Apple iPhone Event Roundup

This time was a different kind of an event. There was not much of hush-hush in the air. Everyone knew what they were expecting. But the exciting part was Apple showcasing them which was still good.

There are two parts to the iPhone now: iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C

iOS 7

The release date for Apple’s biggest iPhone software update has been announced. It shall be on 18th of September. Also, the GM version of iOS 7 was seeded to the developers today. With the iOS 7 Pages, Keynote, Numbers, iMovie and iPhoto will be free for new iOS devices. This is bold move by Apple. You can download them while setting up your iPhone for the first time. People can no longer complain about the unavailability of a productivity suite out of the box for Apple devices. They now get the world’s best productivity suite for free.

iPhone 5C

No, iPhone 5S is not the cheap iPhone that everyone was expecting. In fact, it is the iPhone 5 with small stuff tweaked. It is still powered by the A6 processor. Instead of making the iPhone 5 cheap, they made the iPhone 5C. It is made of polycarbonate which brings the cost of manufacturing down. It comes in five colours: White, Red, Black, Yellow and Green. Apple has also made soft silicon cases for these iPhones which go great with the phone for $29  a piece. It costs $99 for the 16Gigs and $199 for the 32Gigs with a two-year contract. The price of the unlocked iPhone 5C is $549 for the 16Gigs and $649 for the 32Gigs.

iPhone 5S

This is where Apple was shining in the event yesterday. Usually, the ‘S’ iPhones were just an improvement with the Camera and the processor. But this time, Apple has done more than that.

To start with, there is a third colour to the iPhone 5S: Champagne Gold, which actually looks good. There are three parts to the update: Processor, Camera, Security.

Processor:

The iPhone 5S will be using the A7 processor. This is the world’s first phone to use a 64 bit processor on a phone! It gives 2X better CPU and 2X better GPU as compared to the earlier iPhone. It does this all, by also increasing the efficiency of the battery by a bit. 4 Billion transistors are embedded inside one tiny chip. Also, the A7 processor supports the OpenGL ES 3.0. Infinity Blade III was demoed to show the raw processing power of the device.

M7 Motion Coprocessor: The phone is powered by another processor under the hood called the M7 Motion Coprocessor. It can measure motion data from the accelerometer, gyroscope, and compass all the time even when the phone is locked. It can measure all your stuff for the fitness freaks!

Camera

Another place where Apple really raised the bars for this category. The new iSight sensor has a 15 percent larger lens and bigger pixels. Continuous burst mode where the phone can take up to 10 photos per second and it chooses the best photo for you automatically. Finally, a dual flash. With two different flashes, there are a 1000 different combinations to the flash which makes using the flash better and the colours more pleasing. It also has auto image stabilisation and live video zoom. One of the biggest additions is definitely the 720p 120fps video recording.

Security

The ‘S’ should definitely stand for security this time. This is the biggest update in the mobile industry in terms of security. Apple has done a cool Touch ID. It is nothing but a fingerprint sensor. They are not something new to the mobile market. But for the first time, they are flawless. It works for multiple fingers and 360 degrees. Also, it is embedded into the Home button of the iPhone, so when you place your finger on the home button, the phone unlocks itself. Also, it is accurate and fast thanks to the A7 processor. It can also be used to replace the typing of password every time we make purchases in the App Store, iTunes and iBooks.

This one also comes with amazing case made by Apple. They come in 6 colours and they are made out of leather to give the premium feel to the iPhone. They cost $39 a piece and definitely seem to be worth the price.

This is definitely the biggest iPhone update and 64-bit processor for phones is a game changing state of the art technology for the market which the developers shall embrace over a period of time. The A7 processor makes a lot of stuff in the iPhone possible and we hope for more to come.