The Top 10 Things & Features Apple Announced Today - September 9, 2014 Highlights
Apple had it's annual iPhone unveiling today and it included a bunch of other additional information. And we've picked the ten biggest stories from today's announcement and highlighted them below. Enjoy!
iPhone 6
The iPhone 6 is the 4.7-inch iPhone we have all heard so much about for some time now. It is the thinnest iPhone ever made at 6.9 mm thin, that's even thinner than the iPhone 6 Plus. The iPhone 6 has an improved screen over last year's 5S, and features a 1334 x 750 Retina HD screen which boasts 38% more pixels than the 5S.
The iPhone 6 will be available to pre-order on Sept. 12 and will ship on Sept. 19. It will be available in three different memory options: 16GB, 64GB and 128GB. The pricing for the iPhone 6 is as follows: $199 for 16GB, $299 for 64GB and $399 for 128GB.
iPhone 6 Plus
The iPhone 6 Plus is the 5.5-inch iPhone we've all been expecting. Some had speculated previously that it might be called the iPhone Air, but that has now been shown to be untrue. The iPhone 6 Plus is also very thin at 7.1 mm and will have a full HD display of 1920 x 1080, that's 185% more pixels than the iPhone 5S.
The iPhone 6 Plus will be available for pre-order on Sept. 12 and will ship on Sept. 19. It will be available in three different memory options: 16GB, 64GB and 128GB. The pricing for the iPhone 6 Plus is as follows: $299 for 16GB, $399 for 64GB and $499 for 128GB.
Retina HD
Apple's next generation of Retina display is supposed to be a significant improvement over previous iterations. Apple through around a lot of buzzwords during this part of the presentation which, at this point, are meaningless until they provide more information. But the Retina HD is an LCD display that is "ion strengthened," has an "improved polarizer," and has a "photo-aligned IPS liquid crystal" and an "ultrathin backlight." The new displays supposedly have an improved viewing angle.
Reachability
One of the reasons Apple held out so long on their smaller iPhone screen sizes is because they claimed that their 3.5-inch and 4-inch displays were perfect for one-handed operation. Well now that they've caved to market demand and opted for much bigger displays, they still haven't abandoned their commitment to one-handed use. Today they announced that iOS 8 will feature a "reachability" function that will move the display content halfway down the screen if the user simply double-taps the home button.
iPhone 6 Battery Benchmarks
As far as battery life goes, last year's iPhone 5S had 40 hours of talk time; 10 hours of video, Wi-Fi browsing, LTE browsing and 3G talk time; 8 hours of 3G browsing and 10 days of standby time.
The iPhone 6 has 50 hours of audio talk time; 11 hours of video and Wi-Fi browsing; 10 LTE and 3G browsing; 14 hours of 3G talk time and 10 days of standby time.
The iPhone 6 Plus has 80 hours of audio talk time; 14 hours of video playback; twelve hours of Wi-Fi browsing, LTE browsing and 3G browsing; 24 hours of 3G talk time and 16 days of standby time.
Apple Pay
Apple Pay is Apple's mobile payment solution and it will launch with iOS8 this fall. It will allow users to make payments with their phone using the phone's NFC chip and Touch ID. Users' cards are kept in Passbook and you simply select the card you want to use, hold the phone up to the pay terminal and press your finger on to the Touch ID sensor. That's it.
Vain Glory
Apple debuted a new game from developer Super Evil Megacorp that was made to run exclusively with touch-based controls. It's called Vain Glory and looks like a third-player view fantasy action gamer. The graphics on this game were reported to be really good, like as good as some of the next-gen gaming consoles.
iOS 8
The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus will both launch with iOS 8, and users of certain previous iOS models will be able to receive the update. The following iOS products will get iOS 8: iPhone 4s, 5, 5s, 5c, iPod touch 5th gen, iPad 2, iPad 3, iPad Air, iPad 4, and the two iPad mini models. Apple said iOS 8 will be available on Sept 17th.
Apple Watch
Apple announced the Apple Watch which will not launch until 2015. It will track user health and fitness info with its built-in sensor array and run apps and act as a notification center for your iPhones incoming alerts. Apple didn't say anything about how the watch will connect to the iPhone or how good the battery life will be. They did announce that the Apple Watch will start at $349.
U2 Album
U2 performed at the end of Apple's event today, and in a surprise announcement, Tim Cook and Bono announced that U2's latest album is currently available free in iTunes and on iTunes Radio. The album will remain an Apple exclusive through October 13, so go check it out if you have iTunes.