a lot of time for whatever is left.
  • I wonder if Apple will talk about wireless payments without even mentioning NFC.
  • If Apple fails at mobile payments, I feel like it’s probably dead for a long time. Hope they get this right.
  • Oh, I was wrong. They actually mentioned NFC.
  • If nothing else, maybe this will get NFC-based mobile payments into more places, regardless of payment platform.
  • Oh wow, an actual “One More Thing…”  Here we go.
  • Apple’s making a watch?! No way!  Said no one, ever.
  • Wow, is it really just a square smartwatch?  Hope there’s more to it, because right now this looks like an Android Wear watch for iPhones.
  • Lots of customization though, so that’s neat.
  • I love how this is getting a standing ovation before we even know what it does.
  • I really don’t see how this is any more acceptable to wear in public than existing smartwatches.
  • So…what’s the battery life?
  • Not always on. Responds to wrist-raise.  Strange that it turns “on” to the home screen and not the watch face, though.
  • I…don’t know about this.  This looks like an iPhone on your wrist, rather than a companion to said phone.
  • I’m starting to think this thing doesn’t have a touchscreen.
  • Ah, there it is.
  • Looks like the exercise tracking stuff isn’t really much more advanced than something like the Moto 360.  That’s a shame.
  • Wireless charging on an Apple device. That’s always good.  Wonder if it’s Qi, or something proprietary.
  • Multiple sizes is good. More companies need to get on that.
  • So much for the claims that Apple would unveil something that changes the entire way people think about wrist wearables.  It’s very pretty, but it’s not a game-changer – it just means the game is truly afoot in the wearable race.
  • This looks way more like a Galaxy Gear than I’d be comfortable with, if I was Apple.
  • These apps are cool, but it’s like it does too much – I don’t wear a smartwatch to use tiny apps.
  • Did people seriously just applaud canned responses to text messages? At least it does have a voice dictation option.
  • Siri on the watch.  Table stakes for the watch game at this point, but still good to see.
  • “Being active is one of the best things you can do to improve your health”…gee, you think?
  • To be fair, this is exactly what I want out of a wearable – smartwatch + exercise tracker + microphone – but it requires an iPhone, which makes it an iffy proposition.  I’m excited to use a Moto 360 to see how decent its heart rate tracking and step tracking are.
  • I mean, it’s basically the iPod Nano on your wrist that so many people wanted.  I’m sure it’ll sell amazingly.  I just don’t know if it’s for me.
  • A basic amount of backwards compatibility down through the iPhone 5 gets applause.  I guess I expected that at bare minimum.
  • Really? “Inductive wireless charging is something only Apple can do”?  *looks over at his wireless charging Nexus 5*.  Fuck off.
  • Using the ease of charging as a way to redirect from likely issues with battery life.  A day at most seems likely.  Probably a bit better than the Moto 360, but behind other Android Wear watches.
  • I love how Apple’s making it look like their charging solution is amazing and innovative, despite the 360’s being better.
  • Early next year – saw that coming.  Not in time for Christmas, so that’s a big miss.
  • Apple Pay works with Apple Watch.  Obviously, but still good.
  • $350.  Not bad. Less than expected, but more than Android Wear competitors.

Overall…I think I’m sticking with Android, for now.  I was relying on the Apple Watch to push me over the edge back into Apple ecosystem, but it’s just not quite enough at this point. Also, seriously, fuck that “Reachability” mode.  What is Apple thinking?

Shit’s about to get real

Tomorrow, Apple announces:

  • A 4.7 inch iPhone
  • (Possibly) a 5.5 inch iPhone
  • (Probably) an iWatch wearable device

I currently have a Moto 360 heading to a Best Buy with my name on it, likely due to arrive on Thursday.  Its arrival and purchase will cement both my allegiance with Android (at least for the next couple of years) and with wireless charging, as I will have the Holy Trinity of Qi-compatible smartphone, tablet, and wearable.

However, iOS8 is impressive.  Very impressive.  It fills in most of the functionality gaps between iOS and Android that I’ve been waiting for since my move to Android a couple of years ago.  It also brings larger phones to iOS – another thing I’ve been waiting for. As someone who wants his technology to “just work”, and is already heavily invested in Apple’s ecosystem in the form of OS X, Apple has a serious chance of winning me back over tomorrow, depending on how solid their line-up is.  It’s not that I’m tired of Android – I just see serious value on being all-end with a particular hardware ecosystem, and right now, nothing in the Android line-up delivers quite the comprehensive hardware ecosystem that Apple does.

I don’t think iOS8 with a larger iPhone will be quite enough to win me back, though – in many ways, it hinges on what their wearable brings to the table.  If it’s as health and fitness-based as rumors suggest, then it will be hard to resist, given my near-obsession with the marriage of exercise and technology.

Either way, tomorrow proves to be very interesting.  The time has come, as The Verge put it, to choose my religion.

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