The Apple Discussion Thread

[ChetB]

ITT we talk Apple:

• Discuss products (current and rumored)
• Talk about Apple news
• Reflect on the company's performance
• Share app recommendations
• Describe setups and workflows
• Get called "fanboys" by Android users
• Ask questions, vent frustrations, and touch on anything Apple-related

A few Apple-centric sites and podcasts worth following:

• Daring Fireball
• The Loop
• Marco.org
• Hypercritical
• The Talk Show (podcast)
• Accidental Tech Podcast
• Hypercritical (podcast) (defunct)
• Mac Power Users (podcast)

 

[GreenFrog]

Big day today.

At this point, there won't be any big surprises.

My eyes will be on Google Finance during the keynote .

 

[Pilot]

Looks like the 5C will basically be the iPod Touch with a cell antenna. I always said they should have made the 5 look like the Touch, but now it looks like that's come true. I like it. Will def be upgrading from my 4s and will probably spring for the 5S if it has the rumored 12mp camera.

 

[ChetB]

I bought a new iPhone, iPad, and MacBook this year so will sit out this round of hardware upgrades. I'm eager to see when we'll be getting iOS 7 and Mavericks, though.

I really wish they'd come out with a developer program for the Apple TV, but it doesn't sound like that's in the cards yet.

 

[ChetB]

TUAW has a pretty good live stream of the event:

http://www.tuaw.com/2013/09/10/september-2013-apple-event-liveblog-the-new-iphone-party/

Highlights so far:

—iOS 7 coming Sept 18
—iWork apps (Pages, Numbers, Keynote, iPhoto, iMovie) to become free downloads
—iPhone 5C (A6 chip; 5 colors + cases; plastic with "no seams, part lines or joins"; $99 or $199, with contract)
—iPhone 5S (new A7 chip, black, silver, or gold; 64-bit; 2x faster CPU; new motion processor for fitness tracking; improved camera; fingerprint ID; $199–$399, with contract)
—iPhone 4S becomes free with contract.

 

[Jr Mouse]

Solid thread idea. Wish I had seen this before. Reason I bumped the iPhone 5 thread is because we really don't need new product specific threads every time they announce a new iPhone or iPad mode.

Not a fan of the plastic iPhone's colors. White is ok, but the rest are ugly. Curious about what the build quality will be like. Nokia set the bar there with the Lumina series. No one else has even come close with plastic phones, so Apple has a lot to prove here.

 

[GreenFrog]

Apple blew it with the 5C's pricing.

Goddammit!

 

[MikeDT]



Apple blew it with the 5C's pricing.

Goddammit!

Yeh still uber expensive, and still within the luxury, Gucci type pricing range. around $800...I wouldn't pay that much for a cellphone.

 

[GreenFrog]



Yeh still uber expensive, and still within the luxury, Gucci type pricing range. around $800...I wouldn't pay that much for a cellphone.

What a terrible, terrible move on Apple's part.

I understand they're playing a very fine balancing act between maintaining high margins and gaining marketshare, but the 5C is just way too expensive for the developing markets.

Even if they announce a China Mobile deal tomorrow the 5C is way out of the average Chinese person's price range.

I wonder how well the gold 5S will fare in China.. will droves of Chinese take out high-interest loans to buy the 5S instead of the 5C?

As a shareholder, I sure hope so!

 

[Tck13]

Will this thread bring back Tokyo Slim?

 

[ChetB]

Anyone else upgrade to iOS 7 yet?

 

[GreenFrog]

Not yet, but very eager to!

 

[Pilot]

It's taking a bit of getting used to. Seems just the slightest bit laggy on my 4S, but i think it's because all the new fades in and out of windows, locking and unlocking, etc.. give it the appearance of being slow. But it is just part of the "experience." Hard to tell at this point. Seems that on my 4S it doesn't have the Airdrop functionality.

 

[Jr Mouse]



Dammit. Parallax screwed up my wallpaper.

What do you mean?

Anyone else upgrade to iOS 7 yet?

Been running it the last week.

 

[Jr Mouse]



It's taking a bit of getting used to. Seems just the slightest bit laggy on my 4S, but i think it's because all the new fades in and out of windows, locking and unlocking, etc.. give it the appearance of being slow. But it is just part of the "experience." Hard to tell at this point. Seems that on my 4S it doesn't have the Airdrop functionality.

Regarding the new UI transitions and animations giving iOS7 the appearance of being a little slow/baggy, it's not just on the 4S. You are not the only one to comment on them as It's been mentioned in several reviews. My personal opinion after using iOS 7 on my iPhone 5 for the last week is Apple went too far with them for the sake of having some pretty new UI candy to show off. I wouldn't be surprised if these transitions are optimized to be shorter in future patches as they really do little other than slow navigation down.

Airdrop requires the newer Wi-Fi hardware chips to function and is not supported on phones pre-4S.

My girlfriend has an iPhone 4 and I told her it would be better to hold off a week or two before updating. While Apple supports older handsets, they have a tendency to optimize for the newer ones first then tweak the old stuff. It's worth waiting to see if there are any issues with the 4 that need to be patched up before jumping in.