You know how Apple has an event every September in which they announce iPhones and other assorted technology devices and everyone freaks out about 2 weeks before when an invite lands in the inboxes of all the big tech blogs and has an Apple logo and a few words that don’t reveal anything useful and gets deconstructed to hell by Apple bloggers everywhere clamouring for a piece of the news that Re/code broke the day before?
Yeah, that happened. See you Tuesday 9th.
Source Kurt Colbeck (Twitter)
We’ve managed to get our paws on the script* for tomorrow’s Apple event, so here are a few snippets of what you should expect. Continue reading →
While some of us were frantically liveblogging proceedings from Apple’s San Francisco event, the guy behind the hilariously accurate Twitter account @NextTechBlog did things a bit differently. In the space of 12 tweets, they said more about the world’s reaction to the iPhone 5 and new iPods than a thousand word blog post ever could. If you are a tweeter and not following them, you’re seriously missing out.
ERMAHGERHD ERNDERHD.
It’s iPhone time again! We’ve been through what we expect from the event, but there’s always the chance that Tim Cook will spring a few surprises on us, so check back here from 1PM EDT/5PM GMT/6PM BST for all the latest news!
All times given are BST. This liveblog has now ended.
16:50 Hello all. I am ready.
16:55 Things should kick off in just over an hour.
17:00 Liveblogging today we have Xavier Voigt-Hill and maybe Henry Hunt.
https://twitter.com/LaughingStoic/status/24591741298422988817:29 Just over half an hour to go now. What do we all want tonight?
17:44 Nobody’s inside the Yerba Buena Center yet, so things might be a bit late.
17:50 Theoretically my internet connection could be faster, but Community needs to download. Community > iPhone.
17:52 And everyone is inside! This could start on time after all.
17:56 My mouse is dying, but I will plod on.
17:59 About to get going…
18:00 And here’s Tim Cook!
18:01 Introducing the Barcelona Apple Store.
18:03 Video of more Apple Stores selling more stuff.
18:05 Now Tim is talking Mac and Mountain Lion.
18:06 7 million Mountain Lion upgrades so far.
18:07 Now onto the iPad.
18:08 17 million iPads sold April to June. Last year Apple had 62% tablet marketshare.
18:09 That figure is now 68%. iPads count for 91% of all tablet web traffic.
18:10 700k apps in the App Store. 250,000 designed for iPad.
18:12 400 million iOS devices sold up to June.
18:13 Phil Schiller is here to talk iPhone.
18:13 ‘Today we’re introducing iPhone 5.’
18:14 It rose out of the stage. It’s rotating. It’s tall. It looks leaked.
18:15 Entirely glass and aluminium. It is the thinnest and lightest iPhone at 7.6mm. The world’s thinnest smartphone. Eat that Razr.
18:17 1136 x 640 4″ display, as rumoured. 326ppi.
18:18 Why did Apple do this? So you can see more emails. I DON’T WANT TO SEE MY EMAILS.
18:19 Black bars on either side for existing apps that haven’t been updated for the 16:9 screen.
18:20 The display looks better apparently. Perfect aspect ratio for video and 44% more saturation.
18:21 HSPA+ and LTE. Single chip for voice, data and radio.
18:22 LTE for Sprint, Verizon and AT&T in the US, Rogers, Telus and Bell in Canada. EE in the UK!
18:25 A6 chip has 2x faster CPU and 2x faster graphics than A5.
18:27 Rob Murray from Firemonkeys is showing off Real Racing 3.
18:30 Longer battery life than the 4S.
18:31 There’s a sapphire crystal in the 8MP camera. Why the fuck not?
18:33 A photo from the camera. It looks awesome.
18:34 Built-in panorama mode lets you take 28MP images.
https://twitter.com/hamburger/status/24593812270418739218:37 New dock connector is very small. 3 microphones for noise cancellation. 720p FaceTime HD camera on the front.
18:38 80% smaller ‘Lightning’ dock connector. It’s reversible and durable.
18:41 Here’s a dock connector adapter. This thing is tiny.
18:42 Scott Forstall on stage with iOS 6. Not much new to see here.
18:43 Demoing the new non-Google maps. We’ve already looked at what this all means.
18:44 You can tap to tweet or share on Facebook in Notification Center. Fullscreen mode in Safari too.
18:47 Now Forstall is showing off Passbook and Siri stuff. No sign of NFC though.
18:51 My internet just died, but I’m alive. Siri can tell you sports scores, good movies and Facebook for you.
18:53 And now we are wrapping up with a Jony Ive video. It comes in white too.
18:54 Bob Mansfield is doing the Bob Mansfield and talking about internals.
18:59 American contract pricing is the same. 16GB = $199, 32GB = $299, 64GB = $399. iPhone 4 is now free on contract. 16GB 4S is $99. Pre-order Friday for the September 21st launch.
19:02 iOS 6 coming to iPhone 4 and later on September 19th for free. iPod Touch 4th generation is included in this.
19:03 Let’s talk about iTunes. New look store with Facebook EVERYWHERE.
19:06 iTunes 11 is coming too. It looks fantastic.
19:11 New mini player looks great too.
19:14 iCloud is now built into iTunes for syncing film positions and stuff.
19:15 New iTunes coming October for Mac and PC.
19:16 New iPod Nano is 38% thinner at 5.4mm and has a widescreen multitouch display, physical buttons and a Lightning connector. And a home button.
19:26 The 5th generation iPod Touch is 6.1mm, 88g and has the same display as the iPhone 5. It also has the A5 chip. YOu get 40 hours of music from the battery.
19:28 5MP rear iSight camera actually takes good photos. I might need one of these things.
19:29 iPod Touch Loop now…
19:30 Push something on the bottom and a lanyard strap holder thing appears, like on cameras and some phones.
19:31 720p FaceTime HD camera and Bluetooth 4.0, just like the iPhone 5. AirPlay mirroring is also coming to iPod.
19:32 Siri is also coming to the new iPod Touch!
19:33 Five colour choices too, each with its own loop thing.
19:34 Shut up and take my money and give me an orange one!
19:34 These are white, black, cyan, yellow and red. I want the cyan.
19:34 New EarPods. They’re futuristic earbuds that have taken 3 years to design.
19:38 iPod pricing. New ones are coming in October.
19:41 High resolution iPhone 5 for you via TNW. Click for a bigger view.
19:42 And that’s that. Playing us out are the Foo Fighters.
19:45 To follow Apple’s lead, here are the Foo Fighters.
19:47 That wraps things up. It’s been a massive night, and I hope you’ve enjoyed it. Goodnight!
Every year since 2007 Apple has announced a new iPhone. Tonight is their sixth release event. Love it or hate it, the iPhone is continually the highest selling smartphone in the world, with record launches coming each generation. Since the launch of the iPhone 4S last October, which was seen by many as an incremental upgrade over the iPhone 4, rumours have suggested that Apple may have a little more up its sleeve tonight as they launch the 6th generation of iPhone to the waiting world.
Name
While we can be certain that the name will include the word ‘iPhone’ somewhere, violent arguments have broken out across the internet about what the actual name will be. Many are referring to this new device as the iPhone 5 as it seems like a natural progression of name from 4 and 4S, but to call the phone this would be a large error of judgment on Apple’s part. Whatever we see tonight will be the 6th generation of iPhone, and calling it the iPhone 5 may confuse (and annoy) some consumers (i.e. me).
What has been speculated is that Apple will follow the naming scheme that they use for every hardware product bar the iPhone to this point, and choose to drop the suffix, referring to the product as iPhone. As with the iPad announced earlier this year, initial advertising may refer to it as the new iPhone and, should it be necessary to pinpoint a specific model, the phone would be referred to as iPhone (6th generation).
Screen
Screen size of the iPhone 4 and 4S
In recent times, Apple has begun to expand its Retina Display branding beyond the confines of the iPhone and iPod Touch, with both the new iPad and MacBook Pro sporting the branding. The two previous generations have sported 960 x 640 panels at 3.5″, but one Verge reader suggested that the latest model may have an elongated 3.99″ panel with a 1152 x 640 resolution. Further investigation into the code of iOS 6 has revealed that if pushed to 1136 x 640, the software will display an extra row of apps on the home screen, thus making it incredibly likely that we will see a taller iPhone today.
How a taller iPhone screen could look
Hardware
Numerous component leaks and the rumours of a taller screen have made the rounds, and one Gizmodo reader had a go at a mockup of the new iPhone, and he can’t be too far off.
Internally things are a bit murkier, but a quad core A6 chip, more RAM and a new mini dock connector seem certain to be included for the first time. A camera upgrade could also be on the way, and 4G LTE support for Verizon, Sprint and AT&T in the US seems certain, especially after the LTE chips found in the new iPad. After EE’s LTE announcement yesterday, CEO Olaf Swantee teased that more devices supporting the network would be announced soon, and an LTE iPhone could prove to be the catalyst to the LTE growth that EE desires.
Whatever happens, we’ll be there with all the news from 6PM BST in our liveblog, so make sure to follow along to get all the news as it happens!
Apple has announced that it will be removing Google Maps from its native application in iOS and will be replacing it with its own mapping system with the upcoming launch of iOS 6 this autumn for iPhone 3GS onwards, iPad 2, iPad (3rd generation) and iPod Touch (4th generation). It will include its own high quality 3D mode, and by all accounts it does pretty much exactly what Google Maps did, only in an interface that Apple think is far superior.
In the mean time, Google has been developing their own software on Android and both companies have been reported to have used fleets of planes that have ruffled the feathers of some privacy campaigners who complained having noticed an increase in airspace activity while tracking the movements of several large companies. Apple are set to create yet anouther easy to use and beautful app that will undoubtedly do its job very well. It is another example of Apple showing that making their products integratable with existing platforms is not the only field they are improving, but also the Apple universe that will one day probably be able to exist independently to every other system of computing there is. My concern is that Google has such a solid base, and with a single account you can connect all of Google’s existing services such as Gmail, Drive, YouTube and +, making them easier to use and more efficient for the user. That said Apple have added mapping support to Siri, the “eyes free” system which Apple is rumoured to have been working on with car manufacturers to develop add buttons for in new cars, allowing for a hands free, voice activated GPS and phone.
I think that Apple’s new mapping system will be good because things that come out of Apple are generally well received and the response by Google will probably improve on what they have now, which can only be a good thing for map users. If users wish to return to using Google Maps or use a different platform entirely, they should have the option to do it through the App Store, as there are a number of map apps available for the platform. Apple’s eyes free integration, however, is very promising, and it is very probable that it means Google Maps is on its way out for many Apple users. Apple’s initiative has yet again shown the company’s ability to remake everything in the image of their own minds.
That screen sounds absolutely incredible.
You can talk to iPads.
USB 3.0 is now infiltrating.
Nobody likes massively oversized laptops.
Siri likes fridges, mocks Samsung.
Open Monsters Ate My Condo.
The Mac Pro isn’t dead!
Why did you expect iPhones?
Maps are the way forward.
Apple will survive without Steve.
FaceTime over cellular is pointless.
Want Ivy Bridge with that?
Sharing from notifications is egotistical.
Facebook is still a thing.
At least Ping is dead.
Digixav 
