The 9/9/2014 Apple Launch Event Thread

[openwheel]

My Note 3 camera outperforms wifes iPhone 5S camera.

 

[dawheat]

<Serious non-troll intro>

Why would anyone buy the 6+ over similar phones like the Note4/G3? I truly do not understand. Resolution, battery, memory, storage, camera don't compete. I have no doubt Apple will put together a superior software product, but that's not enough. The integrated NFC payment is long overdue and much appreciated. I just don't see the real hardware innovation.

I think the Note 4 matches up quite favorably against the 6 Plus in pretty much every way - improved build quality, amazing screen (1440p SAMOLEDs have been wow), good battery life, 32GB standard + up to 128GB microSD, OIS + quick focus camera, S-pen. Touch ID is probably the only real hardware advantage of the 6 Plus.

NFC payments in-store frankly aren't much different - you're still going to have the fumbling cashiers, the terminals hidden behind the counter, etc. TouchID vs. a PIN certainly is good but it's not much different really.

The in-app checkout that provides a secure, tokenized EMV level transaction IMO is a bigger deal. Combined with TouchID, it's a huge plus for merchants while being easy to use for consumers and should help it really gain adoption. Kudos to Apple here.

 

[sze5003]

I'd get the note 4 over iPhone 6 anytime. Which to me is weird because I don't like touch wiz but I don't like the lock down feel of ios at all.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Guess which one is the LG G3 and which is the Iphone 5s:

http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/smartphones/LG/G3/G3-labscenedarkcrop.jpg

http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/smartphones/HTC/Onemini2/Camera/11/5scrop.jpg

The G3 uses some serious noise reduction algorithms. This was already the case on the G2 where a lot of detail was lost. Looking at a crop its hard to tell, but I don't doubt there are cameras better than the 5s. But to say its shitty would be disingenuous.

Maybe I'm just saying that having gotten the wrong Android cameraphones, which I feel pale even compared to my iPhone 5.

 

[dawheat]

My Note 3 camera outperforms wifes iPhone 5S camera.

Haha we have the same setup. My camera bests hers in daylight and outdoors but gets pooped on in dark lighting. The Note 4 having improved low light performance + OIS is a huge plus to me.

 

[desura]

Tim Cook sucks and is a follower, not an innovator.

My God, so much is wrong with this release. The only truly innovative feature is the NFC payment system. Everything else is so meh.

1. The iphones have incompatible resolutions. Remember the retina ipad. How they took the extraordinary step of doubling the resolution of the ipad in order to get resolution compatibility in even numbers? These iphones are not that in the slightest. This is the first crack in Apple's ability to have a common platform that developers can target. Now they will have to write for 3 or 4 resolutions.

2. The iWatch is too complicated. The Steve Jobs thing would have been to make a round iwatch like Motorola's effort. This iwatch is just a clone of samsung. There's a dial and two different types of touch...it's just too convoluted.

3. the iphones have a the same display "rounding" that Nokia phones have been sporting for years now.

4. They're Big. And there's no option of a 4 inch iphone 6. The iphone from now on will be 4.7, by the looks of things. With two different resolutions.

This is just...bad. These are the same idiots who thought that Beats was a good purchase...

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Lets face it, "you" never will.
Meantime, many of us already have.

You're obviously just saying this in pure bias, but I have thoroughly tested the N5, OnePlus One and Galaxy S5 cameras.

The S5 quality is the best of the 3, but there are some other features I like regarding the 5s camera, and that would be speed. The S5 takes about 3 seconds to even open the app to get to a shot.

I'm not saying there aren't better cameraphones. But there's a lot of phones that are far worse which is what results in the perceived bias of bad camera quality amongst Android phones.

 

[lopri]

Well, obviously those who are invested in iOS echosystem will prefer it over the N3/N4. It can be tough for some to make the switch from iOS to Android and vice versa, for various (actual or perceived) reasons.

Take myself for example, at this point I am scared to switch to iPhones/iPads and I don't think I will ever have the gut to do it.

 

[Phokus]

The G3 uses some serious noise reduction algorithms. This was already the case on the G2 where a lot of detail was lost. Looking at a crop its hard to tell, but I don't doubt there are cameras better than the 5s. But to say its shitty would be disingenuous.

Maybe I'm just saying that having gotten the wrong Android cameraphones, which I feel pale even compared to my iPhone 5.

LOL - noise reduction doesn't turn an almost completely dark picture into a light one. Stop defending bad iphone cameras.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Tim Cook sucks and is a follower, not an innovator.

My God, so much is wrong with this release. The only truly innovative feature is the NFC payment system. Everything else is so meh.

1. The iphones have incompatible resolutions. Remember the retina ipad. How they took the extraordinary step of doubling the resolution of the ipad in order to get resolution compatibility in even numbers? These iphones are not that in the slightest. This is the first crack in Apple's ability to have a common platform that developers can target. Now they will have to write for 3 or 4 resolutions.

2. The iWatch is too complicated. The Steve Jobs thing would have been to make a round iwatch like Motorola's effort. This iwatch is just a clone of samsung. There's a dial and two different types of touch...it's just too convoluted.

3. the iphones have a the same display "rounding" that Nokia phones have been sporting for years now.

4. They're Big. And there's no option of a 4 inch iphone 6. The iphone from now on will be 4.7, by the looks of things. With two different resolutions.

This is just...bad. These are the same idiots who thought that Beats was a good purchase...

Regarding Point #1: They're trying to move beyond hard coding resolutions and assets for applications. That way you can scale much easier with resolutions. Isn't the ideal way like Android anyway where resolution shouldn't be an issue for vector based graphics?

Point #4: So? 4.7" is decent. And if no 4" phone is such a big fail, then are you crying at every move any Android OEM makes because we've LONG passed the era of 4" phones...

 

[Anubis]

just FYI you dont have to enter you pin with the latest version of wallet, it just works

and yes the camera in the G3 is pretty freeking awesome

 

[sze5003]

Regarding Point #1: They're trying to move beyond hard coding resolutions and assets for applications. That way you can scale much easier with resolutions. Isn't the ideal way like Android anyway where resolution shouldn't be an issue for vector based graphics?

Point #4: So? 4.7" is decent. And if no 4" phone is such a big fail, then are you crying at every move any Android OEM makes because we've LONG passed the era of 4" phones...

I tried using my friend's iPhone 5s and it has a 4 inch screen but I could not do it after using a 4.7 and 5.5 inch device. It just looked way too small and uncomfortable for me to type on but I also have big hands. 4.7 is decent.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

LOL - noise reduction doesn't turn an almost completely dark picture into a light one. Stop defending bad iphone cameras.

I'm not. Those are two separate issues. Noise reduction results in severe loss of noise. Its hard to understand how dim that photo is, and its likely VERY DIM, which was why the iPhone was not able to capture that image at all. Part of that is because Apple caps shutter speeds at 1/15, so without a proper night mode or slow shutter mode, there are inherent limits.

With that said the f/2.2 or whatever the lens has as well as the decent ISO noise capabilities of the 5s allow it to give pretty decent low light photos. Just go around Google and search for samples.

If you're showing an image that can't even be exposed properly, then yeah that's a limitation of the camera, and likely a very challenging image.

With that said the G2/G3 is known to overexpose. Overexposed night shots also tend to appeal to human eyes or something. They're also known to use extreme noise reduction techniques thus reducing detail.

Of course you don't care about any technical details at all. Your agenda is just to slam Apple, so go right ahead my friend.

 

[rcpratt]

Say goodbye to 90% of the phablet marketshare Google.




Anybody who can afford an iPhone uses one, unless they want a big screen. Now that android doesn't have bigger screens, what DOES it have that apple doesn't? And how will Google retain those phablet users it had locked in since 2012, who now are jumping ship?

I just choked on my sandwich. Thanks.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

just FYI you dont have to enter you pin with the latest version of wallet, it just works

and yes the camera in the G3 is pretty freeking awesome

But then wallet loses security if you have no PIN. I feel that having a fingerprint scanner just makes app security a lot easier. Its far easier to get into LastPass or an app that's PIN locked today like Mint, Personal Capital, PayPal, Google Wallet, etc. I wouldn't mind a good fingerprint scanner.

 

[purbeast0]

haha i just cut out the 1:1 paper size and holy shit the ip6+ is ridiculously big. really doubt i'll get it. it is like an inch shorter than my wifes kindle lol.

 

[desura]

I tried using my friend's iPhone 5s and it has a 4 inch screen but I could not do it after using a 4.7 and 5.5 inch device. It just looked way too small and uncomfortable for me to type on but I also have big hands. 4.7 is decent.

I actually prefer using my 4 inch ipod touch to my 4.7 inch moto x.

 

[purbeast0]

also, the ip6 is almost identical width/height to my wifes ip5 otterbox case. the footprint is like almost perfect to it when just putting her case on the cutout.

 

[desura]

Regarding Point #1: They're trying to move beyond hard coding resolutions and assets for applications. That way you can scale much easier with resolutions. Isn't the ideal way like Android anyway where resolution shouldn't be an issue for vector based graphics?

Point #4: So? 4.7" is decent. And if no 4" phone is such a big fail, then are you crying at every move any Android OEM makes because we've LONG passed the era of 4" phones...

1. Tell me more about that, and if it's working well. Gut feeling is that it doesn't work perfectly.

4. I simply disagree about the larger phones. Pocketability is more important to me. The whole point of retina was to make it possible to cram more data into the small area.

 

[Phokus]

I'm not. Those are two separate issues. Noise reduction results in severe loss of noise. Its hard to understand how dim that photo is, and its likely VERY DIM, which was why the iPhone was not able to capture that image at all. Part of that is because Apple caps shutter speeds at 1/15, so without a proper night mode or slow shutter mode, there are inherent limits.

With that said the f/2.2 or whatever the lens has as well as the decent ISO noise capabilities of the 5s allow it to give pretty decent low light photos. Just go around Google and search for samples.

If you're showing an image that can't even be exposed properly, then yeah that's a limitation of the camera, and likely a very challenging image.

With that said the G2/G3 is known to overexpose. Overexposed night shots also tend to appeal to human eyes or something. They're also known to use extreme noise reduction techniques thus reducing detail.

Of course you don't care about any technical details at all. Your agenda is just to slam Apple, so go right ahead my friend.

So you're saying Apple is bad at camera software, got it.

 

[purbeast0]

It will only become foolish when people stop buying Apple devices by the millions. Until that time comes (if ever) it is simply smart business. Minimize your per unit cost and maximize the per unit price. We geeks care a lot about the hardware. Everyone else I know has no idea what is inside their phone nor do they care.

^^ same with resolution. most people don't give a shit if it's not "1080p" other than fanboys who are trying to have extra checkmarks in some columns. if people really cared about all that shit, then pc gaming would be the #1 gaming industry, and streaming netflix wouldn't be as successful as it is at all.

 

[lopri]

4. I simply disagree about the larger phones. Pocketability is more important to me. The whole point of retina was to make it possible to cram more data into the small area.

You earned my respect for being logically consistent. And your viewpoint is also a very respectable one.

 

[rcpratt]

^^ same with resolution. most people don't give a shit if it's not "1080p" other than fanboys who are trying to have extra checkmarks in some columns. if people really cared about all that shit, then pc gaming would be the #1 gaming industry, and streaming netflix wouldn't be as successful as it is at all.

Four years ago, more pixels were revolutionary, innovative. Now they're irrelevant. Got it.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

So you're saying Apple is bad at camera software, got it.

Do you have anything productive to say?

Go read the Nexus 5 review. The initial shutter speeds could hover around 1/6 - 1/8 for low light or indoor situations. What happened was users were not happy about that and Google fixed that with an OTA to use faster shutter speeds.

So who knows why Apple caps shutter speeds at 1/15, but its likely so that people don't experience too much camera shake. Its not too hard to meter properly, and if they can meter in most cases, they can meter in low light too, but it doesn't mean that it makes sense for the general public.

In using my OPO right now, if you want a decently exposed night shot, you really need to use slow shutter or settle for a high noise shot. Sometimes I just don't bother. There's no way I'm going to hold the camera steady for 1 second, but nor is ISO3200 going to be an acceptable image. I just shrug and move on.

I do think that Apple needs to offer some more modes in the camera. A night mode would be useful to either allow ISO to be bumped up or shutter speeds to be further reduced.

I'm willing to bet that even with Apple's "terrible" camera software according to you, that it produces great images for most people, and in my case it produces better images than the Android phones I have on hand.

 

[purbeast0]

Four years ago, more pixels were revolutionary, innovative. Now they're irrelevant. Got it.

if that is what you got out of that post, then all hope is lost for you.