Apple’s Back in Action!

Two weeks ago, Apple held their 2012 San Francisco keynote event that announced a range of new products and updates. Tim Cook, who has taken over the keynote since the passing of Steve Jobs, has done an excellent job announcing the iPhone 5, a revamped iTunes, iOS 6, and the new generations of iPods.

iPhone 5

Let’s begin with the new iPhone 5. To compete against its predecessor, Apple has given the new phone a taller 4 inch screen, but keeping the same width as the previous iPhones. The phone display is a 1,135-by-640 Retina display which gives the iPhone its “realism” view. The display also has a 326 PPI pixel density, which is roughly the same as the iPhone 4s. Apple has amazingly managed to fit an 8 megapixel camera, which captures 1080p HD video, backside illumination, a hybrid IR filter, five-element lens, and an f/2.4 aperture all into a phone that is 25% smaller than earlier iPhones. The front facing camera takes 1.2 megapixel shots and video. On top of that they added in the ability to save ten faces for face detection unlock, and a new panorama picture mode.

The wireless connection and cellular network status has improved too; the iPhone includes a built-in GRPS, EDGE, EVDO, and HSPA as well as HSPA+ 21, DC HSPA 42 and 4G LTE. Apple was one of the slowest movers to the new cellular connection, and many people thought the iPhone 4s would have LTE capability. Apple has also said in the keynote that the phone’s Wi-Fi has been greatly improved. The Wi-Fi connection on the 4s did not include 5GHz connection, but that has now changed and the iPhone 5 connects to 802.1 a/b/g/n 2Ghz and 5Ghz.

The device also comes with new hardware changes. Replacing the previous A5 CPU, the iPhone 5 comes with an A6 CPU, which is claimed to double the speed of the A5 CPU for video, multi-tasking and computation. Apple also claims that the battery life has improved, now giving 8 hours of talk time, 10 hours of video playback, 40 hours of music playback, 8 hours of LTE browsing and 225 hours of standby. A shock for existing iPhone users is the new 8-pin “Lightning” connector that replaces the 30-pin dock connector. This unfortunately means old Apple products become obsolete with the new connector unless you buy the optional adapter. The cost of the iPhone 5 will be $199/16GB, $299/32GB, and $399/64GB.

Figure 1. – Comparisons between the last 3 iPhones. www.pcmag.com

iOS 6

Next we have the new iOS 6 which will be ready to install on September 19. The new mobile operating system will be available for the iPhone 5, iPhone 4s, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad 3, iPad 2, and the iPod Touch (4th generation). There are over 200+ different fixes, adds, and updates. Some of the items that iOS 6 will come with are a new and improved Siri, voice commands for apps, Facebook integration and Passport, which is a ticket (movie, airline, boarding, coupons for Target, and store cards for Starbucks) app that holds all of your tickets right on your phone. When you boot up the device you’ll immediately notice the absence of Google Maps and YouTube apps. To replace their functionality, Apple will replace the Google Maps app with their own mapping application. As for YouTube, Google has already created their own third-party YouTube app, which is available to download for free right now. Google is still working on the App for iPad. When downloading a free app people found out that in iOS 5 there was a “glitch” that allowed the installation of free apps without a password. This was seen by some as a useful feature, and is similar to the Android store’s functionality. Apple has confirmed that iOS 6 will fix this glitch.

Figure 2. – iOS 6 logo

iTunes

Included in the keynote, Apple has revealed a new and improved iTunes Store for all iOS devices, as well as a new iTunes version for Mac and PC. The revamp will be available for download in October and will update on the iOS on the next system update. Two-thirds of iTunes downloads are from iOS devices; as a result Apple spent the last year redesigning the look and feel of the iOS iTunes stores. For now, only the iPad will come with the new iTunes store incorporated. On the desktop version, Apple has added a new feature that lets you click on albums to expand in place to list the album background information.

iPod Touch

The Apple iPod almost seems to be the name of every music player; similar to how some call a tissue a Kleenex, a ballpoint a Biro or a vacuum cleaner a Hoover. Over the years, Apple has created different models and styles of iPod, such as the iPod touch, Nano, shuffle, and the classic. The touch has always been a replica of the newest iPhone, so it’s no surprise that the new touch is very similar. The first noticeable thing is the new 4 inch display which has a 1,136 by 640 pixel Retina display. It takes 5 megapixel camera shots with a backside illumination, panorama effect, a hybrid IR filter, f/2.4 aperture, a fire-element lens, auto focus, and a new sapphire crystal lens that should allow the iPod to be even more durable. Moving on to performance, the so called 5th generation iPod touch will run the iPhone 4s A5 CPU. It is faster than the previous iPod and will be the first dual-core iPod touch ever. Another change is its 8-pin dock “Lighting” connector. It allows the device to become smaller and transfer data quicker. The iPod is actually thinner and lighter than the new iPhone 5.

Moving on to the price, Apple states the new iPod Touch will start at $299/32GB and $399/64GB, scrapping the 8GB and 16GB models altogether. The device will come in a variety of black, silver, pink, green or blue and will also include the new Apple EarPods (Earbuds).

Figure 3. – New iPod Touch in all colors.

EarPods

After a very, very long wait, Apple has completely redesigned the Apple Earbuds. The new “EarPods” offer impressive sound quality and a strong bass line, as they are an “out of canal” design, for their incredible low price ($29.99). The EarPods are bundled with all iPod and iPhone purchases but are available for stand alone sale as well. Apple claims that these EarPods are an all-in-one deal and will fit all listeners. The redesign is their “out of canal” earbuds. Surprisingly it’s getting harder to find “out of canal” earbuds as many headphone manufactures are all switching to in-canal earbuds but Apple seems to stick with their classic style.

Figure 4. – The new Apple EarPods.

Apple has always been very creative in the design of their new products, but some may not be too impressed with the latest offerings.

When the iPhone first came out, back in 2007, it was a revolutionary device, as it had a touch screen, no keyboard, a large 3.5in display, and much more. Apple has always been the company for creating or developing new and revolutionary devices, but has the iPhone 5 hit that same goal? Looking at many different devices up for sale, Apple seems to be behind the curve as the iPhone 5 is their first ever 4G LTE device. Steve Jobs was the main driving force behind Apple’s outstanding products and helped develop many things today. The iPhone 5 may have been the very last Apple device that Steve Job’s had any say on.

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