Apple will never satisfy my lust for cheap, powerful hardware
- Thread starter strawman
- Start date
Posted a couple of different examples in the Overwatch thread, but some of these are really cool.
...and will no doubt impact world productivity.
...and possibly world reproductivity.
--Patrick
...and will no doubt impact world productivity.
...and possibly world reproductivity.
--Patrick
GasBandit
Staff member
Aww, some mocap team probably worked really hard on that.
I know the tech demos above are more about world-building/video games and potentially also how it can be used for porn (because "how can I use this for porn?" is a question that all new technology is subjected to), but I also see this (coupled with body tracking and VR headset) as a revolutionary way in the privacy of your own home to learn dancing, martial arts, to exercise "with others" (similar to the Peloton bike), etc.
Heh. "Team."
Whenever I see something like that, I imagine someone either painstakingly rotoscoping it from actual concert footage, or else I imagine them doing the moves themselves, S1m0ne*-style.
--Patrick
*A movie I still haven't seen, but want to.
fade
Staff member
I meant in general. This demo, anime, live action. Always has that "middle school play" feel about it.
GasBandit
Staff member
TBH, that's kind of how I feel about all dances-as-performance.
I know enough about stage choreography and computer programming to view every performance like this as just "<subroutine> <subroutine> <subroutine>" because it's rare for anyone in the age group that generally performs this stuff to have actually grasped the idea of flowing/blending one segment into the next.
--Patrick
Did Samsung remove headphone jacks? I really hope they didn't.
GasBandit
Staff member
Actually, like all Innovations Apple, Android did away with Hardware home buttons years and years ago
Huh. So much for giving up iPhones when I need a new one.
The S8 very clearly has a headphone jack, and it seems very likely the Note 8 will as well.
I'm an iPhone guy, but I'm a big believer in people just buying the phone that works best for them, not the best phone on theoretical paper. Despite every phone looking the same, there is a reasonable amount of differentiation as to which OS/hardware is best for what task.
I'm an iPhone guy, but I'm a big believer in people just buying the phone that works best for them, not the best phone on theoretical paper. Despite every phone looking the same, there is a reasonable amount of differentiation as to which OS/hardware is best for what task.
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fade
Staff member
I'm typing this on a Samsung Galaxy S7 and I'm looking right at a hardware home button.Actually, like all Innovations Apple, Android did away with Hardware home buttons years and years ago
Samsung stole a lot of things from apple, but not the removal of the headphone jack. The S8 has it, and the S9 is reported to have it was well.
https://www.google.com/search?q=what+has+samsung+copied+from+apple
https://www.google.com/search?q=what+has+samsung+copied+from+apple
Can Android phones be said to have or lack any feature unless 100% of Android phones in circulation have that characteristic?
fade
Staff member
This is one of those "things" though...removing a hardware button is trivial. It's probably easier for Apple to remove it than keep it. I'm assuming they've got research-based reasons for keeping it. Because as much as one may hate Apple, the one thing they do drop loads of cash on is research-based UX development.
GasBandit
Staff member
I will definitely say I wish the OS/GUI response times on Androids were as snappy as they are on iPhones. I've read the articles which explains why this will never be the case, but it still always makes me grind my teeth every time I see a swipe lag behind my finger, or a button press registers a full second after I've tapped it.
It is especially noticeable on Android tablets. I have an Nvidia Shield K-1, and it's pretty great, especially for the cost, but it has *never* been as snappy as an iPad from the same era, let alone the later ones, and it's generally considered to be the most powerful Android tablet.
I think the phones do better in this respect. The relative sluggishness vs. iOS is something I've definitely noticed, but the last couple of S-class Samsung seem to have closed this gap for sure, and I didn't notice it at all when I was playing with a friend's Pixel.
This is probably what you read:
https://www.cultofmac.com/133624/why-android-will-always-be-laggier-than-ios/
In addition to that, Android doesn't work as hard to stop background processes, so there's a lot more CPU work being done in an android device than an iOS, which exacerbates this issue. And on top of that the app review process for the google play store isn't nearly as thorough as Apple's, leading to a lot of apps that are inefficient and simply don't render quickly or use accelerated capabilities as much as they could.
Google doesn't force app developers or users to upgrade their software and OS as aggressively as apple does. Apple's now ubiquitous message "This app may slow down your iphone" in iOS 10.1 and up really forces developers to upgrade their apps to use the latest framework features, and users to move away from apps that aren't being actively updated.
It's a forced march, but at least the app transitions are snappy.
Assistive Touch already does something similar to this, really handy if your home (or other) button stops working for some reason.
--Patrick
So the rumors and leaks pretty much nailed the biggest features and lineup.
The iPhone 8 and 8+ are the yearly bump phones, and the iPhone X (pronounced "ten") is the "one more thing".
They've reduced the variety down to a 64GB and 256GB phone in each one, and they've kept the iPhone 7, 6s, and the iPhone SE, so they've got one at every price point from $349 through $1,099.
Removing the touch ID they've implemented face ID, using two front facing cameras, an infrared lamp, and an infrared dot projector. It recognizes if you're looking at the display and doesn't come on until it has your attention. The bump phones still have Touch ID.
The home button is replaced with a swipe-from-the-bottom gesture. So you lift the phone, and as long as your eyes are pointing towards the display you can swipe from the bottom to go to the home screen if it recognizes you, or it'll present a number pad for your pin if it does not.
They spent a great deal of time focusing on the augmented reality features. We will see how developers use that over time.
Wireless charging uses the QI standard, so thankfully it's not proprietary to apple. It's slower at 7.5W rather than the normal 10W fast charge.
The watch has cellular built in, starting at $399 (ie, more expensive than the iphone SE). They've integrated it with the phone such that you can use them separately but only use one number to reach or call from either whether they are close by or not. They also offer the watch 3 without cellular, but the one with cellular has double the flash memory, so even if you don't want cellular you may decide to buy it based on the memory available. No word on what plans would look like, but my expectation is that they'll offer a simple $10/mo increase since it's a single user system and you're going to use the same amount of phone and data, just on a separate device.
The apple TV now supports 4k and HDR.
The phones do have some neat newer features having to do with processing power and the camera.
The bump phones are available this month, the iPhone X next month.
Now I have to decide what I want. I have to admit I like using cases and display covers, but swiping up from the bottom is really annoying with either situation. It's not a huge deal since screens can be replaced, but with the oled display that's going to be a lot more expensive particularly this year during introduction.
The iPhone 8 and 8+ are the yearly bump phones, and the iPhone X (pronounced "ten") is the "one more thing".
They've reduced the variety down to a 64GB and 256GB phone in each one, and they've kept the iPhone 7, 6s, and the iPhone SE, so they've got one at every price point from $349 through $1,099.
Removing the touch ID they've implemented face ID, using two front facing cameras, an infrared lamp, and an infrared dot projector. It recognizes if you're looking at the display and doesn't come on until it has your attention. The bump phones still have Touch ID.
The home button is replaced with a swipe-from-the-bottom gesture. So you lift the phone, and as long as your eyes are pointing towards the display you can swipe from the bottom to go to the home screen if it recognizes you, or it'll present a number pad for your pin if it does not.
They spent a great deal of time focusing on the augmented reality features. We will see how developers use that over time.
Wireless charging uses the QI standard, so thankfully it's not proprietary to apple. It's slower at 7.5W rather than the normal 10W fast charge.
The watch has cellular built in, starting at $399 (ie, more expensive than the iphone SE). They've integrated it with the phone such that you can use them separately but only use one number to reach or call from either whether they are close by or not. They also offer the watch 3 without cellular, but the one with cellular has double the flash memory, so even if you don't want cellular you may decide to buy it based on the memory available. No word on what plans would look like, but my expectation is that they'll offer a simple $10/mo increase since it's a single user system and you're going to use the same amount of phone and data, just on a separate device.
The apple TV now supports 4k and HDR.
The phones do have some neat newer features having to do with processing power and the camera.
The bump phones are available this month, the iPhone X next month.
Now I have to decide what I want. I have to admit I like using cases and display covers, but swiping up from the bottom is really annoying with either situation. It's not a huge deal since screens can be replaced, but with the oled display that's going to be a lot more expensive particularly this year during introduction.
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I liked that they stated that faceID wouldn't get fooled by a photo.
I'll probably wait and pre-order the X. I'm on a 6s Plus right now, but it's the first iPhone in a while where I didn't feel left behind when they announced the next two. The X seems like enough changes to me that I'm really interested.
I like my series 1 watch, and have considered upgrading, but it's really hard to justify the price.
I don't have an 4K HDR tv, so I don't have any reason to get a new appleTV. I remember a lot of criticism out there towards Apple for being the last to the table with 4K, but I always wonder how many people outside the tech bubble were crying out for a 4K HDR device for their set top. Also would it have killed them to put out a new remote that you can identify what direction's what without looking at it?
I'll probably wait and pre-order the X. I'm on a 6s Plus right now, but it's the first iPhone in a while where I didn't feel left behind when they announced the next two. The X seems like enough changes to me that I'm really interested.
I like my series 1 watch, and have considered upgrading, but it's really hard to justify the price.
I don't have an 4K HDR tv, so I don't have any reason to get a new appleTV. I remember a lot of criticism out there towards Apple for being the last to the table with 4K, but I always wonder how many people outside the tech bubble were crying out for a 4K HDR device for their set top. Also would it have killed them to put out a new remote that you can identify what direction's what without looking at it?
Internally there is a six core processor, two big processors and four small ones, plus a neural engine, plus the graphics processor.
The accelerometer and gyro have been upgraded to be more accurate with motion sensing, making AR more responsive.
Face ID is not available on the 8.
Both rear cameras on the X are stabilized, only one on the 8.
The neural engine was designed for face recognition, and its capable of discerning between photos and statues/models. They worked with Hollywood effects artists to create 3D faces identical to people and the neural engine does not unlock. My guess is that the infrared camera has some ability to determine if it's looking at skin. Since you can see blood flow in infrared (it's how pulse oximeters work) I wonder if you could measure pulse rate with the front facing camera. So eventually this will be demonstrat d as breakable, but it won't be by a cheap process like a 3D printer.
They did admit that close family members may reduce the detection rate from 1:1,000,000 to something much more likely, but it'll be interesting to see what happens when the rubber hits the road.
I'm interested to see what the benchmarks show when it arrives.
They claim 2 more hours of battery life than the iPhone 7. Don't know how that compares to the 7+.
The accelerometer and gyro have been upgraded to be more accurate with motion sensing, making AR more responsive.
Face ID is not available on the 8.
Both rear cameras on the X are stabilized, only one on the 8.
The neural engine was designed for face recognition, and its capable of discerning between photos and statues/models. They worked with Hollywood effects artists to create 3D faces identical to people and the neural engine does not unlock. My guess is that the infrared camera has some ability to determine if it's looking at skin. Since you can see blood flow in infrared (it's how pulse oximeters work) I wonder if you could measure pulse rate with the front facing camera. So eventually this will be demonstrat d as breakable, but it won't be by a cheap process like a 3D printer.
They did admit that close family members may reduce the detection rate from 1:1,000,000 to something much more likely, but it'll be interesting to see what happens when the rubber hits the road.
I'm interested to see what the benchmarks show when it arrives.
They claim 2 more hours of battery life than the iPhone 7. Don't know how that compares to the 7+.