Apple September 9th event

[TheStu]

I hope the new one is waterproof!

I hear that it's using new thermocouple inductive charging so you can recharge it in a toaster!

 

[Eug]

New iPhones reportedly have 7000 series aluminum, whatever that is.

7000 series aluminum is stronger than what is used in the older iPhones, which is 6000 series aluminum. Unfortunately, 7000 series aluminum is also more expensive. If you buy mid to higher end bicycles for example, you hear about 6000 series and 7000 series aluminum all the time.

Just as important though is they redesigned and/or thickened up part of the shell, which in conjunction with 7000 series aluminum, should avoid bendgate from happening again.

What this means is that some iPhone 6 cases might not fit the 6s properly.

 

[Red Storm]

Maybe I don't tab browse enough on my phone, because I don't run into this problem. When I am using multiple tabs, I am not switching between them often.

Happens all the time on my 6+. And I only ever have max 4-5 tabs open. Very annoying.

The type of user you're talking about would fill 128GB just as well. They don't need that much space because they aren't actively using it.

Any user would fill their storage space eventually, that much is obvious. My point is that 16GB is pitifully small and nothing more than Apple knowing that they'll make an extra $100+ off of a lot of people for doing it. If the competition was also doing 16GB base storage there'd be less of a reason to complain, but they aren't. There's no excuse for it, the only ones who like it are Apple and Apple shareholders.

 

[Oyeve]

7000 series aluminum is stronger than what is used in the older iPhones, which is 6000 series aluminum. Unfortunately, 7000 series aluminum is also more expensive. If you buy mid to higher end bicycles for example, you hear about 6000 series and 7000 series aluminum all the time.

Just as important though is they redesigned and/or thickened up part of the shell, which in conjunction with 7000 series aluminum, should avoid bendgate from happening again.

What this means is that some iPhone 6 cases might not fit the 6s properly.

It's aluminum, are we talking pennies or dollars?

 

[mmntech]

New iPhones reportedly have 7000 series aluminum, whatever that is.

It's aluminum alloyed with zinc. It's much stronger than 6000 series.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium_alloy#Wrought_alloys

So basically the new devices using it will be more dent resistant. Which to me isn't an issue since the glass displays remain the weakest link. The Apple Watch uses sapphire glass but I suspect it's still too expensive for larger screens. Apple shrinks their profit margins for no man.

 

[Rakehellion]

What this means is that some iPhone 6 cases might not fit the 6s properly.

I hear the phone is thicker overall to accommodate Force Touch.

 

[Oyeve]

I hear that it's using new thermocouple inductive charging so you can recharge it in a toaster!

I recall seeing video mishaps of this nature.

 

[Eug]

It's aluminum, are we talking pennies or dollars?

Dunno. I'm no expert but...

Since aluminum is cheap to begin with, I'd say pennies, but OTOH, the bike people say that 7005 aluminum is somewhat harder to machine than 6061 aluminum (possibly partially because 7005 can be somewhat brittle in comparison).

I don't know which 6000 series aluminum the iPhone 6 has, and I don't know which 7000 series aluminum the iPhone 6s will get.

 

[Kaido]

I hear that it's using new thermocouple inductive charging so you can recharge it in a toaster!

Someone needs to photoshop that & make it go viral :biggrin:

 

[Rakehellion]

So basically the new devices using it will be more dent resistant. Which to me isn't an issue since the glass displays remain the weakest link.

Get a screen protector.

 

[Eug]

More are more people are saying that the iPad Air 2 is not going to be refreshed, just that the iPad Pro is going to get introduced and the iPad mini is finally going to be brought up to iPad Air 2 specs.

If that happens I'll get to feel smug again for a while with my iPad Air 2 purchase.

I just ordered an iPad Air 2 for $100 off, brand new. This would be our second 64 GB gold, with our first one purchased last year at launch. It's for the wife, and truthfully she only needs 16 GB, but the 16 GB is only $70 off and who knows what the future will bring in terms of storage needs.

Works out to CAD$660 (US$499).

Arrival date is Sept. 8. I will leave it unopened until the Sept. 9 event. If a new model gets launched that day, I'll consider returning this and buying the new model. If not, then great, still got a triple-core 2 GB machine for a decent price.

 

[Anubis]

New iPhones reportedly have 7000 series aluminum, whatever that is. Where's my sapphire display and Liquidmetal?

chances are your never going to see a true sapphire phone sized display, for 2 reasons. 1 Cost and 2 being that sapphire while more scratch resistant then the currently available glasses (Gorilla) is more prone to breaking when dropped because its a lot more brittle

it would be worse for a phone then what is currently in them.

in the future you may see glass with a sapphire coating (CVD) but a true sapphire display will most likely never happen

 

[Eug]

chances are your never going to see a true sapphire phone sized display, for 2 reasons. 1 Cost and 2 being that sapphire while more scratch resistant then the currently available glasses (Gorilla) is more prone to breaking when dropped because its a lot more brittle

it would be worse for a phone then what is currently in them.

in the future you may see glass with a sapphire coating (CVD) but a true sapphire display will most likely never happen

Phones with sapphire displays are already available actually. They're just not iPhones. In fact, Verizon even had one.

http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/02/kyocera-brigadier-sapphire-screen/

While sapphire is indeed more brittle than Gorilla Glass 3, the Verizon sapphire phone did well in drop tests.

At this point, I still haven't been able to physically damage the screen, and that's not good enough -- after all, I came into this test ready to break a sapphire display, and there are technically a few ways to break the Sapphire Shield. uBreakiFix, a smartphone repair company, managed to crack the screen by dismantling the entire phone and dropping the sapphire panel from three feet without its protective casing; the team also proved that it can't bend as far as Gorilla Glass before shattering. Granted, you're likely never going to run into a situation in which you'll use a Kyocera Brigadier display outside its casing -- nor will you ever need to bend it that far -- so can you break the screen in a real-life situation?

I discovered that I could indeed inflict damage on the Sapphire Shield by dropping the phone facedown from waist level or higher onto jagged, pointy rocks (or similar objects), because they're small enough and sharp enough to penetrate the screen. Even then, however, the phone only succumbed to a few visible marks.

The sapphire screen on the Kyocera Brigadier (which is currently $100 with a two-year contract and $400 at full retail) isn't invincible, but it does much better at withstanding force and scratches than I expected. I've never seen a Gorilla Glass phone stand up to the kinds of relentless beatings I unleashed upon the Sapphire Shield. Congratulations, Kyocera -- you've made this sapphire skeptic a believer.

What's sort of even more surprising isthat the sapphire phones that have been released so far are either mid-range phones or budget smartphones. So it seems that cost isn't an insurmountable issue either.

But maybe that kind of makes sense actually. I think the main problem here is actually volume. Apple was perfectly happy to sink hundreds of millions of $ to help build a sapphire production facility, and they wouldn't have done that if sapphire was too brittle to put in a phone. However, ultimately the facility just couldn't come up with enough usable sapphire to meet Apple's demand. It's one thing to sell 100000 phones with sapphirein a year, but it's an entirely different matter to sell 1000X that many. Apple will sell 50+ million iPhones in a single quarter alone.

 

[Eug]

Besides the new Apple TV, people are talking up keyboards now, specifically in the context of the iPad Pro, which is kind something we had mused about before as a sort of an iOS hybrid-like solution (if iOS got better keyboard support):

New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/07/t...le-tv-company-hopes-to-camp-in-your-home.html

Apple will also showcase updated iPads, according to a person briefed on the product. And the company is putting the finishing touches on a revamped iPad keyboard that may be available by the end of the year.

9to5mac: http://9to5mac.com/2015/09/04/apple-sep-9-iphone-6s-ipad-pro-apple-tv-watch/

We are told that the iPad Pro will gain the usual suite of iPad accessories from Apple: Smart Covers and Smart Cases in the normal array of both colors and materials (polyurethane and leather). These will likely be priced a little bit higher than their smaller counterparts for the iPad mini and iPad Air due to the additional materials. We’re also told that the iPad Pro has been designed with wider support for Bluetooth keyboard, and it appears that Apple is also preparing a keyboard accessory of its own.

 

[Anubis]

Phones with sapphire displays are already available actually. They're just not iPhones. In fact, Verizon even had one.

http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/02/kyocera-brigadier-sapphire-screen/

While sapphire is indeed more brittle than Gorilla Glass 3, the Verizon sapphire phone did well in drop tests.

At this point, I still haven't been able to physically damage the screen, and that's not good enough -- after all, I came into this test ready to break a sapphire display, and there are technically a few ways to break the Sapphire Shield. uBreakiFix, a smartphone repair company, managed to crack the screen by dismantling the entire phone and dropping the sapphire panel from three feet without its protective casing; the team also proved that it can't bend as far as Gorilla Glass before shattering. Granted, you're likely never going to run into a situation in which you'll use a Kyocera Brigadier display outside its casing -- nor will you ever need to bend it that far -- so can you break the screen in a real-life situation?

I discovered that I could indeed inflict damage on the Sapphire Shield by dropping the phone facedown from waist level or higher onto jagged, pointy rocks (or similar objects), because they're small enough and sharp enough to penetrate the screen. Even then, however, the phone only succumbed to a few visible marks.

The sapphire screen on the Kyocera Brigadier (which is currently $100 with a two-year contract and $400 at full retail) isn't invincible, but it does much better at withstanding force and scratches than I expected. I've never seen a Gorilla Glass phone stand up to the kinds of relentless beatings I unleashed upon the Sapphire Shield. Congratulations, Kyocera -- you've made this sapphire skeptic a believer.

What's sort of even more surprising isthat the sapphire phones that have been released so far are either mid-range phones or budget smartphones. So it seems that cost isn't an insurmountable issue either.

But maybe that kind of makes sense actually. I think the main problem here is actually volume. Apple was perfectly happy to sink hundreds of millions of $ to help build a sapphire production facility, and they wouldn't have done that if sapphire was too brittle to put in a phone. However, ultimately the facility just couldn't come up with enough usable sapphire to meet Apple's demand. It's one thing to sell 100000 phones with sapphirein a year, but it's an entirely different matter to sell 1000X that many. Apple will sell 50+ million iPhones in a single quarter alone.

you know I had forgotten about that phone and you are right with your last bit about volume

also the other important thing is phone design that one does a better job of protecting the glass vs the current apple designs (huge bezels and such) which impacts how well the glass on any phone preforms

 

[IronWing]

It's called an iPod Touch.

Negative. iPod Touch only goes to 128Gb (at $400 ). For music, it's a step backwards from the iPod Classic.

 

[Oyeve]

It's called an iPod Touch.

It was a joke, but good catch!

 

[Rakehellion]

Any user would fill their storage space eventually, that much is obvious.

No, because some users know hoe to manage their space and delete things they aren't using. That's like saying everyone needs a 5 bedroom house because trash will pile up eventually.

 

[Rakehellion]

Negative. iPod Touch only goes to 128Gb (at $400 ). For music, it's a step backwards from the iPod Classic.

The biggest iPod Classic is 160GB with a hard drive that skips and fails. 256GB is coming eventually, probably next week.

 

[IronWing]

The biggest iPod Classic is 160GB with a hard drive that skips and fails. 256GB is coming eventually, probably next week.

My two iPod Classic 160s are humming along. I hope you are right about a 256Gb Touch but w/ Apple pushing their new music streaming service I don't expect to see capacity improvements.

 

[Aikouka]

Besides the new Apple TV, people are talking up keyboards now, specifically in the context of the iPad Pro, which is kind something we had mused about before as a sort of an iOS hybrid-like solution (if iOS got better keyboard support)

Hm, that sounds like it could be interesting. I'm thinking about selling my ASUS Zenbook and iPad 4, and possibly buying an iPad Pro. Heck, I might just go without any of that! D: With Hearthstone being on the iPhone and not having TouchID on my iPad, I barely ever use the thing. Anyway, if the iPad Pro does have a GOOD keyboard system, it could probably replace a laptop while still having good usability. I don't mind the increase in the form factor from 10" to the purported 12".

 

[Eug]

If this is the new keyboard then meh.

FCC filing reveals new keyboard:

http://iphone.appleinsider.com/arti...bluetooth-le-integrated-batteries-fcc-reveals

It's just the Apple Bluetooth Keyboard with a lithium battery.

 

[mmntech]

It's a keyboard. What did you expect?

 

[Eug]

It's a keyboard. What did you expect?

As mentioned before (over the last 2 years no less), I've been hoping for a MaxiPad with a dedicated MaxiPad-specific keyboard case. It would be a full-sized keyboard (which is possible with a 12-13" iPad), and would come along with better keyboard integration with iOS, for hybrid-like functionality.

And the Hail Mary would be to ask for such a keyboard to come with a Force Touch trackpad, but I would not expect that at all.

 

[Cappuccino]

My iPhone 6 plus got stolen couple months ago, now I have the HTC M9 but the new iPhone doe ;_;
Is trading phones a thing nowadays? For example, I trade in my HTC M9 for the new upcoming iPhone for x amount of money? My HTC M9 is pay as you go btw. UK. Just wondering. I miss my iPhone