iPhone5 It Is!
Photos
Unless you’ve been hiding under a large rock, you know what an iPhone is. Unless you’ve been under a slightly smaller rock, you know that the new iPhone 5 is coming out this month. Apple just held their press conference today, and it looks to be another exciting release.
The iPhone 5 rose from the floor in the stage and is definitely following Apple’s trend of making big improvements to performance and this time we are getting a major aesthetic upgrade, as well. They now tout the thinnest and lightest iPhone in existence and they must be taking lessons from Metallica because the phone is much more metal now.
Every iPhone release raises the bar on the hardware, and this release is no different. Each new feature has been well thought out and designed for a specific purpose. First, we will go with the obvious. The screen size has been increased from the three and one-half inch display that has been used since the start in 2007 to a four-inch diagonal display. The big deal here is that we won’t have to deal with the black bars on the top and bottom of our screen when we are watching HD face plant videos. And like most Apple devices now, the retina display is used.
Another big change is the move to the unibody construction. Basically, this means that the metal portion of the body is now carved out of one solid block of aluminum. An important note here is that the metal now wraps around the perimeter of the phone and around the back. This eliminates the breaking glass on the back of the phone and may allow us to carry a case that resembles something other than a pool floatie for our phones.
The A5X processor has been used in the third generation iPad for some time now with a high degree of success. The iPhone takes this to a new level with a dual-core A6 processor. This processor will increase the overall speed of the phone as well as handling multi-tasking and HD video playback better. This paired with the one gig system memory upgrade promises that your phone will remain lightning quick even when you have a plethora of different apps running.
Speaking of lightning, the new lightning connector will change the plug that we use to connect the phones to our computers. This reversible eight-pin connector will boast faster information transfer and has a much smaller port. They also have increased the battery life across the board for the phone. So no more will we have issues where our phone dies in six hours because it can’t find a signal. The new camera has a much higher resolution and supports panoramic photos up to 28 megapixels.
Moving beyond aesthetics, the changes in the software will be what people see the most. The list of changes goes on and on but some of the bigger changes really try to make commonly used tasks faster and just generally make life easier. The new 3-D maps GPS feature eliminates the need for a third-party GPS app on the phone and has really made a big difference in battery life when using the GPS feature. It also gives you a 3-D picture view of buildings and terrain in the maps app. Being able to pull down the notifications tab and update twitter and Facebook makes your social networking life much faster and easier.
Finally, this release is going to be major for Apple. After selling more than 7 million Mountain Lion upgrades (new Mac operating system), releasing the retina display on the Macbook Pro, selling 17 million iPads in three months, and snatching 27 percent of the market share in laptops, it was time to move the 400-plus million device iPhone market to the next level.
North Georgia Weather
7:34 am on Friday, September 14, 2012
Not an Apple fan. Not a fan of anything proprietary for that matter. And IT is what I do for a living.
Byte Ideas & Solutions
12:46 pm on Friday, September 14, 2012
We are all free to have opinions and like and dislike anything we wish. I have been in the IT industry for the better part of 20 years and have used just about ever type of system out there. Apple is great for some thing and lacks in other, the same can be said for Linux, Unix and Windows. For a network engineers like myself Apple tends to throw a monkey wrench in the works every once in a while. That being said it keeps us on our toes and minds open to new ways of doing things. Having setup many cross platform networks they do have there advantages once you learn the in's and outs of them.
North Georgia Weather
12:52 pm on Friday, September 14, 2012
Yep! i was a systems engineer for 20 years and now just backed off for a more relaxing pace.
I agree with you. I use to manage Novell networks and was a Master GroupWise CNE. I've had to work with just about every kind of technology out there. You discover the good, the bad, and the ugly when you have to deal with multiple technologies. I was always an issue when trying to integrate Apple technologies into a Windows environment. Everything is SO different. The first real computer I ever used was an Apple IIe that we used VisiCalc on back in the early 80's. Man have we come a long way since then! :-))
Byte Ideas & Solutions
5:56 pm on Friday, September 14, 2012
My first PC was a Apple II Classic so i know what you mean. I too worked with Netware for a good while (cant say that I am sad to see most of that gone now!) I will say this Network integrations with Windows/Apple have gotten infinitely better in the last 3 years. If i recall netware was a BEAR to use in a windows NT environment, and only started to get better near its end of life cycle. Apple/Windows cohabitation has come a LONG way but i will say it does have a ways to go. Where i find that the mix works best is in places such as PR firms and mixed media firms. The designers can use there macs the execs and such can use there PC's and all be one big happy network. I will say this, Having a Mac server connected to a SAN or NAS and then share files out to mac and pc is a heck of a lot easier then the other way around. People don't realize that its windows Permission schemes and rules with AD that cause so many issues with integration with Mac, Linux, Novell, ect... Thanks for your comments and thoughts we do enjoy good discussion!
- Jason
North Georgia Weather
6:35 pm on Friday, September 14, 2012
I don't know, I never really had any problem with NT on Novell except early on. The later Novell clients were very good and I much prefer eDirectory of AD. We have AD now and we're having major issues after flattening the directory. Thank goodness I'm no longer involved in that though.
For my home use for my 30,000 song library, I'm looking at this product:
http://www.synology.com/products/product.php?product_name=DS212j&lang=us#p_submenu
It's gotten good reviews in the audio magazines and if nothing else, would give me an additional backup (already have 3!). Plus the ability to stream music anywhere I'm at is another plus.
Jack McClure
2:29 pm on Monday, September 17, 2012
What's got me a bit thrown off is the ability to actually "fix" the iPhone - or any next model apples for that matter.
The air was the first fused glass to LCD/backlight design - it sold well, so they built it into the ipad.
Now, with the iPhone 5, it's fused, and there are only 4 parts. 4. which means if you don't have apple care, you will be replacing your phone if it's not a problem with the software.
Jack McClure
2:30 pm on Monday, September 17, 2012
Oh, and forget upgrading a macbook with the upcoming designs - you have to get it all pre-pimped out.
North Georgia Weather
2:37 pm on Monday, September 17, 2012
Yep, you get lock-in to the Apple way and it happens to be the only way! :-))
Josh Austin
2:17 pm on Tuesday, September 18, 2012
I've never really understood the need by some to complain about the closed nature of Apple products. The "Walled Garden" philosophy they use has its advantages and disadvantages, much like anything else.
People who don't like Apple products are free to use something else, I just don't understand why they feel the need to troll every time Apple release another "proprietary" product...
North Georgia Weather
2:28 pm on Tuesday, September 18, 2012
IT is what I do, no one is trolling. I don't use their products for justifiable reasons. I don't understand the hoopla over a product that's not radically different than many others. It's more like a cult following.
North Georgia Weather
10:16 am on Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Was reading this today...
http://www.foxnews.com/tech/slideshow/2012/09/18/10-ways-android-still-beats-new-iphone-5/?intcmp=features#slide=1
http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2012/09/19/verdict-on-apple-iphone-5/?intcmp=features
JNM
4:09 pm on Tuesday, September 25, 2012
I keep seeing the commercial for the Samusng Galaxy S3 where they are bashing Apple for "fixing" the iPhone 4 with the iPhone 5 and how Apple users had to wait for it and blah blah blah. What's crazy to me is how Samsung fails to mention in that ad that they put out dozens of new phones each YEAR and Apple only puts out ONE! That's because, in MY opinion, Apple does it right :) hehe There will always be Apple "haters" out there...but I can truly say after using an Android for over a year and switching to an iPhone, I would NEVER go back...the ease and comfort of an iPhone and Apple products in general definitely surpass any other.
North Georgia Weather
5:07 pm on Tuesday, September 25, 2012
I'm not bashing them, I just don't use them.
They're not bashing Apple, I think the point of the commercials was that the Droid users already had much of the capabilities that Apple just came out with. Plus, not everyone needs the capabilities the iPhone or S3 have. My wife JUST got a new phone and it doesn't even have internet on it because she didn't want it, doesn't use it. Text and talk and that's it.
I spoke with an old banker friend at a party last weekend and he has now switched back to the Droid from an iPhone. My lead technology teacher has both an iPad and iPhone and she's over the iPhone too, thinking about getting a Droid instead.