Tim Cook walks on to the stage, shows off impressive bits of numbers, unveils a gadget that will continue to turn heads for days to come. Sound like what? Yes, and Apple event.
It’s a day millions of people literally hold their breaths for. No, not really, it’s just that as a bunch of tech geeks we tend to get very excited at days such as these. Yes, Apple is done with their announcements, we have a couple of new iPhones and that is exciting because iPhones in the past have really been the trend setters in the mobile tech market. Will the new iPhones have the same impact? You could argue they will given that anything Apple touches turns gold, unless of course it is iOS 7.
So without delaying things further, lets jump into what all has been announced and what we know about the phones which were perhaps the worst kept secrets of the tech industry.
iPhone 5S is a reality
It had been almost an year since Apple announced the iPhone 5 and claimed to have changed everything again. there were no such bold claims this time around, but Apple did announce the successor to the iPhone 5. The device is called the iPhone 5S keeping in line with the naming policy of Apple.
The device has improved internals and few major changes to the externals, probably for the first time as all the ‘s’ iterative devices had exactly the same externals so far.
The device has a better camera as the aperture now is f2.2 with pixel sizes also being raised to 1.5 microns in size. The Megapixel count though remains the same at 8 while the front facing Camera is now HD. The phone also does 120 FPS for super Slo-Mo and records videos in 720 P doing the same. There is also dual LED FLash on the device, a bit like those N Series Nokia phones to balance the colors when shooting with flash on.
The device runs on the A7 chip which promises twice as good a performance as that experienced on the iPhone 5. It would be available in the same 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB which has been a standard.
It will be interesting to note how Apple will actually gain in performance, despite the overhead provided by the 64 bit architecture. If we are not incorrect, the amount of RAM in iPhone 5S is the same as its predecessor. 64 bit architectures are usually best fit in scenarios where the system memory is more than 4GB, which is clearly not the case with the iPhone 5S. Not to mention the predicted impact on battery life and the additional heat produced due to the architecture change.
Never the less, 64 bit is a welcome leap forward for mobile computing. Expect Samsung to follow the suit, and push for 64bit CPU’s in the Galaxy S5.
The one feature that did steal the show for the iPhone 5S was Touch ID. It is basically a touch sensor built into the home button of the device which means you can now set your device to unlock only with your finger prints. Apple did clarify that the fingerprints will not be available for any apps, though you can confirm your iTunes purchases with the same. Call it gimmicky and a feature that not everyone was crying out for like NFC, but it would be interesting to see how everyone will take to Touch ID.
The C in iPhone 5C is definitely not for “Cheap”
Perhaps what could be called as one of the most underwhelming announcements, iPhone 5C was announced as a replacement to the iPhone 5. This was a smart move from Apple to price the iPhone 5C at the same as what iPhone 4S was priced last year when the iPhone 5 was announced, 99$. Expect the price to be around what the iPhone 4S is priced in India. Surprisingly, iPhone 5 is now discontinued. This will lead to more margins for Apple on the iPhone 5C than iPhone 5, if the latter would were to continue to sell.
While the internals are the exact same, the battery in the iPhone 5C is improved when compared to iPhone 5. iPhone 5C is available in Green, Blue, Pink, White and Yellow. Expect the iPhone 5C to hit India around December.
Obligatory comment must go out to the unwelcome and plain ugly cases for the iPhone 5C which just looked surprisingly bland on the plastic body. Oh and they are also overly expensive at a hefty price tag of $29.
iOS 7 would be public on September 18
“iOS 7 will quickly become the world’s most popular operating system.” thats what Tim Cook is predicting right before the public launch of iOS 7.
Apple announced the iOS 7 back in June of 2013 and since then it has been in Beta with the developers. There were crucial updates given out about the iOS 7 in the conference by Apple. It would be available as an OTA to iPhone 4, iPad and iPod Touch 5th gen and above.
Availability of new iPhones
The iPhone 5C and 5S would be up for pre order initially in the US from September 13th and going on sale from September 20th.
The unlocked cost for iPhone 5C would be $549 for 16 GB and $649 for the iPhone 5S. The on contract price for two years in the US would be $99 and $199 for iPhone 5C 16 GB and 32 GB respectively. The iPhone 5C would be available in several funky colors such as yellow, green, blue, white and pink.
The iPhone 5S would be available starting $199 for the 16 GB version and go on to $299 and $399 for the 32 GB and 64 GB variant. The device would be available in golden, silver and space gray variants.
Conclusion
Like always, the launch of new iPhone or rather, iPhones has created a huge splurge in the tech market. People like it, people dont like it, but at Techsplurge, we always like to keep our judgements reserved till we get our hands on the devices. Yes, we would be gunning to try these out and then present a more concrete view on whether we like them or not. Pricing may well be a turn off for most, but will the features be enough to drive us to write that cheque in the name of Apple? We’ll find out.
Images Via: The Verge
