Category Archives: Apple

Flickr for iOS just got one whopping update for iPhone and finally for iPad too

Apple, Tech News,

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Flickr just got a substantial update that now includes native support for the iPad. Screen shot above from my iPad Air. What’s interesting is the app doesn’t show when searching on the iPad. If you select the filter just for iPhone it does appear. But it most certainly has been designed now for the iPad.

New features in version include –

– integration with iOS 8 share extension
– iPad support, iPhone 6 and 6 Plus support
– ability to access and edit photo details
– unified search across your photos, albums, groups and Flickr photos
– performance and bug fixes

And Flickr provides 1,000gb of free storage for your photos too.

Apple’s new Mac Mini and iMac with retina display – tidbits of info

Apple, Tech News,

First a little warning. The new Mac Mini ram is soldered to the board and consequently not user replaceable. So if you order one, you may want to specify the top amount possible of 16gb at time of order.

The new 27 inch iMac with retina display according to ifixit is nearly identical to the non retina model, literally except for the screen which is made by LG.

The Apple Keynote from yesterday – new products, software and my views

Apple, Tech News, , , ,

So yesterday Apple streamed its keynote speech live to the world. It was a rather dull affair but a fair amount was announced or confirmed.

First of all the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus have been off the charts successful. OS X Yosemite will be free as well as iWork for the Mac. iCloud Photo library beta goes live. iOS 8.1 launches on Monday as brings back the camera roll, fixes loads of stuff, and for US citizens incorporates Apple Pay. Other improvements are occurring for iOS 8.1 too.

Hello to the iPad Air 2. Thinner at 6.1mm. Faster processor A8X. Better camera with more shooting modes from burst, time lapse, panoramic. The screen is laminated on this time, producing the same great visuals as that found on the new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. Touch ID was added. The screen also had a anti reflective coating. Faster wifi too and more LTE bands on the cellular version.

The iPad Mini 3 hardly got changed. Faster wifi and Touch ID.

Both the iPad Air 2 and Mini 3 will be available now in a 3rd colour, gold.

Apple mentioned a WatchKit would be available next month for developers.

Apple announced a 5K iMac Retina and a new Mac Mini.

Apple SIM – Each cellular iPad will now come with its own Apple SIM card. This SIM card will work with multiple US carriers—AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile—and allow users to not only enable or disable a cellular plan as they see fit, but also switch back and forth between carriers to find the plan that works best for them at the moment. It will also work with EE in the UK. Verizon isn’t supported on the Apple SIM at present.

Apple is now selling 5 iPads. The original iPad Mini. iPad Mini 2. iPad Mini 3. iPad Air. iPad Air 2. Confused? Apple has dropped the 32gb memory option. Just 16, 64 and 128gb. If you want the full specs head over to Apple http://www.apple.com/uk/ipad/

So what are my thoughts?

First up Apple seems to have been trying to focus more on the software, the 2 new iPhones (6 and 6 Plus) and only the larger iPad. This makes me wonder if it thinks that the iPhone 6 Plus will kill off the iPad Mini. All the other changes were really small changes, but if you were looking for a new tablet, Apple reduced the price of everything by $100. So clearly it is a competitive world. My worry is can the tablet arena really get any better where people actually care about buying the better specs. I for one will not be considering any of the new hardware Apple announced. What I already have works just fine and I am sure that will apply to many of you. However, I am sure the new iPad Air 2 is far more exciting in person than on paper.

So what do you think? Has Apple done enough?

Update on my iPhone 6 Plus experiences

Apple, Reviews, Tech News

So another week or so has passed since owning the iPhone 6 Plus and some more thoughts of mine are detailed below based on my experiences.

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First up I have included a selection of apps that have been updated specifically for the 6 Plus. Screenshots above and below include apps from Newsify, CNN and Safari. The difference of the apps design after being updated for the 6 Plus is incredible and really emphasise the brilliance of the 5.5 inch screen.

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I hasten to add that I think these updated apps are better than that found on alternative platforms too.
I just hope that in a few months time a lot more apps take full advantage of the screen real estate. Google+ for example is dreadful in comparison to these apps shown in this post.

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My 6 Plus is protected by the black Apple Leather case. I noticed tonight that the leather case is not perfectly cut in a straight line along the right edge. So hopefully this can be exchanged at an Apple store. I took the phone out of the case and really admired again the beautifully design. It is a shame that it is too slippery to be used without a case.

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Bugs. iOS 8 still have bugs. I am hoping Apple will release soon a few substantial bugs fixes. Usage. The audio quality whether via headphones or the inbuilt loudspeaker is amazing. I can listen to podcasts just using the inbuilt speaker in the car as it goes loud enough. Bye bye iPad Air. Just have not really used this tablet since owning the 6 Plus.

Reachability. At first I kept forgetting to use this feature. But now double tapping the home button to drop the lower half of the screen is second nature and makes one handed use a piece of cake.

Overall, I am so surprised how much I am enjoying the 6 Plus experience. I really thought android was first option on a smartphone. Clearly not at the moment.

Apple gets the blame for Finland’s credit downgrading!

Apple, Tech News

“Ratings agency Standard & Poor has downgraded Finland’s credit rating from AAA to AA+, and its economic outlook from stable to negative – and it’s all Apple’s fault, according to Finnish Prime Minister Alexander Stubb. Speaking to CNBC, he said:

“We have two champions which went down,” Alexander Stubb told CNBC Monday. As well as the technology firm Nokia, he explained that the paper industry in Finland had fallen on hard times […]

“A little bit paradoxically I guess one could say that the iPhone killed Nokia and the iPad killed the Finnish paper industry.”

Crazy stuff. More at http://9to5mac.com/2014/10/13/finlands-credit-rating-downgraded-and-its-all-apples-fault-says-prime-minister/

Apple iPhone 6 and 6 Plus sales are going to be off the charts

Apple, Tech News

Apple has already recorded record breaking first weekend sales of the new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus phones of 10m.

By the end of this month, Apple will have launched the phone in another 36 countries and by the end of the year, 115 countries will had witnessed the iPhone 6’s launch.

However, to put in perspective how important China is as a territory, it is rumoured that pre orders have already topped 20m handset sales, with the official launch day being this Friday.

Some awesome sales statistics.

Apple iPhone 6 Plus – Action shots from the Camera

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I’ve been waiting for the weather to improve to take some action shots on my iPhone 6 Plus. Ideally you need bright sunshine but I decided over the weekend I would just try and take whatever shots I could. The light was dreadful. Dull and overcast. All the below photos have not been edited. To give you a better idea of the quality, I used the built in Photos app and cropped in on the movement.

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So the first shot above is of Fury demonstrating the long jump.

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And above we have Tiggy chasing Fury. It is worth noting that in real life this was incredibly fast. When Fury and Tiggy chase each other they are like bullets.

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Now George is about to show off the long jump. The lighting was so poor that if I was not using the burst mode on the default camera app, HDR was often chosen.

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So the last few are of all 3 dogs racing through the leat. Again in real time this whole sequence was over in seconds. All the shots were taken using the default camera app, just holding down the shutter to activate burst mode which is totally instantaneous. So let me know your thoughts.

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Anniversary Special – Gav & Dave’s Tech Podcast – Please RT

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As you know, I co-host a weekly podcast with David from UKMobileTech called Gav & Dave’s Tech Podcast. It is a light hearted tech podcast broadcast bi-weekly. To subscribe click here for iTunes or copy and paste this link into your favourite podcast app.

Episode 25 is now live for your listening pleasure.

This is an Anniversary Special. So enjoy 🙂

Our photo contest. First up is Dave’s shot of his dog.

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Next is mine of the Merrivale Stones on Dartmoor.

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Neither shot has been edited. Both taken using an iPhone 6 Plus. So choose your winner!