Bucket Tech: Apple iPhone 15 Pro Series

Apple fanboys worldwide were glued to the Apple Event 2023 live stream last night and with good reason. Every year in September, the global tech giant showcases their latest products at this exhibition which is streamed world over, it's an optimal time as it gives the consumer enough time to save up for them as Christmas gifts. That is how well thought out these events are by Apple and probably why they remain not only in the forefront of sales globally but also innovation and marketing. Last nights event saw the the official unveiling of multiple products including the new all new Apple Watch Series 9 which features a new CPU and other good features, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 and the introduction of the iPhone 15 series which has two models, the normal iPhone 15 and the iPhone 15 Plus. The last devices two be released were the iPhone Pro series which we will take a closer look at in today's post. After purchasing my first Pro Max device last year, I can see what makes these phones so special and while there isn't a significant shift in user experience from Android to iOS, at the end of the day the consumer wants phones to work when they need it to work and that is what Apple does so well. 

So lets talk about build quality, Apple states the new Pro Series is the toughest and lightest ones yet, made from grade 5 titanium enclosure, it has a higher tensile strength than regular titanium, the same stuff they make spacecraft with, it is machined to its size and shape with a special PVD coating for the colours, which are Black, White, Blue and Natural Titanium. The overall dimensions of the iPhone Pro and Pro Max have been reduced thanks to this new titanium shell but the screen sizes remain the same, making the iPhone 15 Pro Series having the thinnest borders for an iPhone. The Pro screen measures in at 6.1-inch with the Pro Max having a 6.7-inch display. Both XDR touch screen display feature a toughened glass with an added layer of protection coming from the Ceramic coating which is only available on iPhone devices. 

A key design feature on the iPhone 15 Pro sees a change in the ring/ silent switch which is now and action button that can be customizable by the user that can trigger just about anything, from voice recorder, camera or your favourite application. It still remains a ring/ silent switch by means of pressing and holding the button which will give you a haptic feedback when each mode is engaged. It's designed to give the user more convenience and enhance the iPhone usability. Any action will give you visual alerts via the dynamic island which proved to be a hit on the previous model. The dynamic island now offers the user more than before, with added information by expanding the island when required. The iPhone 15 Pro now has an always one display with the screen going into a standby mode when placed horizontally, displaying the date, time like an alarm clock display or customize it with other widgets. 

iPhone 15 Pro features a brand new A17 Pro chip which is new from the ground up, its made by a new generation silicon development by Apple, with changes to the entire chip including a breakthrough new GPU. Apple have developed new transistor technology making the A17 Pro the first 3 nanometer chip. With the chip featuring 19 Billion of these transistors, this all results in an improved performance, efficiency and features on the iPhone 15 Pro. This chip also enhances viewing experiences on streaming services, pro motion on video mode and transfer speeds on the new USB C port, yes, Apple has finally done away with their lighting cable port and have adapted the USB C port. With the A17 Pro chip it has a special coding that allows transfers up to 10GB per second, using a USB 3 cable which makes it 20x faster transfer speeds. 

The iPhone 15 Pro series retains the triple lens ecosystem, with the primary camera being new improved 48MP main camera with 24mm focal length. This makes for more breathtaking pictures that captures more detail at a higher resolution, the new light sensor means more bespoke bokeh pictures with with even more detail than before. The 12MP Telephoto lens available on the 15 Pro Max has a focal length of up to 120mm by a tetra prism design with new focus stablizer that gives you 5x Optical zoom which allows you to capture objects far away with much more precision and a lot more detail. The 12MP Ultra Wide camera  is improved with new anti reflector coating, better night mode and better Macro mode. The video mode on the iPhone 15 Pro will appeal to videographers  as it can record Pro raw in 4K at 60 fps and save directly to an external drive via the USB C port. The iPhone 15 Pro series is looking the deal with these new dynamic changes and improvements with the pricing released for pre-orders in the USA being almost identical to that of the 14 Pro Series, added to that Apples trade-in policies, it looks like a bargain for those in the US. Us in South Africa have to wait a bit to find out what sort of loan we have to take out to pre-order one of these but if they keep the pricing aligned to the US market, it shouldn't be too far off from what we were paying for the iPhone 14. 

Update: iStore has announced that pre-orders for the iPhone 15 can be placed from the 22nd of September with orders availability from the 29th of September. 

Bucket Tech: Apple Event 2020

Many who watched the Apple Event last night anticipating the iPhone 12 were left unsatisfied after the event was over as there was no work or mention of the next generation of Apple smart phones but there was a whole lot of other stuff they introduced at last nights event. Like two new Apple Watches, this forms Series 6 and a cheaper SE version with the the Series 6 being priced at $399, it comes with a pulse oximeter for measuring blood oxygen saturation as well as an always-on screen. The SE priced at $279 is basically a Series 5 in a new slimmer body. Apple has launched a new Family feature which allows parents to setup a cellular watch for kids who don't have an iPhone. 

Two new iPads were also launched, with the iPad Air getting a new square bezel free design to match the iPad Pro as well as the A14 bionic chip which are rumoured to be in the upcoming iPhone 12. The iPad does not have FaceID but rather makes use od a new Touch ID sensor which is located in the iPad's power button. The RRP for the new iPad Air is $329. 

Apple Fitness+ service was also featured at the Apple event, its a fitness service that is custom made for the Apple Watch. It will feature guided workouts and activities for a monthly subscription of $9,99 a month, it will also be included in the Apple One subscription service which is a cross platform service which includes Apple Arcade, Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple News as well as Apple Fitness, it also includes iCloud storage space ranging from 50GB up to 2TB. 

Bucket Tech: TAG Heuer Smart Watch

A few weeks back, Apple released their "Apple Watch", it was received by much fan fare and excitement from their millions of brainwashed followers. Don't get me wrong, its a great device but its the same as any other smart watch, only thing its made by Apple, which usually means overpriced, over hyped and average. The thing I have to hand to Apple is their marketing, it's brilliant, these guys could have released a sundial on a wrist band and people would still buy it. Also their build quality and user functionality probably the best out there. With the watch there are a few variants but I'm not going to go into detail about that, the one that caught my eye was the "Apple Edition", it is made with 18 karat gold and starts off at $10,000, that's a R120,000 for a watch! Yes, there are many luxury watches that cost way more than that but that's the thing, they're luxury watches made from rare materials not some toy with gold on it!

Apple Watch

I tweeted after the Apple Watch launch that if I had the cash, I'd rather buy a TAG Heuer with that money than spend it on a plain looking piece of jewelry that looks like something out of a Ben 10 cartoon. It seems the guys down at TAG either read my mind or read my tweet because yesterday, at a conference in Baselworld, during a live press conference, Jean-Claude Biver, President of the watch division LVMH Group and CEO of TAG Heuer announced the collaboration with Google and Intel on the joint venture to make this luxury smart watch. 

"Swiss watchmaking and Silicon Valley is a marriage of technological innovation with watchmaking credibility. Out collaboration provides a rich host of synergies, forming a win-win partnership, and the potential for our three companies is enormous" said Jean-Claude Biver

David Singleton of Google noted, "By fusing beauty with technology, the Swiss watch has inspired generations of artists and engineers alike- including us at Google. So we're thrilled to be working with TAG Heuer and Intel to bring a unique blend of emotion and innovation to the luxury market. Together, and using the Android Wear Platform, we can imagine a better, beautiful, smarter watch"

"As we work to enable technology experiences that provide greater utility and value to people, Intel is confident that a collective approach will inspire new innovation in wearable technology. The collaboration with TAG Heuer and Google brings us closer to realizing the vision of wearable technology with a distinctive smartwatch that elevates the category" - Michael Bell of Intel

I've always loved TAG Heuer, it isn't the most exclusive luxury watch manufacturer in the world and certainly not the most expensive but their styles and design just look good. I don't think there is a shitty looking TAG Heuer.

Bucket Tech: iPhone6 - First impressions

Disclaimer: I do not belong to any affiliation of mobile device type or make, I own a god damn Blackberry, yes, its 2014 and I still have one, deal with it. I don't hold preference to any brand or OS, I'm just a tech observer, not a guru but I know enough to know what makes a device good or shit.

So if you are on Twitter or follow tech updates on various other channels, you would have known that Apple have launched their new mobile device, the iPhone6, along with an iPhone6 Plus which has a larger screen display. Like most of their other mobile phones, they are available in various memory size, being 16, 64 and 128gig. Whilst most Apple fanboys were, lets us a Netflorist expression here, "creaming their pants" while watching the live stream reveal, most other onlookers didn't seem to phased. Most of the stuff Apple have added to their new flagship device has been on other competitors devices for over the past year and in some cases more than 2 generations of phones!

The phone to me didn't surprise me, there was no "wow factor" and instead of giving specifications of the phone, they kept comparing it to the original iPhone, why?! We don't give a shit about how much better it was to your mp3 player that could make a phone call, we want to compare it to the other market leading devices! Then some of the features of the phone didn't make sense, they still opted to go for an 8 megapixel rear camera which has optical image stabilizer. That's nice, Sony and LG have 13 megapixel rear cameras with that and laser focus. Health App? That trick is old now. Apple Pay, which allows you to make purchases with your phone? Really? Even beep bank invented that before you! Steve must be thrilled... not Jobs. #JustSaying 

Don't get me wrong, its not a crappy phone, it seems pretty much on par with the others that are available on the market, its just not mind blowing like what we've come to expect from Apple. What I do like about Apple is their build qualtity, many of the new Android devices are good but feel like cheap toys from the Chinese bazar. Apple's devices feel like they're worth the money you paid for them and while my only gripe would be the non-removable battery, my hope is that they have improved on the life of it.  iOS8 seems promising and will be released to iPhone5S devices later on this month, sadly there will be no Android crossplatform usage interms of applications. 

Now the phones were not the only devices being launched on the night, as predicted, Apple Watch made its debut. They had to launch such a device seeing that Samsung and now recently LG have one on the market but for me this was the show stopper. Compared to their competitors, the watch kicks ass, besides it looking cooler and available in various styles and wrist bands, the functionality is so much more than seeing who is calling or previewing incoming messages and emails. It makes use of a digital crown which uses technology simlar to that of the track wheel from the original iPod to navigate around and select apps. It makes use of a force touch command to enable user preferences and theres a host of other things that it does all this and tell you the time.

You got to give it to them though, even though they've lost the creative guru that was Steve Jobs, their brand still holds great value and the hype around any of their events is nothing short of news stopping. So I honestly don't think they are in a state of demise as other people might be saying but of course when it comes to things Apple, it would be different and expensive... very expensive. It's almost like they want to have this false sense of exclusivity.

Which brings me to my next point, they still remain in their own "clique", which allows intergration with only their devices with the help of blody iTunes, down the line  this would end up being a pain in the ass. In this day and age with various mobile ecosystems, it will be hard for every user to have a preference. In a basic house hold everyone would have their own taste when it comes to these things but streamless sharing and connectivity may prove to be a problem if companies like Apple continue this way in the future. Sure, their brand was once highly regarding as the forefront of innovations but what they must come to realise now that others are beating them in that race now so its time, not to concede defeat but rather join the party.