40 replies to this topic

[Sneaky Snake]

Tetsuya, on 13 September 2017 - 10:43 PM, said:

How are they gonna USE that 4K ATV?  

I'd blow my 1TB data cap in like a week.

They all have unlimited bandwidth. It's typically around an extra $10-$20/month to get unlimited bandwidth (versus 500ish GB) in Canada. They are already using their TV's built in Netflix app and stuff to watch 4K content, but would much rather use the Apple TV.

[Tetsuya]

Sneaky Snake, on 14 September 2017 - 09:48 AM, said:

They all have unlimited bandwidth. It's typically around an extra $10-$20/month to get unlimited bandwidth (versus 500ish GB) in Canada. They are already using their TV's built in Netflix app and stuff to watch 4K content, but would much rather use the Apple TV.

Yeah, Comcast wants another 50$ out of me for unlimited  bandwidth.  Which would totally invalidate the point of cutting the cord in the first place, which was saving money.

[Cougar]

The more I read about the X the more unsure I am about it. The screen real estate is actually less than a Plus; it’s not as wide, and uses the non-Plus size class so you don’t get the Plus UI in landscape. The notch in landscape looks hideous too. And after seeing some mockups with the notch hidden with the black bar, it boggles my mind Apple didn’t do that. It looks so much better.

Anyway, a silver lining to not upgrading this year: I don’t have to decide between an X and the Plus. Gives them a year to iron out the kinks.

[Thain Esh Kelch]

Cougar, on 14 September 2017 - 10:36 PM, said:

The more I read about the X the more unsure I am about it. The screen real estate is actually less than a Plus; it's not as wide, and uses the non-Plus size class so you don't get the Plus UI in landscape. The notch in landscape looks hideous too. And after seeing some mockups with the notch hidden with the black bar, it boggles my mind Apple didn't do that. It looks so much better.

It really serves three purposes:
1. Somewhere logical to put the cameras and the speaker. Look at the Xiaomi’s Mi Mix 2 - Its speaker is right at the top at an angle, which *may* not be comfortable, and the camera is at the bottom!
2. You can orient your phone much more easily. Since you can see the notch, you always know which end is the top.
3. Its branding. From now on, all high end cell phones will shoot for a full body screen, and Apple his smartly designed it with a notch, so whenever someone looks at your phone, they'll immediately recoignice it as an iPhone. Quite clever actually.

Now, wether you think it is smart or not, that if of course up to you.

[Cougar]

Thain Esh Kelch, on 15 September 2017 - 01:59 AM, said:

It really serves three purposes:
1. Somewhere logical to put the cameras and the speaker. Look at the Xiaomi’s Mi Mix 2 - Its speaker is right at the top at an angle, which *may* not be comfortable, and the camera is at the bottom!
2. You can orient your phone much more easily. Since you can see the notch, you always know which end is the top.
3. Its branding. From now on, all high end cell phones will shoot for a full body screen, and Apple his smartly designed it with a notch, so whenever someone looks at your phone, they'll immediately recoignice it as an iPhone. Quite clever actually.

Now, wether you think it is smart or not, that if of course up to you.

1. Not arguing against its existence or the placement. Just be software decisions.
2. Don’t buy it. You still have the side buttons, and even if they’d gone with black bars you’d still see it. It’d just look nicer.
3. Won’t argue that it’s a fringe benefit, but you can bet that Ive’s end goal is a perfect screen.

[AussieMacGamer]

Frost, on 13 September 2017 - 11:27 PM, said:

Face ID is dildos. Extra steps, doesn't work unless your phone is looking at you, won't see through various job and other related gear... right now I can unlock my phone and then tell Siri to play something on my car's sound system by reaching in my pocket, no removal necessary. Face ID can't do that.

I don't know that there is any extra steps? on the angles and distances issue:

“It’s quite similar to the ranges you’d be at if you put your phone in front-facing camera mode [to take a picture],” says Federighi. Once your space from eyes to mouth come into view that would be the matching range — it can work at fairly extreme angles — if it’s down low because your phone is in your lap it can unlock it as long as it can see those features. Basically, If you’re using your phone across a natural series of angles it can unlock it.”

I get what you mean, but I personally don't unlock mine in this type of scenario very often. For the vast majority of users I think Face ID will be fantastic, myself included. Unfortunately, if you often find yourself in a situation where your face is covered or the sensor cannot see a nose, mouth and two eyes ( either you wear a niqab, drive a race car for a living, have a physical deformity that has led to you having no mouth or nose, wear IR blocking glasses most of the time, have a trunk instead of a nose, have an upside down nose, have an imaginary nose, have two noses, have two mouths, or you have three mouths, four noses and only half of one eye). I think Apple will continue to have a phone with Touch ID available for some time, and its not impossible to see them making one with both Touch ID and Face ID in the future ('iPhone Web 3.0 ultimate paranoia edition').

P.S you've always been able to get Siri to perform said action, from iPhone 6s onwards she/he can even do it without you touching the device at all.

Face ID looks fantastic, the iPhone X however not really my thing. The gesture based UI is nice (i'd have implemented it a little differently), but it isn't something i'm willing to pay a premium for, especially considering it could easily be implemented on the existing iPhone. The camera isn't significantly better, and the screen is nice but not something i'm willing to cough up more money for.

Apple needed to find a way to sqeeez more money out of people who were willing to pay for a more expensive iPhone, and I personally think they've found a good balance. People who absolutely love the device can pay more money for future tech now, the rest of us can enjoy it when it eventually trickles into the mainstream device. It's a more genuine solution than just putting out one with premium materials (or a slightly larger screen and a bundled stylus)

What i'm not happy about is them killing off the 128gb tier. The pricing jump to 256 is brutal, i'm going to be downgrading to 64gb looks like.

[AussieMacGamer]

Sneaky Snake, on 13 September 2017 - 10:30 AM, said:

Several other friends are very interested in the Series 3 Watch with Cellular.

Spike, on 12 September 2017 - 06:33 PM, said:

I also dont care for cellular on Apple Watch, would much rather have thinner or longer battery life.

Genuinely interested to know what they find compelling about a Cellular Apple Watch.

I personally find it interesting that they went for this. The implementation is kind of popsnizzlety in that you have to pay to split your phone number onto it. I personally would have rather had an Apple watch that at least always tells the time, not only when you raise it. It doesn't need to get any thinner until it has this (honestly it's already relatively thin as watches come).

Janichsan, on 12 September 2017 - 02:49 PM, said:

The Apple TV 4K looks interesting, but it's pretty much useless in Germany due to a lack of supported content.

Yeah its a nice little box, luckily our biggest TV networks in Australia all provide a native App, without these it'd be useless

Cougar, on 12 September 2017 - 03:29 PM, said:

3D Touch is a gimmick.

I literally use the 3D keyboard so much that i'll never change to another phone that doesn't have it or something better. Definitely not a gimmick; your point also definitely highlights however the extent to which the iPhone X' UI re-imagining is pretty uninspiring. I really wish it made better use of 3D touch.

[Frost]

AussieMacGamer, on 17 September 2017 - 08:40 AM, said:

I get what you mean, but I personally don't unlock mine in this type of scenario very often. For the vast majority of users I think Face ID will be fantastic, myself included. Unfortunately, if you often find yourself in a situation where your face is covered or the sensor cannot see a nose, mouth and two eyes ( either you wear a niqab, drive a race car for a living, have a physical deformity that has led to you having no mouth or nose, wear IR blocking glasses most of the time, have a trunk instead of a nose, have an upside down nose, have an imaginary nose, have two noses, have two mouths, or you have three mouths, four noses and only half of one eye).

Har har har. How about spending a few hours a night on stakeout for a persistent poacher for about a month with law enforcement on speed dial, with face covered so you don't stick out like a sore thumb and aren't covered in welts the next day from the mosquitos?

Touch ID on my iPhone 7 still worked. Hell, I even added my gloves' touch capacitive right thumb to it (interestingly enough it can tell the difference between the fingers on the glove as I guess there are tiny variations in the texturing; that's kind of cool).

[Sneaky Snake]

AussieMacGamer, on 17 September 2017 - 08:55 AM, said:

Genuinely interested to know what they find compelling about a Cellular Apple Watch.

They are really into working out, especially outdoors. Being able to take only their watch and their Bluetooth headphones with them, while still having access to incoming calls/texts is really important. Typically their workout clothes don't really have a convenient spot to hold a phone, especially a large plus model phone, and they would really rather not have to bring a backpack for the singular purpose of carrying their phone.

It's a pretty niche market, but for those who want it - it really is a game changer.

[DirtyHarry50]

Does the Apple Watch stream music to the new wireless earbuds? That would be pretty cool. The cell phone feature immediately made me think of Maxwell Smart who if I recall correctly had a cell watch in the 1960's. He was ahead of his time that guy.

I am an odd case (don't do it!) but I take my iPhone SE with me far more often to use it as an iPod than as a phone. I rarely take it with me otherwise unless I need it to call a cab home from someplace.

As for exercise, I go out walking quite a lot and again, that's when I want a device for music. Around here it's often in shorts and a t-shirt so if the Watch can beam music to earbuds that would interest me I guess but not enough to pay what they want for it. I don't care about apps or phone on a watch. Heck, I don't usually care about what time it is either. A wrist iPod would be awesome for me. Too bad that's not gonna happen.

[AussieMacGamer]

Sneaky Snake, on 18 September 2017 - 12:33 PM, said:

It's a pretty niche market, but for those who want it - it really is a game changer.

Agreed. However I feel like it's a niche use case created out of Apple's reluctance to implement a better UX for using music on Apple Watch. Also kills me how the W1 Chip is locked down to only a few products. I'd kill for a wireless headphone that wasn't so painful to use

[Cougar]

DirtyHarry50, on 18 September 2017 - 04:25 PM, said:

Does the Apple Watch stream music to the new wireless earbuds? That would be pretty cool. The cell phone feature immediately made me think of Maxwell Smart who if I recall correctly had a cell watch in the 1960's. He was ahead of his time that guy.

I am an odd case (don't do it!) but I take my iPhone SE with me far more often to use it as an iPod than as a phone. I rarely take it with me otherwise unless I need it to call a cab home from someplace.

As for exercise, I go out walking quite a lot and again, that's when I want a device for music. Around here it's often in shorts and a t-shirt so if the Watch can beam music to earbuds that would interest me I guess but not enough to pay what they want for it. I don't care about apps or phone on a watch. Heck, I don't usually care about what time it is either. A wrist iPod would be awesome for me. Too bad that's not gonna happen.

Yes, it supports Bluetooth with AirPods or anything else, via Apple Music (would require your phone without the cellular watch, obviously) or syncing playlists. If you're not interested in the fancy features, Apple seems to be content with keeping old models around and dropping the price. In two or three years I bet you'll be able to get one for $150 or less.

I'm the exact opposite: I hate having things on my wrist, but I have no problem having a big Plus in my pocket (granted, I don't run). Maybe in 2050 when it's a holographic band around your wrist, I'll get it.

[Sneaky Snake]

DirtyHarry50, on 18 September 2017 - 04:25 PM, said:

Does the Apple Watch stream music to the new wireless earbuds? That would be pretty cool. The cell phone feature immediately made me think of Maxwell Smart who if I recall correctly had a cell watch in the 1960's. He was ahead of his time that guy.

You can use any Bluetooth headphones with the Apple Watch. With WatchOS 4 you can also sync as many playlists as you want (up to 5ish GB's of space) onto the watch in order to listen to that music directly without needing your phone or an internet connection. Previously it was limited to just 1 playlist.

[DirtyHarry50]

Frost, on 18 September 2017 - 12:54 AM, said:

Har har har. How about spending a few hours a night on stakeout for a persistent poacher for about a month with law enforcement on speed dial, with face covered so you don't stick out like a sore thumb and aren't covered in welts the next day from the mosquitos?

Touch ID on my iPhone 7 still worked. Hell, I even added my gloves' touch capacitive right thumb to it (interestingly enough it can tell the difference between the fingers on the glove as I guess there are tiny variations in the texturing; that's kind of cool).

Having you considered laying some mines in strategic locations where the animals wouldn't be hurt but somebody who does not belong where they are might run into a little trouble? All's fair in love and war as they say and I am pretty sure it isn't love that is keeping you up at night, well not for the poacher certainly. It sure would be terrible if he lost a leg or two in a hunting accident, wouldn't it? Hmm, and then there is always good old fashioned bear traps. You could go to sleep and not worry about it. I'm sure you'd hear something when one of them snaps.

[Frost]

DirtyHarry50, on 19 September 2017 - 10:12 PM, said:

Having you considered laying some mines in strategic locations where the animals wouldn't be hurt but somebody who does not belong where they are might run into a little trouble? All's fair in love and war as they say and I am pretty sure it isn't love that is keeping you up at night, well not for the poacher certainly. It sure would be terrible if he lost a leg or two in a hunting accident, wouldn't it? Hmm, and then there is always good old fashioned bear traps. You could go to sleep and not worry about it. I'm sure you'd hear something when one of them snaps.

My kit is pretty impressive, but land mines are beyond even me.

Otherwise claymores with tripwires would've been the first line of defense.

[the Battle Cat]

I'll vouch for claymores with tripwires from personal experience.  Absolutely devastating.  Everything in the directional cone of fire dies shredded and broken.

[Frost]

the Battle Cat, on 21 September 2017 - 09:55 AM, said:

I'll vouch for claymores with tripwires from personal experience.  Absolutely devastating.  Everything in the directional cone of fire dies shredded and broken.

It's basically equivalent to firing 44 shells of 12-gauge #1 Buck simultaneously... except make the shot balls steel ball bearings instead of steel-plated lead shot, and put a frakton of energy behind them like they got launched out of a 50-inch barrel with way too much powder.

Claymore: Because frak your infantry advance, we've got shotgun mines.

[the Battle Cat]

Frost, on 21 September 2017 - 11:32 AM, said:

Claymore: Because frak your infantry advance, we've got shotgun mines.

Made me lol out loud through my mouth hole.

[Thain Esh Kelch]

the Battle Cat, on 21 September 2017 - 05:13 PM, said:

lol out loud

[the Battle Cat]