Lesson No. 1: The level of innovation, Apple may have placed their own bar too high. Year after year, Steve Jobs used to make us lose the head with products we we did not know we wanted. Today, two years after his death, we continue to expect each new iPhone in clean gutters, fry the popcorn and levitate. So when, year after year, revisions of hardware are small, disappointed.
And the truth is that when Apple introduced its two new models of iPhone last week, its shares fell. Analysts shrugged, saying it contained nothing of “transformer”. And maledicentes service had a full day.
The cheapest model, the iPhone 5C, comes in five colors ($ 100 for the 16GB model with two-year contract, 550 without contract). Basically, it is equal to last year’s iPhone 5, except that the rear rim and are a single piece of plastic instead of metal and glass.
Well, say “plastic” is not entirely correct. The housing is polycarbonate 5C, as a glossy piano lacquered. Better still, the rear edge is curved for the first time since the 2008 iPhones. By touch, we know which side is in our pocket.
This is a fantastic phone at a good price, and will sell like hot cakes – the new iPhones began to be traded on Friday. But just wrap the phone last year in shiny plastic is not a startling breakthrough.
Lesson No. 2: The smart phone has reached maturity.
App Store fills a huge gap. The voice command Siri’s answer came a desperate need. And the high-resolution Retina helped offset the small size of the screens.
Today, however, all phones have these things and the greatest needs were met. Maybe it was the annual megavanços has finished.
In terms of looks, the new 5S ($ 200 with contract, 650 without contract) is exactly equal to the beautiful and svelte iPhone 5 last year. Is now available with aluminum body brushed dark gray (with black glass frame), silver (white frame) or an amazingly elegant golden (also white frame).
Apple secures the chip 5S is twice faster than before. Not that anyone was complaining about exactly the speed of the iPhone, but of course it is very fast. And being a chip 64 bits , Apple says that the graphics of 3D video games are particularly smooth and detailed.
There is also a secondchip dedicated to tracking moving data supplied by the compass, gyro and tilt sensor of the phone. According to Apple, this co-processor should save battery power when using tracking applications fitness , because you can monitor your data throughout the day, meanwhile, chip main, which requires six times more energy can continue to sleep.
But these innovations are quite invisible.
The new camera will interest you more. Its sensor is 15% larger, and individual pixels of light detection are also larger. Take pictures side by side with the predecessor iPhone 5S and you’ll immediately notice the difference: the photos taken in low light are much better with the new phone – sharper, brighter and better color.
5S also has two flashes LED – pure white, the other amber – that fire at the same time. When mixed just right, the light they emit can match the color tone of the theme (moonlight, street lighting, fluorescent lights, whatever). Apple says that this idea is a first for both phones and cameras.
And even works. Pictures taken with flash are much, much better. The skin of your loved ones never turn white or blue-nuclear- Avatar .
5S camera also offers a Burst mode (ten frames per second), 3x magnification during video capture, Instagram style filters and slow motion video absolutely mind boggling (strangely, the photos and videos in filtered Slow does not survive the transfer to the computer, although we can send them via email or text message).
The most touted is the fingerprint sensor 5S, which is cleverly incorporated into the Home button . Prime up this button to wake the phone, let there be finger over half a second and … magic! Binds a phone that nobody else is able to connect without the hassle of having to enter the password (and yes, a password is a bummer: half the users of smart phones never bother to define .)
The best part is that it works – always, in my tests. There is nothing like the efforts recalcitrant and infuriating reading fingerprints of previous phones. It really is fantastic (the usual maledicentes can go lie on a bridge below).
5S is also able to read your fingerprint when buying books, CDs and videos in Apple, dismissing him to enter a password (although this feature is not yet perfect, Apple says it will remedy the problem next Friday). Can teach the iPhone 5S to recognize up to five fingerprints – all his, his and his wife, etc..
According to Apple, our fingerprint is stored only on our phone, encrypted, and is never transmitted or stored online . And the use of the fingerprint reader is optional, we can always use instead a common password.
The sound quality of both new iPhones is excellent, want to touch the ear or use them to fill your office music. Apple says that the battery lasts 25% longer than before, to me, a load has given me for almost two days of moderate use.
So yes, the lesson n. 2 is that the speed of innovation seems to be slowing down, but it does not depress. Focus on the silver lining: you can use your current phone for longer without feeling stale so quickly.
(Speaking of obsolescence: if it had not upgrading from the iPhone 4 or 4S, remember that the new phones need the new charging connector from Apple. already can not use charging cables, column bases or alarm without an adapter that costs $ 35. Grrr …)
Lesson No. 3: If we reach a point where advances in hardware are slowing, advances in software are still only to heat.
new iPhones come with iOS 7, an operating system that can also be redesigned to install on recent models of iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.
This software
does not seem to have anything to do with the old iOS. It’s all white and very sober, almost arid. Your screen Home and dialog boxes using thin sources and a palette of light and bright shades.
Above all, completely abandons the previous principle design preferred Apple’s esqueomorfismo, whereby the objects on the screen mimic real world objects (yellow paper with lines for notes, binding skin for Calendar, wooden shelves for iBooks).
Both
is possible that adore this design as the hate. You may also get used to it. Anyway, browsing in iOS 7 is more efficient, because nothing on the screen is a treat for the eyes, everything boils down to buttons and therefore spend less time looking for things.
Also, Apple did an insane job characteristics. Some are real gains, as Siri, which responds quickly, has a voice more realistic and includes new types of commands (such as “Lighten more screen” and “Turn on Bluetooth”).
An extremely usefulControl Center provides one-touch buttons to change important settings (thanks for the idea, Android!). The function AirDrop shoot photographs, maps, web pages and other items for iOS devices next 7 quickly and wirelessly.
You can read a complete recension iOS 7 on my blog at nytimes.com / pogue (note: I wrote an instruction manual for the iPhone and iOS 7 for an independent publisher, was not ordered by Apple or written with his cooperation .)
competition from Apple in the universe is fierce and Android is gaining ground; among its rivals have up phones that are equally beautiful (HTC), which accept voice commands without having to press a button (Motorola) and all sizes of screen imaginable (Samsung).
But that does not mean that iPhones have been exceeded. The iPhone ecosystem is composed of privileges that sweeten the deal: the best applications; stores online music and movies more well-equipped, easy synchronization of your calendars, addresses and even photos between phones Apple tablets and Macs, and cases and accessories coming from the Earth to the Moon
If we summarize the three lessons this week in a single final thesis, here it is: Apple continues to believe in design and a superb finish. The iPhone is no longer the only smart phone that will keep you enthralled throughout the two-year contract, but continues to be among the few who succeed.
critic David Pogue’s technology The New York Times.
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