or Samsung's next blueprint.

Lots of rumors and leaks abound that I'm sure everyone who cares has already seen.

Let me start with iOS 6 and omissions: I'm extremely happy to see that Apple has dropped the YouTube app and I really wish they'd continue that trend with other built-in apps. Not because I have something against YouTube, but because I didn't like the built-in app. Now someone who doesn't want the app doesn't have to have it installed taking up space and anyone who does, can grab a (much) better alternative. This is a very positive move IMO. But it's not yet a trend.

I'm still holding hope, though not my breath, that we might see some kind of "default apps" functionality before iOS 10.

I just hope that there is some secret stealth update for Apple's UK mapping coming before the release of iOS6.

At the moment it is still awful.

IMHO iOS 6 is crap.

If you're going to replace functionality (maps) then you really ought replace it with something that's at least as good if not better.

Maps in iOS 6 is like stepping back 8 years, they're almost unusable here in London, I constantly have to zoom "way out" to get a frame of reference.

I know they're not exactly renowned for their massive changes between versions, but basically they've taken iOS 5, made it worse and then rebadged it as iOS6, winning.

Adrian

That's unfortunate. I can only imagine how bad the maps app must be, as I thought the previous versions were all absolutely terrible (UI, design, map tiles, directions, etc.)

I can only assume that Google will finally bring a maps app that's on par with the Android app. The one on Android is phenomenal and extremely useful. I use it every day to determine which route home has the least traffic, and it's super fast and easy to use. Plus it hasn't had those tiles for years.

Sadly, I doubt they'll have those application defaults you're asking for, Bruno.

Honestly, if I could, I'd probably replace every single default iOS app with something else.

See, check out Engaget's liveblog and you'll see what I'm talking about when I say that most people don't know shit about design and human experience. Their page top-posts new content and pushes old content down automatically. When you scroll anywhere else on the page, the content jumps around. The page takes over your keyboard shortcuts and you can't even create a new tab while that one is in focus.

Oh, and it's almost impossible to read.

Seriously?

How about doing it properly where new content adds under old content and an options to keep focus on the bottom of the content at all times making the page scroll up, or static window view so that old content stays above and new content adds below the fold?

Na, too smart, too usable.

It's pretty clear (really has been for a long time), that hand-held console gaming on the previously traditional platforms has taken a distant back seat to mobile phones in every conceivable metric.

I presume the intent is for readers to view the now updating content, ie the current slide and the last few statements. Yeah not a great way of doing it, but it does live up to its name of liveblog, the user having to do anything, would just make it a regular blog.

There is a pause button for those who insist on reading the old stuff while the liveblog is in progress...

Adding to the bottom with the view pegged to the bottom of the screen is the best and more natural way to do it. You still see everything new, and you don't have to see it appear backwards. Hijacking keyboard input completely also really sucks. I'm surprised a web page can even do that. IMO, huge security hole.

Surprisingly they didn't kill the old iPod Touch. Kind of tacky decision IMO, that thing is already 2 years old. Like every iPhone event since the first, Apple has mostly impressed with the hardware, but the software advancement for OS/built-in apps has been a real let-down overall.

I'm not following it, did they intro a new iTouch? Maybe the old one is been kept around at a lower price. It is likely good enough for many.

I thought you hated Engadget, Bruno, so why are you complaining? Besides, most of these live blogs (like GDGT, which is where I'm following) let you reverse the order. I agree that I prefer to have it add to the bottom, that way I was able to go get lunch at 1pm EST and let things fill up, then read everything in order without "spoilers" (as much as there can be spoilers in this sort of thing).

The iPhone 5 looks very nice, and is clearly the benchmark of phones for the next year (though the competitors are closing the parity window). I don't give them credit for the larger screen, because they're just trying to keep from scaling existing apps. Old apps just sit in the center of the screen at the same size they always were. But hey, more screen real estate is always better.

I'm not a fan of the new Nano. The last gen was pretty darn cute, and my wife uses it to work out all the time. The new one is thinner, but it's larger. It's also going to disappoint a large number of people who wanted a better Nano watch. This one won't make for a good watch. I'm not saying that's a huge market segment, but it's something that could have been grown. They also didn't say much about added functionality in the Nano. Can it connect to your iPhone over bluetooth? Can it play music over iCloud? I'm guessing no, and that means there's little new stuff about it, and they just changed the form factor that everyone liked.

Overall it was a pretty good announcement I suppose. The phone looks nice.

The one thing the bugged me to no end: "we think this is the best ____ we've made." I hope so!

Why didn't you come in here right away and mention GDGT? I would have switched over immediately. Engadget doesn't have a reverse feature any more and the live-blog was insanely annoying to follow with their format.

The new nano: like many other nanos before it, it's really more of a "mini" isn't it? They should have renamed it and kept the older square form factor for the new nano. As it stands, I feel like this is the best iPod mini they've ever made, but not the best iPod nano. It's too big.

In addition to a renaming, they should have added a camera to the new nano. Other changes: The white fascia looks like crap on top of the color shells. The round icons look cheap and poorly executed.

iPod Touch: should have updated the camera to 8MP and added GPS, keeping the pricing the same as the older model and eliminating the older model in the process. That pop-up button on the back and the new color lanyards? Stupid, tacky, gimmick. They would have better off going for a dedicated shutter release button for the camera app. Volume buttons should have been moved to the right side of the device (like the iPad) which could have doubled as shutter button.

I would have liked to see the new iPhone with an additional 5mm of width (maintaining ratio). That would have decreased the screen's PPI if they kept the same resolution. But IMO, it would have been a much better size than simply elongating the screen. I would have also moved the buttons on the left side to the right side of the handset. This would be the first time this has ever been done, but again, multiple benefits to be realized, including an easier time adjusting volume with one's thumb and the ability to use the buttons as a shutter for the camera app while keeping the lens in its only usable position, to the left.

I don't think I expected anything different from the announcements, but one thing I did find curiously missing was any mention of an updated airplay feature to allow direct connection of devices without an existing wifi network. This is so sorely needed it's not funny. Right now the AppleTV + iOS device combination as a presentation or portable media playback solution is severely limited or possibly completely unusable. As an example, I took my ATV traveling a little while back and while I was able to connect it to various flat panels at the hotel, there's no way I could use it at all, including the ability to stream to it from an iPad or iPod. It was impossible to join the wifi network at the hotel from the ATV, and without a network connection, the ATV doesn't do anything at all except show a built-in screen saver.

I thought the same thing. I was actually a little surprised by how bad those colored Nanos looked. They look like little Nokia phones but worse.

And I agree on the Nano/Mini thing. I really think they're going the wrong direction with the Nano. People want smaller and smaller, not a different form factor. Why would you ever watch video on that thing? More to the point: why Apple want you to just buy a Nano and watch video on it, when they can sell you a Nano AND a Touch (or iPhone).

I'm also disappointed to see that Apple have not unified the iPhone to cater to a global market with a single device. Surely that's a problem that their war-chest full of cash could solve?

I suppose they evaluated the financial benefit of such a move and producing 3 models of the phone provides less friction, even though it sucks for globe-trotting data consumers.

What's the point in having a war-chest full of cash if you're just going to spend it?

Honestly, I'd rather them just fill a shoebox full of $100 bills and send that to me than update anything with any of their devices.

Okay, my ten cents:

- I'm going to assume that the radio boffins at Apple concluded that they couldn't afford to mash so many different antennas into one case, so they had to build three different variants on the phone. Fine. I don't understand why they couldn't build a single U.S. phone that speaks CDMA and GSM, making it easier to switch carriers, or at least take your Verizon iPhone to Europe and buy a local pre-paid SIM card.

- I'm surprised Apple didn't step up with any sort of NFC support. The Samsung Nexus S came out, what, two years ago? Apple should be there already.

- I'm intrigued that Apple has decided to keep the iPhone smaller, with a 4" screen, versus Android devices that are typically 4.5" or thereabouts. For people with smaller hands, Apple is quite attractive. (Sony's Xperia line offers a variety of screen sizes, but they're not broadly available in the U.S.)

- I'm not sure yet how I feel about the new docking connector. Boo on Apple for not natively supporting microUSB, like the rest of the damn world. On the other hand, with their own connector they solve one of my biggest gripes about microUSB -- sorting out which way is up and down, particularly in the dark when plugging my phone in before going to bed. Nice that you can plug an iPhone in either way.

- Apple has made a bunch of smart changes that will go largely unnoticed and unheralded. The new camera (sapphire lens!) sounds great. The noise canceling and such sounds clever.

- Apple took a dig at other tablet vendors, saying that web traffic volume from iPads is much higher than the market share numbers, implying that other tablets might be sitting in warehouses or sock drawers. It would be interesting to try to sort out what's really going on there. Are Android tablets identifying themselves as smartphones?

- I'm intrigued by the new nano. It's gone multitouch with a bigger screen. It speaks Bluetooth A2DP. So who's the target market? People driving recent model cars with A2DP, and who know how to set it up and get it working, are likely also to own smartphones and want to use those instead (i.e., I'd rather pair my phone with my car, so I can receive calls as well). Maybe they're targeting the yuppie who wants to work out with the lightest possible device and cordless A2DP headphones? That's a pretty small demographic. They could be targeting kids, but if my 7 year old daughter is any example, she cares far less about music and far more about games. She has now taken over my older Android phone as a gaming device, and Apple offers the iPod Touch for her demographic.

- Apple's new headphones ... I just don't know. Maybe they're great. They look weird.

- Apple's new maps and such: are they allowing Google to write its own apps for the iPhone? Is it in Google's interest to port its great Android apps to the iPhone?

Only time will tell on that one. But even if Google do release an excellent app, that doesn't solve the problems of the builtin apps and other third party apps (unless they also change their licencing so people can use their tiles in a native app control in third party apps).

Googles maps do display sponsors pins, so maybe that will make it worthwhile for them ?

re: Sapphire... Isn't it only the lens cover using sapphire glass? The bit of glass that's attached to the case and not the lens elements themselves.

Apple is banking against NFC, at least in the short term. Personally, I don't know what, if anything I'd do with it if it were available in an iPhone. Maybe re-purpose it for some of the stuff that others are doing, like pairing devices.

Micro USB - glad it's not there. USB connectors, although far from the worst connectors made is far from ideal. Micro even more so. I'd like to see some of these other connectors go away and transition to something more similar to Apple's new connector. On a side-note, the connector which I still use, which I think is one of the worst ever created, comes from none-other than Sony. Toslink optical connector. Wow, what a useless POS in every conceivable way. Why on earth would anyone key an OPTICAL connector? And then make the key so subtle that it's nearly impossible to see with your eyes unless you're holding the connector right up to your face.

Also missing from the lightning announcement is WHY it's called lightning. Does it communicate at USB3 and/or Thunderbolt-like speeds? Will they have cables that connect to Thunderbolt?

Here's why everything we're talking about doesn't matter much in the end:

http://9to5mac.com/2012/09/13/what-does-the-general-public-think-of-the-iphone-5-update/

Yeah, I understand why they didn't go into details like specs and stuff for lightning and the Nano, but they really should have released that stuff as information elsewhere. The vast majority of the phone-buying public doesn't care what the transfer rate of the new connector is, but us geeks want to know.

BTW, I totally agree with Dan on the lightning thing. I wish they'd gone with micro USB, but I do like the reversible connector. I just think they didn't do enough to convince the public as to WHY they changed the connector. Like you asked, Bruno, what does it give us? I also assume they won't be licensing the connector to other companies, or making it a standard of any sort.

Regarding NFC: I'm not going to give them a hard time about this. Frankly, after seeing how Pay By Square works, I think NFC should be leap-frogged...

Here's the most basic issue with NFC for payment: I have three or four credit cards. I have an iTunes account which is linked to one card, a PayPal account linked to one card, etc. Who handles NFC payments? Where does the money come from? Who's making more commission from this?

In Google Wallet, you can have multiple credit cards in your "wallet" and select which one you want to use for a payment.

The real problem with present-day NFC payment protocols is that they're really, really dumb from a security perspective -- sending your credit card number in cleartext over the air. In the future, they could implement something much better of course, but right now... dumb.

I suspect that Apple has stayed out of it because everybody wants a cut. The carriers want one system. A consortium of major retailers want another system. Google's doing their thing. Etc. It's a giant mess, with everybody angling to own a small percentage of overhead on a giant flow of cash.

Having watched the keynote, I'm curious to see the iPhone 5 in person. I however at this point don't see myself upgrading. Even prior to any rumors or announcements, I wanted to make the 4S my first two year smartphone.

The taller screen could be handy, but it's going to take some time for all the apps to be updated to support it. If developers were good, their app already supports flexible height due to the in call status bar, leading to a trivial change for the 5. No real rush for me to toss out the 4S due to this. Also with the upcoming trip, I'd need a new mount for the motorcycle.

Camera changes look good, and if the low light performance is even better, that would be a potential reason. Overall I'm happy though with the 4S camera, and it's gaining the new panorama feature.

Lightning port, eh. It's not something that I'm upset about being changed, as I only have one dock I use that would be impacted. Everything else has a USB port for providing power, and a simple cable swap would take care of charging in those situations. The Apple Store entry for the Lightning to USB cable seems to indicate USB 2 still.

The multiple versions is a bit weird, I wonder if they all use the same cellular modem, and just a different transceiver. Or if it's the same for both of those, and just antenna changes. I never did find a good clarification on the differences between the AT&T and Verizon iPads where a similar split exists. Apple still sources these parts completely from partners, so I don't see how throwing money at the problem would help.

Throwing money at: Get a partner and make something custom.

That's good. The advantage of sapphire its hardness, not its optical properties; it's used for scratch resistance. Optical glass is better for the refractive elements. Leica lenses, the best in the world, are glass (uncompromised optical quality). The crystal on my Submariner watch is sapphire (uncompromised durability).

Jim

Apple licensed the previous 30 pin connector to seemingly one million different companies through the "Made for iPod" program. I can't imagine that Apple wouldn't license this connector the same way. The "Made for iPod" website has already been updated to show the Lightning connector: https://developer.apple.com/programs/mfi/.

In addition to the companies using the connector through the "Made for iPod" program, countless other companies used the connector through the "Knocked Off in China" program. I can't imagine that that would change with this new connector either.

As far as standards go, the 30 pin connector was very much a standard. Not the kind that's submitted to a standards body for ratification, but a market-determined one, adopted by shedloads of companies, just driven by the sheer number of devices in use. Sure, it's not the same thing you might think of in terms of interoperability, since no one else used it as the connector on their music players or phones (because that would be legal suicide). But it's still very much a standard.

Walking around into people's homes or cars, I've seen lot's of micro-USB chargers now that that's been standardized. But, I've seen way more Apple 30 pin cables just lying around out there in the real world. If I were out at someone's house and my battery were dying, I'd have a greater chance of finding a cable capable of charging my iPhone than I would of finding a micro-USB cable. That's definitely a standard.

So, given time, Apple will sell hundreds of millions of iPhones/iPods/iPads with the new Lightning connector. Whether Apple takes any steps toward making this a formal standard (they won't), or licenses it to another phone manager (they won't), it will still definitely be a standard.

Yeah, I get what you're saying, but semantics don't make up for the fact that when my wife and I go on a trip, I have to bring two different cables for our two different phones. One of these cables is a real standard, the other is your de facto standard.

Sounds like you need a micro USB to Lightning adapter. Lucky for you they will be available. Of course that means you'll only charge one phone at a time. I'd rather take two cables myself. This already happens anyway, it's just that usually it's 2 or 3 Apple cables.

Micro USB is so uncommon and impractical, difficult to plug in, barely anything uses it. Most USB devices use other "standard" USB connectors. Don't get me started on this, USB connectors are such a bad joke.

You can't forget that the port on the bottom of the iPhone will do a lot more than just charge or provide USB communication. Already announced are HDMI and VGA adapters.

I wouldn't call micro-USB "uncommon" today. All of the gadgets I've purchased this summer use micro-USB: GPS, phone, tablet, eBook reader, Arduino boards, notebook hard drive enclosures, etc..

Outside of Job's World, they're becoming quite common.
And yes, they're a total PITA to get "right way around" when connecting them!

And the "micro USB" connector on my phone has an HDMI output cable avaiable for it too ($15, dx.com).

Then it's really taken off over the past year or so. Because, to this day, the only devices I've ever had in the house with micro USB are a BT headset and my wife's Blackberry. Every other device uses mini USB and before that many were using the standard USB B plug. Ugh.

Is there any word on when one can buy an unlocked iphone 5?

I bought one today.


In the UK

In Canada Apple is only selling unlocked phones (today). In the US Apple is only selling locked phones (today).

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-575127...-in-u.s-canada/

In the US it seems one might have to wait until October/November. But you're saving $50 over the Canadian prices.

All in all, I consider the iPhone 5 announcement and public reaction somewhat disappointing. Apple's stock is only up around $30 over last week and it hasn't broken $700/share yet.

Micro USB has been the standard for everyone not in the Apple world for the past three to four years. Nearly all Android phones, Blackberries, and Kindles have used it.

I don't know why there's even any debate on this. The fact is unless your household ONLY has Apple devices, you need a variety of cables. I'd rather just throw a bunch of cables in a bag and pick out any one to take with me. Instead I usually bring two 30 pin cables for my wife's iPhone and Nano, and I bring micro USB cables for my phone, her Kindle and Kindle Fire, and my portable mouse (there's some more devices for you, my desktop set charges via micro USB too).

Let me get this straight: I don't LIKE micro USB. It's a terrible shape, it's difficult to plug in (even when I have it the right way around). But it's what we have, and I'd rather everything standardized than have multiple connections.

I'd just stop buying devices that use Micro USB. Problem solved.

But seriously, I'd just rather have the best possible solution, period. If only one device or one manufacturer decides to break the mold and do something better, then so be it. I'm willing to put up with the potential cable confusion to have at least one or some products that do it "better."

Be happy that most charger (i.e.. wall warts) for these products use a standard USB A connector, so you don't necessarily have to take multiple of those. Just take the Apple one because it's probably going to be the one less likely to catch on fire.

You'd really rather that every device used a crappy connector ?

I really don't understand why when it came to USB3 they didn't sit down and design a decent set of connector, rather than just using/adding to the crappy old ones. Mind you I also don't understand why the didn't go the extra mile with the initial connector design and make them reversible*.

"Design" by committee

* unless maybe that is very hard to pull off, it does see kind of odd that just about every modern connector is keyed

It's like these guys didn't learn anything from the simplicity of some of the best connectors ever made: phono plug in various sizes, including the ubiquitous 3.5mm and of course the trusty "RCA" connector. Forget the physical attachment aspects if you like, but the no-nonsense insertion aspect is very appealing.

This kind of orientation-agnostic connection dates back millions of years and still works as well today as it always has.

I just don't get you guys. First of all, I made it especially clear that I DON'T LIKE micro USB. I'd rather everyone use a good standard, and if lightning were that standard I'd be perfectly happy. But it's not going to be and who do you think is going to be the company standing in the way of that?

I just don't know why you guys would harp on Sony for doing something just like this, but give Apple a pass just because you live in their ecosystem. At least Sony tries to get everyone to use their standards, even though their standards are usually stupid and probably aren't cost effective for other companies to use.


Heh, see the thread I just posted.

If I owned a series of Sony devices that I had to plug and unplug on a daily basis, I'd be delighted if they opted to use a quality well designed connector rather than micro USB. Especially if they rolled it out to all their mobile devices, which no doubt Apple will do and no one else has the guts to do.

I'm sure if enough clout, in the form of money likely, came to the table, Apple might entertain licensing that connector for other devices. I think the bigger issue might be that Apple didn't set out with that as a goal so there may be a number of technical issues on top of financial.

I wish. For my upcoming trip, I need to pack a:

MiniUSB cable for charging the GoPro (new 2012 version) it's spare battery, and the WiFi attachment
USB to proprietary for the WiFi remote for the GoPro
MicroUSB for my rechargeable mouse, and Jambox
MicroUSB3 for my portable HDD
Apple 30 pin for the iPad and iPhone

5 different cables for 9 different devices.

And check out USB 3.0's new variant on the micro-B connector:



There's a regular micro-B connector in there, but now it's got a friend next to it. This doesn't strike me as an improvement. Hopefully Apple will kick the USB standards committee into doing something useful for USB 4.

Can someone, in a relatively simple fashion, explain why USB 3 uses so many pins ON ONE END, yet the other end still has what looks like 5 pins?

That really is a thing of beauty.

Heh, I said it was the standard, and it is. I didn't say everyone used that standard. I know exactly how frustrating this is. I have a pair of headphones that has a charging port exactly the size and shape of a micro USB port, but it's NOT a micro USB port. That one kills me.

I think you guys are all getting too hung up on micro USB in what I'm saying. My preference is for a standard. I don't want multiple adapters or cables to go from one connection to another, I want to just outfit my house, car, go-bag, and travel kit with the same stuff, and having to double up on that with additional cables or adapters isn't appealing to me.


You didn't get the point of my example. It wasn't about charging ports, it was about standards. Sony would have loved for everyone to use memory stick duo in their products, but nobody did. I don't know if it was because everyone was already going towards SD or if because Sony was asking for too much, but at least they tried.


And all of that is a problem, in my eyes.

Because the other end has the extra pins hidden at the back of the connector. USB3 signalling is so different from USB2, that to preserve backwards compatibility, they leave USB2 running on all the normal USB2 pins and just add extra pins for the high-data-rate USB3 signals. To the extent that if you have a USB3 PC and a USB3 hub with both USB2 and USB3 peripherals plugged in, your PC talks USB3 via the hub to the USB3 peripherals and USB2 via the hub to the USB2 peripherals.

Peter

Cool, simple enough. I didn't know there were more pins at the back of the connector. Which begs the question, why didn't they do something similar for the device side of the connector instead of that weird siamese job?

I don't get it. Why is a product in 2012 being made with a mini port? MicroUSB has been in existence for well over 6 years. MicroUSB has real technical advantages over mini, and certainly will be more common if it isn't already.

If you're a manufacturer and you (like Apple) think you can do better, then design your own connector and see how well that works for you. Otherwise, get with the program. Even if you're trying to preserve compatibility with your existing installed base, the road ahead is clear. You either switch to MicroUSB already like everyone else and annoy a few people, or you're going to be late switching and aggravate more of your customers and still switch anyway. Why wait this long?

Mini is more robust is my guess. The space savings for micro might also be insignificant on a lot of devices - it might also cost more. The difference in size between mini and micro connectors is rather minimal when you compare with other connectors. 6.5mm to 3.5mm phono, Apple dock to Lightning, etc.

Micro is more robust, see Table 3-1 http://www.usb.org/developers/devclass_docs/CabConn20.pdf

I really don't know then. But I interact daily with mini-USB devices and literally never with micro.

Ok so who has seen the sockets that accept either USB or eSATA plugs.

Me, there is one on my laptop, but I've never used the eSATA part.

Every time I plug the micro USB into my Nexus 7 it feels like it is going to snap off in the socket.

It's interesting to see the philosophical difference between how Apple approaches backward compatibility and how the USB people have done the same. USB reused the old full-size connector but doubled up the pins, and for the micro connector, they doubled the size to add the new pins.

Apple's philosophy is clearly all about dongles. Let the new thing be designed in an elegant fashion, and support the older things with dongles. Dongles for VGA. Dongles for wired Ethernet. Dongles for their old 30-pin connector. Dongles for their new MagSafe power connector. Dongles everywhere! Unless you've got the newest and latest of everything, then you'll be free of dongles.

Just to be fair, I'd like to see USB do any of the things that can be done with dongles from Apple on Apple's proprietary ports. Some of the same things can be done, but with the requirement of attachments that make Apple's dongles seem elegant by comparison.

And vice-versa as well. The USB2 On-The-Go/MHL port on the Galaxy Nexus is pretty impressive. It can connect (USB slave) to a PC, or act as USB host for just about any peripheral, as well as connect to a big screen with HDMI. Not to mention charge the phone with the same cable/PSU as any of my other rechargeables.

Cheers

That's an implementation of a specific product and props to Samsung (correct?) for going that extra mile. But it's a far cry from what a typical micro USB port has at its disposal by default.

IMO, custom FTW.

Unrelated, but I may just add something like this to every post, Mac OS 10.8 is the worst OS apple has ever released, including every marginal System version prior to the first 10.0 version of OS X. As a stock-holder I'm glad to be seeing prices near $700, but I'm glad the general public (and investors) doesn't/don't know what a total piece of shit Apple engineering has become. Pathetic. Having paid $99 for the Mac developer program, I really feel Appl eowes me at least $1k for this past year alone.

MHL is a standard. Many (non-Apple) devices use it.

This was a good bit I read on the Lightning connector and some of the thinking behind it:

http://brockerhoff.net/blog/2012/09/13/boom-2/

Assuming everything written there is true, then from my read of this, microUSB would never even have been considered. With a microUSB plug, the pins are apparently too small to carry the 2 amps of power that iPad charging would need. Some manufacturers have apparently hacked around this in various non-standardized ways. So, imagine if Apple puts that in the iPad (or some other future power-thirsty device). You can use any microUSB cable to sync or provide AC power, but only the Apple supplied adapter to actually charge the battery. You've completely negated the benefit of having the "standard" port, engendered customer confusion and loss of goodwill (how come my phone charger won't charge my iPad? It's the same port!), and gave up any benefits that would come from using your own superior connector design.

So, even if you disregard any ideas of wanting to control the accessory market or anything like that, there's absolutely no way Apple ever would have seriously considered microUSB just based on the power issue alone. (IMHO, of course)

I don't know if this is true, but it sounds vaguely plausible. Given the prevalence of devices that need ~ 2A to charge these days, I hope that USB4 does something about it.

That said, for some reason, Windows claimed that my Samsung S3 was only drawing 96mA (out of a possible 500mA) when (failing to) charge the other day. Odd.

It's possible to find the micro-USB spec online (I found v1.01). The power pins are specified as 1.8A. While this is indeed, mathematically speaking, less than 2A, it's hard to believe that people would really notice the difference in charging times between 1.8A charge and 2A charge.

Peter

Or, put more cynically, every time they go on about "preserving the clean lines" of something, it costs you twenty-five quid.

Peter

A standard that only covers the protocol, and not the connector oddly. Many vendors used the standard 5 pin microUSB plug for MHL. Samsung caused some controversy by shipping an 11 pin MHL port on the Galaxy S III, which was incompatible with all 5 pin cables. They did also ship an 11 to 5 pin adaptor.

Their main reason for making the change was to allow simultaneous use of the USB and MHL functionality. 5 pin only allows one or the other.

Looks like no matter what ecosystem you participate in, it's a potential mess. 30 pin to 9 pin, or 5 pin to 11.

BTW, why do people (like the writers at 9to5 Mac) keep calling the new connector "9 pin" when it's actually 8?

It appears to be 9 connections. The 9th is a ground on the side from the pictures. It may not be a pin exactly but it's a connection. Not that the 8 are technically pins either.

I think Bruno's point is that you'd never hear USB described as a 5 pin connector or VGA as a 16 pin one. The (main) ground doesn't normally get talked about as a pin.

Didn't Apple call out 8 pins specifically when they introduced it?

EDIT: They called it "8 signal" - which means 8 pins on the female end and a grounded sleeve, which as Andy pointed out, is like pretty much everything else, including USB.

I'm sure Apple would prefer people to just use the name of the connector and not its pin-count.

The "16th" pin of VGA and "5th" pin of USB are a shield and should not be used as ground. USB and VGA both have a dedicated grounds. In fact USB spec dictates that the host end only should connect ground to the shield. It does not carry current.

I'm not sure if the same applies here. I'm yet to see the actual pinout defined.

Updating to iOS 6 right now. Fingers crossed that everything doesn't go to shit.

I can't believe Apple also pushed out 10.8.2 today along with a bunch of app updates. Not a good idea to release so many updates at the same time. It makes it really challenging to identify the root cause of any issues.

Mac OS X 10.8.2 so far doesn't fix any of the two dozen egregious bugs I've found - some of them date back to Lion 10.7.0 - I still have to file official Apple radar bug reports for the majority of them however...


EDIT: Update seems to have gone fine. Still can't "activate" my phone number for iMessage. Notes still don't sync (imap account) and now when a note is created/edited on the Mac it just generates a duplicate, which still doesn't sync to the iPhone. Another useless (to me) icon I can't get rid of in the form of Passbook. OS update in general, yawn-fest.

My hope/belief that Apple will ever address even a portion of thse issues has pretty much disappeared. The thing is that normal "consumer" types find issues all the time but brush them away, either they don't realize they're bugs or they're simply not demanding enough to care.

As more stupid people start to use a product, it seems the product itself starts to become more stupid.

I've given up on using my IMAP account for notes, mainly due to the duplicate notes issue. I am now using my iCloud account instead, which doesn't have the problem (even though it appears to use IMAP under the covers).

I don't have an iCloud email address. My AppleID is at my own domain and used for everything (else) Apple related. So now I have to grab an iCloud account just for notes? Why on earth are the using MAIL for notes at all? On the Mac they removed Notes from Mail into its own app. They should just store that data on iCloud like any other random app does.

The only reason I'm trying to use my imap account is to avoid having to create an iCloud email address specifically for this.

Creating a note on the iPhone while set to use the imap account doesn't even hit the network to transmit anything. It's not using imap at all. Checking the notes prefs doesn't show any option to select "default account" which I briefly saw at one point. Deleting the imap account does not remove the notes, proving they weren't part of the imap account to begin with.

Totally broken.

Letting it create an iCloud email address takes two seconds, you never need to pick up the email (uncheck email on the iCloud settings) and most importantly, Notes works properly against iCloud

I believe it only shows the "default account" as a brief flash occasionally, except when you actually have more than one account setup for notes.

I took a different route. Removed the Notes icon from the dock on the Mac and hid the Notes application on the iPhone.

The only reason I wanted to use Notes at all is because the Evernote iPhone app doesn't let you view anything offline. I'll hunt around for something else I can use instead.

I'm pretty sure I'm also going to go back to a Jailbroken experience when that's available. I'm tired of not being able to view notifications on the lock screen and also want quicker access to BlueTooth, as well as hiding all the cruft I don't want around like Newstand and Passbook.

iOS6 - no mail items ever appear in Notification Center, despite a new mail badge appearing on the Mail icon. IMAP.

I'm seeing mail in the notification center. For both Gmail and Exchange accounts. iOS6 on a 4S.

It was working fine before the update to iOS6 - no changes manually altered. I've verified that the notification options are turned on for Mail. Maybe I'll turn them off, reboot the phone and then turn them back on.

The iPhone 5 seems to be off to a good start in terms of sales. The store line-ups look even crazier than any previous release. I hate launch days. Everyone is out in those lines instead of being on their computers buying stuff from my site. Seriously, I always see a market drop in sales on this kind of date.

OK, very very odd. So after updating I verified it was ON. Then I noticed it wasn't working. Now I go back and check the settings...

Notification OFF for each mail account. Notification style set to NONE for each mail account. Lock screen notification set to OFF for each account.

I think that explains it. But not how any of those things, let alone all of them, suddenly got set to OFF.

Here's some bad design and carelessness (lack of attention to detail):

Do No Disturb appears as its own item in Settings and then again in Notification Center. The first instance only lets you turn it ON/OFF but setup requires going into notification center. Too awkward.

When you have Do Not Disturb ON, either manually or via schedule, plugging the phone into power will still produce a vibration, turn the screen on and play a sound. WTF. Sorry, it should vibrate and nothing else. When you're plugging the device in to power with someone sleeping only a few feet away, it's not very cool to chime a loud sound and light up the screen.

http://www.apple.com/letter-from-tim-cook-on-maps/

I've been making use of the iOS 6 maps as part of the trip. Overall, they work well for turn by turn where I've been. Mostly due to the integration with Siri and the lock screen. If I need to conserve power a bit, I can turn off the screen, and the phone will turn it back on only when it has new instructions.

It has led me off route a bit for some destinations though. 2 destinations have been off by a few blocks, from a bad pin placement from Yelp. One situation it simply didn't handle was a business on State Line Rd where the address numbers don't line up to what they are across the border running down the middle of the road. And the more common and easier to fix one is the address on file has the right street address, but potentially incorrect state or zip code info. The pin will be in the right spot, but the driving directions engine keys off the incorrect info. This one lead maps to tell me to drive all the way from South Dakota to California for gas.

I do have other maps programs, including one with local maps if I wander out of cell coverage. So far, I've only needed to switch once. Once the data improves, it will be a good addition to the iOS side.

It is a shame the painful transition was necessary, but Apple had little choice in the matter. The old maps were very dated feature wise, and it was becoming a big negative when compared against other phones. Google and Apple couldn't work out an agreement that both sides were happy with regarding the built in maps, even after Google promised back in 2009 to bring navigation to the iPhone. Google could have submitted a 3rd party app via the app store as early as 2008, though it appears this has yet to happen.

It was a good move on Apple's part to move away from Google's map platform, however they didn't handle it well.

They should have played it out very low key, probably by making clear it was a first step and beta like Siri when it was announced.

The data Apple has licensed is pretty good. With the exception of missing NavTeq data, it's got more bases covered than Google did long after they started. However, like Google before them, they haven't done a terrific job integrating the multiple sources of data and gluing everything up together, including refinement of their routing engine.

Google still has sub-par routing and distance calculation, and IMO, it's not nearly as refined or accurate as TomTom's platform.

Apple has TomTom map data, but they obviously don't license their navigation platform.

It's also especially odd that with all the data licensed that their satellite coverage is so spotty and inconsistent. Google doesn't have its own satellites taking pictures and all their imagery is also licensed. It shouldn't take Apple very long to match the quality here if they're willing to continue spending money on the problem.

Even if I had an iPhone 5 however, I'd still stick to third-party software for navigation. No matter how much money Apple spends on improving their data and integration, there just no way they're ever going to integrate all the features many people want. Their built-in offerings historically tend to be lacking in some way or other. It's going to hurt sales for other apps long-term, but right now, it's a chance for TomTom, Navigon, Garmin, CoPilot, etc. to keep cashing in.

I'm not looking to argue, I'm just curious where you've gotten this impression. I assume it's from Google Maps on the desktop. It works wonderfully for me on Android.


The funny thing here is that the company with the best flyover data is Microsoft. Too bad nobody will see it on their phones and only a few more will see it in their browsers.

I can see Apple licensing photo data from Microsoft. Also, I don't know for a fact, but I suspect Google now has its own aerial images to extend whatever it licenses. I would imagine in addition to all the streetview stuff they've been making that they could afford to fly a few planes around taking pictures.

A number of friends and I have all manner of Garmin and TomTom GPS units. They, and myself (wives too etc.) also use Google Maps via the web site to check locations and initial routes. If I'm at the computer and I want to check something quickly I just pop in to a browser window.

Google Maps is nearly always dead wrong on its time calculations for any planned route here in Canada. Its directions are also fairly often not the best route when compared to Garmin and TomTom's. Less frequently, completely crazy. This of course depends on the route, because for really simple stuff they all may produce exactly the same suggested route. But Google will still be off on the time.

Google's platform was built over a long period of time and heavily supplanted with previously licensed data. I'm surprised they haven't been sued by TomTom and Nokia (and others) they way they have been by Skyhook. It doesn't take much stretching of the imagination to hypothesize that some of their map building may not have been totally above-board.

When Google first started offering directions, their quality and results were laughable compared to then-heavyweights MapQuest et al. This lack-lustre performance lasted for quite a while, Maps wasn't built overnight by any stretch.

Apple has a number of potential advantages here. They've got bucket-loads of money. But more importantly, they've got an insanely large initial user-base right from the start. Now it remains to be seen how they will use that crowdsourcing to improve their product. I have no idea if they plan to offer a street-view like feature or ever get into producing their own assets.

In the Android space, it seems there are very few "good" nav programs. I've tried perhaps a dozen or so of them, and only two were close to measuring up. First and foremost was Google Navigation for Android. Excellent, though it relies heavily on having a data connection, making it too expensive to use on our normal limited data plans.

The other was Sygic GPS Navigation. I used the 7-day free trial period. It worked well enough for "offline" navigation, but was a bit slow in responding to vehicle movement.

Last I checked, neither Garmin nor TomTom had their own-branded apps available on Android -- with the exception of Garmin in Australia only.

The standalone Garmin Nuvi 3790 I have here worked way better than any of those, and actually appears to be an Android device under the hood.

Cheers

Good point. That might have played better for them.

Waze should be jumping on this opportunity right now. They've got the best system I've seen so far, and now's the time to capitalize on it.

Their map of the UK appears to be blank

All right, the best system for the USA I've seen so far. :-)

Sorry for the US-centric view on that one. :-)

Actually, no... Looks like they've got data for UK/Europe too. Don't know how *good* it is, but...

Waze's display (in the UK) of their data is just as bad as Apple. They opt to show far more placenames than Apple, but the choices of which ones to show at which zoom level are bad and it is all a bit of a mess.

Actually, I take that back. Waze is far, far, far, far worse at deciding what data to show when. Just awful and random, awful.

I mean, just look at this:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/andynormancx/sets/72157631644505573/show/

(zooming in on the area where Birmingham, Britain's second largest city)

The amazing thing about Apple's own goal is that there was reportedly more than a year left on the existing contract with Google for maps, so even if they knew they wanted to file for divorce, there was time to beef up their own offering before parting ways. Instead, in a display of great hubris, they took their ball went went home, and now look ridiculous. For the price they're paying for this in negative PR, they could have simply cut a check with several commas and many zeroes to convince Google to change their terms, keep Latitude out, etc.

I know it's been reported that Google had no interest in compromising, but Apple's got mountains of cash that they don't know what to do with right now. For a small chunk of that, I'm sure they could have come to some sort of resolution, especially as they got closer to the actual expiration of the existing contract. If it turns out that Apple made an astronomical offer that Google declined, then okay, they had to do what they did, but they didn't have to do it now, when their own product is inferior to also-rans that Apple could have simply licensed for a while until their own offering is at least respectable.

Apple is using Waze data BTW.

TomTom is currently betatesting the Android app of their software, so it should be available very soon.

Even if Apple had a year left on the contract, it is possible that iOS6 was not under that contract, and that they'd need a new contract to cover the life of iOS6.

Two links on the topic of the maps issue: One from Apple CEO Tim Cook and the other former Apple exec Jean-Louis Gassee.

That's a possibility, but that calls into question why they had to call this release IOS6 in the first place. There are certainly some improvements, but IOS6 looks like more of a "Snow Leopard" or "Mountain Lion" release than a "Leopard" or a "Lion." If the contract stipulated that Apple couldn't do another "major release", then they could have just call it a minor release and ran out the clock on the old deal. Imagine what another year of development could have done for the Apple maps product. (Of course GMaps would improve in that year as well, and Google has many more resources dedicated to Maps than Apple ever will, but still.)

Obviously "IOS 5.1" doesn't push units the way "IOS 6" does, but from what I've seen, people are more excited about the new hardware than the OS upgrade.

I can only think of two OS releases that might qualify for a full version number bump. 2 and 4. And then only because the functionality they brought was significant on a platform level. Developer SDK/API with version 2 and third-party multi-tasking with 4.

Everything else has totally been .1 in significance. But that's kind of besides the point because whether anything changes in the core OS or not, Apple are on a system of revising the major number every year.

And now, unfortunately, the same schedule for the desktop OS. Which IMO is way too aggressive and they should do a 24 month major cycle with 6-10 minor bumps in the middle.

And for both mobile and desktop I'd like to see more of the built-in apps put on their own schedules and updated more completely regardless of OS versioning. Right now it takes a long long time to get anything fixed.

But they do have a satellite.

As I recall it is of sufficiently high resolution that the take goes first to the NSA, who then filters it down to what is allowed for NGA's.

Well, it's not quite their satellite, but I suppose with an exclusive agreement for commercialization of the images it might as well be.

Apple need to launch a series of communication satellites that can also do photos. Then they can start selling their own satellite-based phon plans. How much can that possibly cost to set up?

Lots. Hundreds and hundreds of dollars. More expensive even than a 32 GB iPad.

tanstaafl.

The maps deal was set to expire in June 2013. That would put the expiration right in the middle of the iOS 6 lifetime, when iOS 7 would just be entering beta. Apple would have to insert the new maps, including the underlying framework changes at a time when no one would be prepared for it. Major framework changes in iOS are saved for X.0 releases, not X.1/X.2 releases.

They chose to launch maps when they did to try and avoid a larger disaster of many third party apps also breaking. Showing it at WWDC, and using the new maps in beta for almost 4 months allowed enough time to ensure proper compatibility without running into a deadline. App developers could work directly with Apple engineers onsite to overcome the initial major hurdles. It also fixes the problem of not having navigation for yet another cycle, when Android competition is getting stronger. Brand recognition of Samsung is rising, and to not have navigation of the box is a serious black eye. Time will tell if that black eye would have been smaller then the damage to their reputation from launching now. They had to switch at some point. I don't think another year would have improved most of the errors I've seen, compared to a few weeks in users hands reporting problems.


iOS 6 does introduce a number of new user facing features, along with a lot of new and changed frameworks for developers. Some of these features though won't be highly user visible until developers take advantage of them. Even skinning wise, iOS 6 saw some deep changes. Looking at iOS history release, these always come in on X.0 releases too. X.1 and X.2 have not added the type of changes they made to the OS user wise. Unlike Android where Google has decoupled most of the major apps from the OS, Apple still keeps them tightly integrated.

Used an iPhone 5 yesterday for a few minutes. Decent build quality, very light, very thin. Amazing screen clarity and vividness - unequaled.

Here are my issues:

Too light. Feels cheap compared to iPhone 4 or original iPhone.

Too thin. Not anywhere near as comfortable in the hand as an iPhone 4.

Too narrow. Going tall with the screen doesn't solve any problems, it only adds a check-mark for 4" screen to their spec list.

The screen (STILL!) has a visible black border around it - this is jarring on the white iPhone and really should have been hidden.

It would have been so much nicer had they gone for an all-stainless steel design instead of using aluminum. I don't use a case or bumper on my iPhone 4 and in 2 years of use, it's still spotless. The iPhone 5 is not going to have that kind of blemish-free longevity.

I also used a Sony Experia briefly and its screen is just about the size I wish Apple had moved to - both wider and taller, but still very comfortable in one hand with using only a thumb to navigate. At a visual inspection is seemed about 5mm wider, the exact size I'd advocated Apple moving to. But of course the screen quality doesn't hold a candle to the iPhone in terms of clarity, density and closeness of the pixels to the top glass surface. But it felt like a great phone and miles ahead of the Samsungs I've used in fit/finish.

Apple will do well with the iPhone 5 and I'm confident they'll outpace their iPhone 4 sales. But I think they really missed the boat not moving to a larger screen in this generation. It only causes the potential for additional friction and fragmentation should they choose to do this later. And if history is any indication, there won't be any format changes next year with the expected iPhone 5GS.

Overall impression after having lived with an iPhone 4 for 2 years. Not impressed.

I agree with you on the choice of anodised aluminium, my 5 already has two tiny marks on it (that no one else would see unless I pointed them out). I dropped my 4/4S many times before managing to put any noticeable damage on them (my 4S has a nick in the plastic buffer between the screen and the steel).

I'm sure the first time I drop my 5 it will pick up a very solid dent in the aluminium. However if they'd have gone with plain steel the whole thing would have looked unfinished and it would have been heavier...

...which brings us to the weight. I shared your view when I first held my 5, it was just too light. After a few days though my opinion changed, when I pick up my 4S is now feels like an overweight old dinosaur.

I can't agree on the too thin, I love the thinness and if anything it is more comfortable in the hand than the 4/4S for me (less sharp edges for a start).

I'd have been happy if the screen stayed the same size as the 4/4S. However, the extra height isn't the pain I thought it might be, though you do end up shuffling it around slightly more when using it one handed.

I'd have been very unhappy if they'd have made the screen any wider. I know a lot of people want a wider phone, sales of big arsed Android monsters have proved that. But I'm not one of them. For me the iPhone screen width is perfect. Any wider and it wouldn't be comfortable to reach all the way across when one handed.

I'll be very sad the day Apple cave in to you people who want big phones. Though I suspect some day it will happen.

Your proposed extra 5mm doesn't sound like much, until you add in the extra reach we already have with the new taller screen. No bigger please

The black border problem is easily resolved by buying the correct colour phone

I don't think the screen improvements have got as much coverage as they warranted. The screen is dramatically better than the 4/4S. It goes massively brighter when needed and the amount of reflections are much, much lower.

That makes it much easier to read the screen in sunlight than it has ever been before. Can't wait until the iPad gets the same improvements.

Xperia S ?

I'm not sure what Experia it was. I think from earlier this year, not the newest one.

In addition to making the screen 5mm wider, I'd also have liked to see the bezel area around the screen shrink by a couple of mm per side, so the overall width of the handset would be only 1-2 mm wider than it is now.

Less bezel on the top and bottom would also have been nice. The 5 is currently a little smaller than the 4, but it should have been even thinner.

With a thicker phone Apple could have actually included a better camera instead of pretty much the same one they had in the 4. So optical quality could have been improved through physics rather than software tweaks.

I'll say it again, I think the iPhone 4 takes crap pictures. Seems like Nokia is currently king of the hill for quality in the camera-phone department right now. Of course their phones with the amazing optics are rather thick.

Apple has had two revolutionary iPhone hardware releases IMO. The first iPhone and then the iPhone 4. The 5 just doesn't seem like "enough" to me. Which is typical Apple and they make it work in their favor. I'd just have liked something more remarkable.

Making the bezel more narrow would be a disaster. I already run into the occasional problem where one of my fingers is close enough to the screen on the side of the phone to cause a missed tap.

Unless they also at the same time managed to tweak the tap handling to deal with that situation better.

And before you say, yes I'm clearly holding it wrong

Also, I'm not sure if it is a fault with my phone or the new design of the digitiser, but the 5 seems somewhat less sensitive to the touch than previous devices. Need to go and play with some other 5s in store to compare (have been avoiding going into Apple stores since the retina MacBook was release, for obvious reasons).

And yes, I'd have no objection to Apple fattening the iPhone a bit again if it meant a better camera or more battery.

I don't have the same problem with the camera as you though, I think it takes remarkable photos, considering it is in a smartphone. Most of the pictures I've been happiest with over the last three years have been taken with my iPhone.

I expect if I were printing them and sticking them on the wall then I'd have a different opinion, but then I never get round to doing that with my DSLR pictures, let alone my iPhone ones. And I actually look at my iPhone ones far more often than the DSLR ones...

That can be solved with software/logic.



Of course not. If that were the case then the designers failed at their job. It should be obvious how a device should be held and variation should should not impact the utility dramatically. At least that's the goal.



I noticed the same thing with my brother's iPhone 5 last night. I hope it's a software issue. I first noticed it when trying to swipe the screen to go to the next page of icons on the springboard.

WRT the camera, it's definitely remarkable if you look back 10 years in comparison and yes it's a phone. But for many people it's the only device they might have on them. And we're not living in 2007 or 2008. I expect greater progress year over year and Apple, IMO has not delivered enough on the photo front. They've come a long way since the first model, but we need to see a leap in every product revision, IMO. The camera/lens in the Nokia 800 and the new 900 really shame every other phone on the market. Still not as good as a Compact Canon, but every other phone's images are laughable in comparison. Well, they would be laughable if it sometimes didn't make one cry that they missed a photo moment or ended up with a shite image. The iPhone 4 can't do anything unless you've got an incredible amount of ambient light. The LED "flash" is really really bad, too close to the lens, too weak, too narrow and slows down the camera to an almost unusable state. So unusable that if I'm trying to capture my 3 year old, I have to take some 10 images in hopes of even getting one marginal-to-decent result. Multiple images might look good if down-scaled to 320x200.

One thing I wasn't able to confirm last night was the resolution of Panorama images. They really dropped the ball on the UI for viewing the images. On a really wide pano my brother had taken the night before, I could not zoom in so that the height of the image was greater than the the screen ( holding the phone in landscape). I took a sample of my own and made a much less wide pano and when viewing that I could zoom in to a finer detail with the image easily spanning a size/distance much larger than the screen. I really hope this is a viewing/playback issue. When I first looked at his image I was afraid the camera was using the video mode to record the pano and wasn't using more than 720 vertical pixels. That would have been a real shame.

The only thing the pano mode has in its favour is its dramatic speed (i.e. instant). It doesn't balance exposure across the image and I find it very hard to keep that arrow on the line.

Photosynth does a much, much, much better job, even if it isn't as quick. There are some good iOS developers hidden there somewhere at Microsoft

Linked is a panorama I shot yesterday. Dimensions are 7424x2482, and I did not full the entire horizontal space allowed with this one. Via a 4S, not 5.

image

tbh the iPhone4 camera was a big step up from the 3GS, but the 4->4S was a huge step. I don't think it's really fair to be moaning about the 4 camera being behind the times when it's been out for 2 years and has been bettered twice by Apple since.

As for the bezel: you can't just lose bezel from the side, at least not on LCDs (and, I suspect OLEDs are the same). You need to run electrical traces to each row on the screen, and those hookups go from the driver IC that sits on the driver ledge (top or bottom), down the inactive screen areas on the left and right, to the rows.

This could get solved by adding thickness and working out how to do through-glass vias - you wouldn't want them running over the pixels as that'd reduce image quality - but that's not generally a tradeoff people fancy.

I wonder if OLEDs could get rid of them though? They don't need the bottom layer of glass, do they?

I didn't ask for no side bezel, I asked for slightly less side bezel. ANd I asked to hide the non-active parts of the LCD since it looks cheap and diminishes the illusion of the pixels being printed right on the glass. It's up to Apple to solve these issues. If no one else can do it, then it would be revolutionary.

I'm interested in knowing which phone currently has the thinnest side bezels.

The same goes for battery life - let's see some new tech that no one else has. Still waiting for that liquid metal to be used for something other than a paperclip replacement too.

I'm with a lot of the pundits here. The iPhone 5 is a great device, but frankly, it's boring. It simply does not have the impact of the original or of the 4. Don't get me wrong, the thinness is an amazing achievement, but I (and apparently a number of other people) don't value this attribute as much as some of the compromises made elsewhere.

2 Years ago, the iPhone 4 camera was decent for a phone, but that's still a cop out - let's have something that's just great without the "phone" footnote/disclaimer.

When Apple hits multiple cylinders in the form of incredible software engineering and hardware engineering at the same time, it's something to behold. But when they only hit either one or neither... With iPhone 5 they very nearly hit the hardware, but they've really done nothing on the software. At least "nothing" when you consider it's Apple. Here's that footnoting again.

You mean like the 41mp camera in the old Nokia phone?

Oh.. And while a year ago I didn't know a single person with an Android phone, that number is now at 4. All of them having been somewhat deliberate in their choice, two of them having previously used iPhones.

I did tell them that I own Apple stock and that they should go back to Apple phones as quickly as possible.

Arrrg, the "crap" new iPhone Maps application is now affecting my day to day life. It's getting difficult to deal with. Here's exactly how this "fiasco" is affecting me:

1. The stock price is down. When Apple stock falls it means my personal earnings per share fall. Then again I do't have so many shares that I can say the drops affect my wealth meaningfully.

2. I have to read about it in blogs day in and day out.

I've called Apple's geniuses to find out if they can offer a solution to both or even either of the above problems. Nothing offered yet.

But Tim Cook did: "While we’re improving Maps, you can try alternatives by downloading map apps from the App Store like Bing, MapQuest and Waze, or use Google or Nokia maps by going to their websites and creating an icon on your home screen to their web app." Clearly these geniuses didn't get CC'd on that letter to Apple customers, maybe you could share it with them?

But downloading/using other apps doesn't help with the only two problems I'm currently having with this brouhaha.

They did just announce an October 25th 4th Quarter earnings call. Maybe that will clear things up.

You're holding your investment wrong (TM ). Current share price only matters when you are planning to sell in the near term future. Otherwise it is just noise. If your time horizon for selling is beyond 2012 then it matters not.

Pullbacks and drawdowns in AAPL share price are common enough. The current price action is what it is. For those with well positioned trading accounts this means cash on hand to buy more when the stock bottoms.

I expect to be buying (more) in the next day or two if AAPL bottoms with conviction. And I will not be buying common shares. I trade primarily vertical call spreads and straight calls in medium to longer dated AAPL call options. January and April 2013 options are the current buy targets for me.

You can solve problem 2 easily enough, get off the internets :p
And if you spend all your money and more on iProducts, I'm sure you'll be able to drive up their stock price, but this might has a negative effect on your personal wealth...

Didn't Keyhole also own a satellite, which Google would have taken over when the bought the company?

I think you are probably mixing up your Keyholes

The Keyhole that Google bought wrote what became Google Earth.

There were a series of US spy satellites called Keyhole.

I don't believe the two are connected.

Naw, I thought that Keyhole (the company) owned it's own commercial satellite Googling with those terms is painful though, because of the KH-11 and KH-12, though.

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/tech-talk-iphone-5/1420759 (Hopefully not region locked)


Personal experience with Maps is getting better. I haven't seen a misplaced marker since the initial ones days after release. User reports, or a remerge of data seems to be helping greatly. I also haven't seen a pin in the right place then route me cross country.

The engine making a guess on location from vague input ( a street address without a city), is still problematic. Today in New York City, a few searches for 102 W 32 St would show up in Lubbock TX. Adding New York fixed it. It really seems the system doesn't factor in where I'm at already as much as Google did.

I'm also feeling a little pain over the lack of built in transit. I thought I found a good app to have Maps redirect to called Transit, but it failed me multiple times. Google Maps via the web in a city with poor cell phone reception was equally frustrating though. This has been the first instance where I wished I had the older iOS 5 maps, since transit directions don't really need turn by turn directions. But a Maps snafu is not enough to get me to swap over to Android. Both ecosystems have negatives, and I'm better equipped to handle the iOS negatives to gain the positives.

I saw the clip on another site the other day. It was funny to a point and very on-topic. Actually one of the funnier SNL clips I've seen in a long time. I'm not a fan of people doing poor Chinese impressions though, so that's the part that had me wincing a bit.

I didn't want a thinner nor lighter phone than the iPhone 4, so I don't feel like I'm backtracking with my first impressions of the iPhone 5.

So I searched out my sister's new house in the Ireland country side, and set a bookmark, then attached same to her info in contacts.

Opening the map from her contact info leads to a place nowhere near the previously set bookmark.

What seems to be happening is this, when the location is placed in the contact, the software is attempting to translate the bookmark Into an actual street address.

Which for Irish rural areas just doesn't seem to work. Your postal address is basically your name and and sequential list of mail distribution centers (cities, counties...). With your local postman being the one who knows which house you live in.

I was really expecting the software to just add the map bookmark to the contact. That it would also translate this into an address is ok if it worked.

Months later and there have only been very minor updates to improve iOS6's UK mapping. The improvements I have spotted have been:

- minor/major roads are better differentiated (though still not as well as on Google or Bing)
- "A" roads (major roads) actually get labelled with their number as well as their name
- in south London there are actually a few placenames now, you can open the map in south London and have some vague idea about where places are

However, almost everything that was wrong with UK mapping at launch is still wrong. None of the data fixes I've submitted in the last 6 months have fed through to the map (ok, one appears to have partially fed through, but only to break the map data differently). My two nearest towns are still mislabelled (Reigate is positioned in the centre of Redhill, where Reigate actually is has no label at all).

The worst thing is still that if you open the map at a random location, it is very hard to work out where it is. There is just crap context: limited placenames, placenames given crazy priorties, no railway lines until you zoom a long way in etc etc

This can make things like Find My Friends maddening, especially when using it via Siri because you CAN'T FIND YOUR FRIENDS, "oh, that is where they are, but where the hell is that ?".

Argh.

it is "little" things like this that do the most damage.

Stuff like that has always "just worked" in the past, and still does on most smartphones.

I have a hard time gauging improvements for the broader US since I wasn't in the same location for long enough to see changes. I can tell lots of work has been going on with the Austin data, both in fixes to locations, and extensions of the flyover coverage. And as stated earlier, I stopped running into the major issues with maps being misleading in the later part of the trip.

The one incident that many failed at was my uncle's place (including the mapping solution on "most smartphones"). The road he lives on was renamed and the houses were renumbered 7 years ago. The newer Nokia Now maps and Bing maps gets it right. Apple, Google, TomTom, and Waze all stumbled. Made for quite the adventure to find him.

I couldn't agree more. At the same time though I understand that Apple were kind of backed into a corner. That doesn't make iOS6 maps any less crappy though

Does anyone else have the feeling that this could be the start of the wheels coming off at Apple ???

The new iTunes is a total pile of poo poo so far for me, it has broken iPhone syncing and has made it much harder to organise music (in my eyes) that the previous pile of UI poo poo! It also seems dog slow, and crashes during iPhone sync almost every time.

I really hope they are able to sort out the troubles they are quite clearly having without a leader able to keep the ideas people on a short lead.

Would have Apple Maps happened 18 months ago ???

Cheers

Cris

Yes. This was in motion well before Jobs stepped down as CEO. The unfortunate political nature of the smartphone market necessitated the move, and Apple showed their typical weak hand when diving into an unknown area for the first time. The reassignment of the Maps and Siri parts of iOS to Eddie Cue is the "MobileMe was a failure" moment to try and get them back on track. We shall see how much back on track by next summer with the iOS 7 event.

The new iTunes, I'm holding reactions on till I have more time with it, to avoid the initial "it's different therefore crap" mentality. Not seeing any syncing issues with it though.

Conversely, maps works well here in Shanghai.

I'm irritated at it's total failure to function if it's not connected to a data connection, never mind all the map data around me is cached already.

Yes, but from what I hear, Steve was a perfectionist known for pulling the plug on features that didn't meet his standards, even major ones at the last minute. I'd be surprised if the release didn't at least get pushed back with him at the helm.

Explain things like MobileMe or the first few versions of OSX then. Steve was far from perfect, they shipped plenty of unfinished or plain broken features/products when Steve was around too.

Touche'

No worries Andy, the map problems should be fixed soon.

Apple Promises To Fix Glitches In Map Software

And here I thought London was already in Canada.

I did only visit there after iOS 6 was released, you sure that wasn't a beta site for Apple?

Nope.

I bet their ice hockey team is dreadful.

And in 2012, they finally delivered. Only took a public spat, and Apple kicking it out of the OS to get it to happen

There is actually some differences between it and the Android version design wise. Google's iOS team really seems to be pretty independent, similar to the feel of applications from Microsoft's Mac division. I'll try it out sometime on my next ride with the motorcycle. Still seems to be missing the fun option of "take the scenic route", so TomTom will also still live on my phone.