Category Archives: Apple

Apple – My verdict on all the new announcements – iPhone 6S, Apple TV, iPad Pro and new Apple Watch options

Apple, Tech News, Wearables, , , ,

Yesterday, Apple carried out a near perfect 2 hour masterclass keynote speech, announcing a wide range of new products. Here are my initial thoughts on everything.

New iPhone 6S and 6S Plus

The new iPhone has a new 12mp camera that coupled with the new A9 processor and digital image processing chip allows for 4K video recording, live photo capture and a whole lot more. Apple made the point that by increasing the MP they did not sacrifice pixel quality. The tech specs show that the camera sensor has got smaller not larger with the iPhone 6S. Instead of 1.5 microns it is now only 1.22 microns. As a comparison , the LG G4 camera sensor is 2.6 microns in size with a f/1.8 aperture. The iPhone 6S is still only f/2.2. Despite these specs, the proof is in the pudding and time will tell.

3D Touch now comes to the iPhone (or Force Touch). The front camera is now 5mp. With all the other features and tight hardware and software integrations, the iPhone makes for a compelling package, albeit at a high price.

A new pink colour is now available too.

iPad Pro

The iPad Pro is a giant iPad with a 12.9 inch screen. It has the new A9X processor and has bespoke accessories from the new keyboard with speakers and the Apple Pencil. The Apple Pencil is a stylus for the iPad Pro. The iPad Pro looks excellent but at 713g for the WiFi only model and 723g for the WifI plus LTE it is just too heavy. Also, it pricing invades the MacBook Air or Macbook line up. Surely, it is better to buy one of these and run proper desktop apps? Beautiful product if you like that sort of thing.

Apple TV

The new Apple TV with TVos shows promise. A clean user interface, using siri and a new remote control that also adds as a game controller. Proper game controller can be used with the Apple TV too. Current limitations restrict apps to 200mb with the other app components needing to be held in the cloud. So probably more of a casual gaming option. Siri searched other TV streaming platforms which I thought was a neat feature. Overall, I really liked the new Apple TV.

Apple Watch

So just in time for the holiday season, Apple launches a whole range of new straps, watch finishes and special edition straps. This is surely going to be a popular Xmas stocking filler. Watch OS2 was shown off too and looked very promising.

Data Storage Costs

Finally, Apple reduced the size of their cloud data costs, making the service far more reasonable and competitive.

Final Thoughts

Personally, I thought Apple nailed it. Tight integration of engineering, software and hardware shone through. Whilst I remained optimistic, Apple’s share price has dropped 2.16 following the keynote speech.

So what are your thoughts on the Apple product announcements?

Today is the biggest day in tech – Apple Inc

Apple, , , ,

Later today Apple will be live streaming its keynote speech. All the tech world will be watching what Apple announces today.

The prediction across the globe are –

– New iPhones with an upgraded camera module to 12mp, allowing for 4K video too.

– New Apple TV box with support for apps and gaming

– iOS 9 fully revealed

– Watch OS 2 – possibly an upgrade to the Apple Watch software

– new iPads possibly although I think these will be left to another keynote speech in October.

And then after Apple have you in a feverish mode of excitement over their new products, they instruct you to buy everything on Friday.

Why is this the biggest event. Simply all competitors, fans and anyone with an interest in tech will be glued on what Apple announce. Plus the keynote speeches are super slick.

How I fixed my MacBook Pro – Brute Force needed x 10

Apple, Tech News

I fired up my MacBook Pro yesterday evening and the cursor, screen and everything on the page was dancing around, zooming in and out, text getting highlighted and more. A total nightmare and impossible to use as well.

Well, my 2010 MacBook Pro once had the trackpad replaced under warranty, but now the trackpad was truly out of coverage. I tried adjusting display settings in preferences and altering the options for the trackpad.

Nothing was working.

Then I read on some forums that the issue is cause by an older battery that has slightly increased in size pushing up against the trackpad. The solution suggested by a few people was to push down really hard on the trackpad across the whole surface.

So I pushed down once using 2 hands but this didn’t seem to fix anything. Then I thought, well what the hell, nothing to lose and went hell for glory pushing down on the trackpad for a good 10 seconds. Now everything works just fine!

I still think I may need to change the battery, replace the trackpad and change the harddrive for a SSD at some point, but for now I will live with a working machine again.

Google brings Android Wear support to the iPhone

Android, Apple, Tech News, Wearables

image

Google has announced its android wear watches will now work with the iphone with some limitations.

Apple being Apple restricts system deep access to calls and messages. As Google can’t bypass these constraints, it will offer solutions if you use its own Gmail and Google Now apps.

Google will copy Pebble and others, by mirroring the different types of notifications that iOS offers up from the apps.

The only existing Android Wear watch that will work is the LG Watch Urbane.

Upcoming watches from Asus, Huawei and Motorola will work. Android Wear support requires an iPhone 5 or later.

I intend to test my Urbane with the iphone shortly.

Source – Google/recode.net

Apple closing in on Fitbit – details

Android, Apple, Tech News, Wearables,

According to Reuters, Apple is rapidly catching Fitbit up in terms of sales.

Apple Inc, which launched the Apple Watch in June, is within striking distance of leader Fitbit Inc in the wearable devices market, market research firm IDC said. Apple shipped 3.6 million Apple Watches in the second quarter of 2015, just behind Fitbit’s 4.4 million wearable fitness and health trackers, IDC said. The Apple Watch, which sports many health-related features and apps, is seen as the biggest rival to Fitbit’s trackers.

Apple is likely to sell more Apple Watches over Xmas, as people potentially buy one of these as a gift. FitBit currently does not integrate with Apple Health so clearly there is no love lost between these companies. However, a Fitbit Charge HR is a great device for fitness and a much lower cost of ownership than an Apple Watch. But I do wonder if there is room for both companies to survive at current sales levels?

Source – http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/27/us-apple-fitbit-wearables-idUSKCN0QW1OA20150827

The Top 10 Reviews ranked by You in 2015

Amazon, Android, Apple, BlackBerry, Headphone, Reviews, Tech News, Wearables, Weather, Windows

So what are the 10 most popular reviews on Gavin’s Gadgets?

Ranked with the most popular first. A few surprises too. Notice none of the Samsung phones featured in the top 10!

1 – Oppo HA -2 Portable Amplifier and DAC review

2 – Sony SBH80 Bluetooth headphones review

3 – LG G4 – Full Review plus all 26 additional posts

4 – LG G3 review – 31 Part Review

5 – FitBit Charge HR review

6 – Oppo PM-3 Headphone review

7 – HTC One M9 review

8 – Honor 6+ – My Review

9 – Honor 6 – 12 Part Review

10 – Xiaomi Mi Note Pro -review

So have a look at the 100 or so reviews here – https://gavinsgadgets.com/review-links/ and let me know which one you preferred and why?

Apple developing more Android apps – details

Android, Apple, Tech News

Look what we have here. Apple is looking for Android software engineers for developing Android apps!

Applications SW Engineer – Android

Job Number: 41632321Santa Clara Valley, California, United StatesPosted: Aug. 5, 2015Weekly Hours: 40.00
Job Summary

Imagine what you could do here. At Apple, great ideas have a way of becoming great products, services, and customer experiences very quickly. Bring passion and dedication to your job and there’s no telling what you could accomplish. We’re looking for engineers to help us bring exciting new mobile products to the Android platform.

Key Qualifications

The ideal candidate will have 6+ years of software development experience
Highly collaborative problem solving, critical thinking, and communication skills
Ability to rapidly iterate from prototype to shipping product
Comfortable with Test-Driven Development, Continuous Build and Test, and other Agile methodologies
Expert knowledge of Java
Broad experience in Android application development
Knowledge of C++, Objective-C or other languages is a plus
Significant mobile development experience
Experience with Apple platforms and technologies is a plus

Source – Apple – https://jobs.apple.com/us/

Editorial – Are Android Phone Manufacturers panicking over the next iPhone?

Android, Apple, Tech News,

There is no doubt that Apple is currently selling millions of iPhones all over the world and at the same time making decent profit margins on each phone sold. It is an incredible feat.

The new iPhone(s) due to be announced and released in September have the potential to sell like crazy again, especially if the rumoured improvements are true. For example, iPhones have had a 8mp rear camera for years. Rumours are this will be increased for the better to 12mp. Force Touch – this also might arrive on the next iPhone, along with all the minor bumps in processor and other components.

Normally, smartphone manufacturers wait until IFA to announce their products, but this year we have seen many companies make product announcements already, and some to announce earlier than usual to try and combat the iPhone threat eg Motorola, Samsung, Sony, Honor and more.

How can an android phone manufacturer compete at the luxury end when you can buy for £120 an Elephone P8000. This has a 1080p 5.5 inch screen, Octa Core Processor, Fingerprint sensor, unibody metal design, 3gb ram, 16gb storage, micro sd card to 128gb, less than 9mm thin, 13mp Samsung rear camera and so on. There are plenty of other examples too. Ok, its not a QHD screen with 32gb storage, but the entry level specs will still do a decent job. With the iPhone there is only one or two new iPhones a year. So if you want an iPhone, you have to buy an iPhone. Market cornered!

I do worry how Samsung will fare with the new Note 5. It is all internal memory, no replaceable batteries or micro SD card slot. This will go against the grain of what its customers want but it will be copying the iPhone 6 Plus design of fixed storage and non removable batteries.

The only hope is there is some new feature(s) on the next wave of android phones that truly are the next big thing!