I suppose Apple is sending a message, "we're not going to compete in the race-to-the-bottom for tablet prices." But still I expected them $30 less. $299 seems much more than $30 different than $329. And I'd still have given them $30 more for the smart cover anyway :)
I think we'll be able to skip the iPad 4 in our test-device suite. Anything that runs on the iPad 3 will just run much better on the iPad 4.
Now that "new iPad" name this spring makes perfect sense. I bet they knew this spring they'd update the iPad again in the fall--and didn't want iPad 3 out for only 6 months before iPad 4 came out.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Damn close.
http://michael.burford.net/2012/08/througherer.html
My prediction of 300 grams was damn close to the 308 for the WiFi model and 312 for Cellular. Nice to be right on these Apple predictions :)
My prediction of 300 grams was damn close to the 308 for the WiFi model and 312 for Cellular. Nice to be right on these Apple predictions :)
Thursday, October 11, 2012
So Siri...
It's cool that Siri now can be asked about new things. I'll use Movies, but probably never use Sports.
But it didn't need to be part of an OS update to do that. It's like if you had to upgrade your browser in order to search for new things on Google. Siri is all on the server, your phone sends off some compressed voice stuff, and the server figures out what question you asked and sends back the answer (hopefully).
The response could and should have all the formatting things (a little web-page document so all the formatting is done that way seems easy.)
It's good Apple is improving Siri. But if they keep doing so there's a big set of new improvements each year when the new iOS version comes out--rather than just continually adding new things you can ask about throughout the year--that will be very disappointing and a missed opportunity.
But it didn't need to be part of an OS update to do that. It's like if you had to upgrade your browser in order to search for new things on Google. Siri is all on the server, your phone sends off some compressed voice stuff, and the server figures out what question you asked and sends back the answer (hopefully).
The response could and should have all the formatting things (a little web-page document so all the formatting is done that way seems easy.)
It's good Apple is improving Siri. But if they keep doing so there's a big set of new improvements each year when the new iOS version comes out--rather than just continually adding new things you can ask about throughout the year--that will be very disappointing and a missed opportunity.
Monday, October 8, 2012
Materials
The iPhone 4 and 4S always felt like a solid chunk of glass. The iPhone 5 with that extra lightness feels like a solid chunk of Oak or something of that density. That might be part of the "niceness"--its density feels more like something natural.
Apple keeps making them thinner. But at some point they'll get to a thickness and not be able to go farther. More for working with a human a hand than materials. Something as thin as a knife blade would be uncomfortable if not a dangerous thinness. And far before that it gets thin enough it would be difficult to pick up off a flat surface. That may be the deciding factor for just how thin a future iPhone could be; a pickup-from-a-desk test.
And from holding mine, I'd say that's about 1/2 the thickness of the current iPhone 5.
(And flexible displays only would work if they can become rigid after unfolding. Can you imagine typing on a display that bent and warped or folded with every touch?)
Apple keeps making them thinner. But at some point they'll get to a thickness and not be able to go farther. More for working with a human a hand than materials. Something as thin as a knife blade would be uncomfortable if not a dangerous thinness. And far before that it gets thin enough it would be difficult to pick up off a flat surface. That may be the deciding factor for just how thin a future iPhone could be; a pickup-from-a-desk test.
And from holding mine, I'd say that's about 1/2 the thickness of the current iPhone 5.
(And flexible displays only would work if they can become rigid after unfolding. Can you imagine typing on a display that bent and warped or folded with every touch?)
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Saturday, October 6, 2012
iPad & Christmas
More rumors. I always thought the timing of Apple's iPad releases was closer to Christmas than I would do. The March timeframe is close enough to Christmas that I'm sure there are people who both wait to get one knowing a new model is coming, or others that feel a bit bad that their 3 month old present is now last years model.
There are pluses of doing it early in the year: All manufacturing difficulties have long been worked out by the time Christmas arrives many months later. And it's given Apple something pretty huge to announce in the spring.
But I wouldn't be surprised if this year was different. The biggest reason this year woud be to get all their devices updated to the Lightning plug before this year's Christmas. That may even be the only change to the iPad 3--a new plug.
Using a version of the new chip that is in the iPhone 5 may let them get the iPad 3 back to the thinness of the iPad 2. I just don't think if they did that now that they'd have any big changes to do next spring, and if they shift the iPad refresh time to the fall, that is both good and bad..
There are pluses of doing it early in the year: All manufacturing difficulties have long been worked out by the time Christmas arrives many months later. And it's given Apple something pretty huge to announce in the spring.
But I wouldn't be surprised if this year was different. The biggest reason this year woud be to get all their devices updated to the Lightning plug before this year's Christmas. That may even be the only change to the iPad 3--a new plug.
Using a version of the new chip that is in the iPhone 5 may let them get the iPad 3 back to the thinness of the iPad 2. I just don't think if they did that now that they'd have any big changes to do next spring, and if they shift the iPad refresh time to the fall, that is both good and bad..
Monday, October 1, 2012
If the iPhone 5 was a Movie
Apple sold 5 million iPhones the first weekend.
Assuming that the three models averaged out to a ticket price of $749, (that's the price of the unlocked 32GB model, which should be close to what Apple gets from the cell phone carriers too.) That would be $3.7 billion for the opening weekend of "iPhone 5: the Movie"*.
According to Wikipedia, and adding up the numbers, the top 10 worldwide opening movies since 2002** combined would be about the same $3.7 billion. Nice.
* Though I kinda hope they'd name it "iPhone V: 4 Inches of Retina". #iphone5themovie
** I doubt any older movies would be in that particular not-adjusted-for-inflation list.
Assuming that the three models averaged out to a ticket price of $749, (that's the price of the unlocked 32GB model, which should be close to what Apple gets from the cell phone carriers too.) That would be $3.7 billion for the opening weekend of "iPhone 5: the Movie"*.
According to Wikipedia, and adding up the numbers, the top 10 worldwide opening movies since 2002** combined would be about the same $3.7 billion. Nice.
* Though I kinda hope they'd name it "iPhone V: 4 Inches of Retina". #iphone5themovie
** I doubt any older movies would be in that particular not-adjusted-for-inflation list.
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