Daily Archives: September 13, 2012

Alright, so, here we go.
This is the live blog for Apple’s Sept. 12th Media Event.
Please excuse any lack of creativity. I’m tired. And so are my cats. They’re fighting.

4:30AM:
Still awake. All showered up, snug in my onesie, wrapped in my blanket. This bowl of cereal is so good. So are these V’s. And this Berocca.
USTREAM consists of a music playlist, so far. I just heard Gangnam Style. Awesome.

4:46AM:
Still waiting, with the playlist. I’m just one of 107k viewers. Exciting much?
At the moment, some country song is playing. Probably a classic. I have no idea. I seem to be stuck in some sort of “write-extremely-short-sentences” mode.

5:00AM:
Yep, 5:00AM. We’ve started, and, as of right now, there are 127k viewers. Physical media are being allowed into the arena now, and a livestream is being searched for.

5:07AM:
Seven-million downloads of Mountain Lion OSX. Good topic to open with, I guess. Usually start with statistics like that. Still waiting for actual coverage.
They’re talking about the iPad now, and their sales figures. 84 million to date. The iPad is 91% of all tablet web traffic. Phil Schiller says “I don’t know what these other tablets are doing! They must be in warehouses or store shelves or maybe in peoples’ bottom drawer”.

5:12:
Straight into the iPhone discussion.
“Each and every year we introduce new versions with new features… each time setting the gold standard” – Phil Schiller.
“iPhone 5″ is the confirmed name for the new iPhone.
“[The iPhone 5] is made entirely of glass and aluminium. It’s designed and built to an exacting level of standard unlike anything we, or anything in our industry, have made before” – Phil Schiller

7.6mm thick – 18% thinner than before.
112 grams – 20% lighter than the 4S.
326ppi Retina display, 4-inches. 1136×640 resolution. The iPhone is the same width, but taller.
44% better colour saturation, with full sRGB rendering.
Touch is integrated into the display, so it’s thinner and sharper, with less glare in sunlight.

Wireless is now faster. Accepts 802.11 a/b/g/n networks, and is dual-channeled, up to 150Mbps.

New chip. A6 processor. 2X faster CPU and 2x graphics compared to the A5. This is 22% smaller, and more energy-efficient. Examples given are than Pages is going to launch 2.1x faster than before.

EA Games have made an appearance. Some car-racing game. There are realtime relections in the rear-view mirrors. “Yes, for the first time in Real Racing you can see behind you”.
There’s a two-player race, but it’s asynchronous. Essentially, this is multiplayer racing where both people race at different times. “Time-shifted multiplayer”, it’s called.

5:29AM
Battery-life discussion.

5:30AM
Camera talk. 5-element lens and f/2.4 aperture. Same as the iPhone 4S, essentially, but thinner.
Dynamic low-light mode.
There’s now a sapphire lens crystal cover – durable and clear.
New feature called “Shared Photo Streams”. We all know what that means.
Panorama is officially native, now. Simply swing the phone, and you’ll get a 28 megapixel resulting image. It automatically smooths it all out, even if you shake or wobble a bit.
Video is improved, too. 1080p like the previous, but with better video stabilisation and facial recognition.
The front-facing camera is now 720p.

Facetime now works over cellular networks.

5:36AM:
New audio:
Three microphones now – front, bottom and back. This is for voice recognition and noise cancellation.
There’s a wider spectrum for audio, now, so your voice will sound more natural and clearer. More crisp.

5:38AM:
“The iPhone, from its start, has used the iPod’s connector”.
The connector is, indeed, new. They’re also releasing a bunch of accessories to help converting old docks.

5:41AM:
Now they’re discussing iOS6. The info card of each destination has been partnered with Yelp, as I blogged about earlier. They’re basically showing all the new map features, now that it’s all Google-free.

Safari has a new full-screen, similar to the desktop version. You can share tabs from your desktop to your phone. “iCloud Tabs”.

The new mailbox has a VIP system, where you can mark contacts as VIP, and their mail will go directly to a separate inbox.

Siri updates:
“How did the 49ers do last weekend?” …

Read More