Survey Suggests ‘iPhone 6s’ Could Outsell iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus
While every new iPhone model released has gone on to outsell its predecessor, dating back to the iPhone 3G outselling the original iPhone, the overwhelming success of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus has created some skepticism about whether Apple will be able to continue that trend in the future.
The 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have been popular among consumers because of their larger screens, a long-awaited hardware feature that was previously limited to Android-based smartphones and other devices. The new iPhones are also slimmer and feature faster A8 processors and improved iSight cameras.
Nevertheless, a new survey from RBC Capital Markets suggests the so-called “iPhone 6s” could actually be more popular than the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. The research firm expects positive year-over-year growth in the December quarter, claiming that carrier contracts are ultimately the deciding factor in a customer’s upgrade cycle.
“While there has been concern regarding AAPL going ex-growth in Dec-Qtr, our survey work shows carrier contracts are the bigger driver for refresh cycles, implying 6s cycle should be positive given contract renewals and sustained expansion of 4G networking in China. We are raising our estimates ahead of Street expectations for June, FY15/FY16 but maintaining our OP rating and $150 target.”
RBC Capital Markets surveyed 6,000 individuals about their smartphone purchasing decisions and found that loyalty remains strong among Apple customers, meaning that the company should be able to increase iOS adoption and revenue going forward. However, the investment bank warns that iPad demand has not picked up and could further disappoint expectations in the June quarter.
50% of surveyees who plan to purchase a new smartphone will do so within 12 months
Specifically, the research firm found that 83.4% of current iPhone customers intend on staying with Apple, while 64.2% of Samsung customers expressed their future commitment to the South Korean handset maker. It also found that about 50% of customers who plan on purchasing a new iPhone will do so in the next 12 months, with longer battery life the most requested improvement.
Apple’s next-generation iPhones will likely retain similar physical designs as the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, including 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch screen sizes. The smartphones are also rumored to feature an A9 processor with 2GB of RAM, Force Touch, 7000 Series aluminum, improved 12-megapixel camera, a new rose gold color option, improved Touch ID recognition and more.
Apple Watch Sport’s Display With Ion-X Glass Outperforms Sapphire Models in Bright Lighting
Although there has been much comparison of the scratch-resistance and weight differences between the two Apple Watch display cover options — sapphire crystal and Ion-X glass — not much has been scientifically tested regarding each model’s reflectiveness. A new report by DisplayMate out today, however, shows just how much lower reflectivity and higher contrast there is on the Apple Watch Sport’s Ion-X glass compared to the higher-end Apple Watch models with sapphire.
As DisplayMate points out, the two models have identical OLED displays internally, but thanks to the different outer coverings, the different models react uniquely in bright light situations. In summary, the site found that the Apple Watch with sapphire crystal display reflects 74 percent more ambient light than the Ion-X glass of the Sport model. The two displays behave almost identically in dark environments given the low levels of ambient light available for reflection.
Photo comparing Ion-X glass (left) and sapphire crystal (right) taken at 2,000 lux, which equates to moderate outdoor lighting
For the Apple Watch Sport with Ion-X Glass we measured the Screen Reflectance to be 4.7 percent, while for the Apple Watch with Sapphire we measured 8.2 percent Screen Reflectance, which is 74 percent higher than with Glass. Both values are about 0.6 percent higher than just pure sapphire and glass alone, indicating that Apple has done an excellent job in optically bonding both the glass and sapphire to the OLED display without an air gap.
The 74 percent higher Reflectance of the Apple Watch with Sapphire means that its screen will reflect almost twice as much surrounding ambient light as the Apple Watch Sport with Glass. And it takes surprisingly little ambient light for that to make a significant visible difference…
Starting in the dark at 0 lux, DisplayMate increased light levels in successive stages of testing to discover the contrast ratios of each screen under increasingly stressful lighting situations. With both displays set to their maximum brightness, at 500 lux (“mid-range indoor ambient lighting”) the display contrast ratios had fallen from 100 to 64 for Ion-X and 38 for sapphire, illustrating the distinct visibility advantage for the cheaper model. Jumping to 2,000 lux (“moderate outdoor lighting in the shade or an overcast sky”), the ratios drop to 17 and 10 for Ion-X glass and sapphire, respectively.
Chart comparing various aspects of reflectivity between the two displays
For a full-on sunlight measurement of 10,000 lux, the Ion-X glass display contrast ratio fell to 3 while the Sapphire Crystal came in at just 2. So, while the Sport’s display proves to handle moderate outdoor sunlight much better than the sapphire display, both are significantly impacted by harsh, direct sunlight.
Higher reflectivity and lower light transmittance were highlighted as challenges for Apple amid Apple’s failed partnership with GT Advanced Technologies for sapphire production and rumors the iPhone 6 would include a sapphire display cover. Recent advancements in sapphire production technology may, however, overcome those difficulties, with future generations of products able to use sapphire that has better viewing characteristics than glass while retaining sapphire’s advantages of high scratch resistance.
Apple Watch patent would have you sharing files with a handshake
Wondering how you’d exchange info between smartwatches when their displays are so small? Apple thinks it has an easy answer: make the same gestures you already use to greet your friends. The tech firm has applied for a patent on a system that exchanges data between wearables (presumably Apple Watches) whenever both people make a similar greeting gesture, such as a handshake, bow or fist bump. The watches would only need to use their motion sensors and short-range wireless to tell that you’re getting cozy — you wouldn’t need to tap the screen at all. Devices could also swap different kinds of data depending on the exact gesture and how well you know the other person, so you’d only share contact info if you’re grabbing hands for the first time. There’s no guarantee that Apple will roll this feature into the Watch any time soon, but it strikes us as a very logical (and, dare we say it, handy) upgrade.
Photo by Will Lipman.
Filed under: Wearables, Mobile, Apple
Via: Patently Apple, SlashGear
Source: WIPO
London’s getting the world’s first all-electric double-decker bus
London’s red double-decker buses are going green. No, we’re not talking about a change to their iconic paint-jobs: Mayor Boris Johnson today announced plans to introduce an all-electric model in the capital. London is already served by hundreds of hybrid and eight all-electric single-decker buses, but the new double-decker variant is set to be a world first. That’s not surprising, given such a large and heavy vehicle will require more, or higher capacity batteries to continue picking up passengers throughout the day. (Wireless charging can only help so much.) The new vehicle is being developed by BYD and will be trialled on route 16 between Cricklewood and Victoria Station from October.
Transport for London (TfL) announced back in March that route 312, which runs between Norwood and South Croydon, will become the first route in London to be served entirely by all-electric buses. Today, the Mayor reiterated that pledge and said the roll-out would be completed before the end of 2015. So the next time you’re in London, pay extra attention when you’re crossing the road — public transport is about to get an awful lot quieter.
[Image Credit: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images]
Filed under: Transportation
Source: london.gov.uk
Supreme Court won’t touch Google’s fight with Oracle over Android
When Oracle got a second chance at making Google pay for using Java programming kits in Android, the folks in Mountain View raced to the Supreme Court in hopes of stopping that renewed lawsuit dead in its tracks. Unfortunately for Google, that’s not going to happen — the Supreme Court now says that it won’t tackle the case. The move kicks the issue back to a lower court, and denies a once-and-for-all decision on the extent to which companies can copyright their code. This doesn’t necessarily mean that Google will be on the hook for Android, but the company is going to face a tougher fight than it wanted.
[Image credit: CSA Images/Getty Images]
Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Software, Mobile, Google
Source: Wall Street Journal
‘Top Gun 2’ will pit Tom Cruise against drones
Cinema always reflects our anxieties back onto us, so it’s no surprise to see that the Top Gun sequel will involve unmanned aerial vehicles. Producer David Ellison told Collider that Tom Cruise will return to the series that made him famous, with a story where Maverick tries to out-maneuver a fleet of drones. It appears as if the flick will depict “the end of an era of dogfighting and fighter pilots” as the world’s powers switch over to remotely-flown, computer-aided flying death machines.
It’ll take plenty of Hollywood magic to make the film, since in the real world, drones are pretty terrible at aerial combat. In fact, as Wired reported in 2012, the one time that a Predator drone came up against a crewed MiG-25, the former wound up smashed to bits. Perhaps that’d make it a fair fight, given that Maverick will be closer to 55 by the time Top Gun 2: Danger Zone goes into production — although we are looking forward to the scene where Tom Cruise plays topless volleyball with a DJI Phantom 3.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Transportation
Via: The Guardian
Source: Collider
Meet the robot testing your device for lag and the company that makes it
A mind-blowing amount of brilliant technology goes into each and every Android device, but very few of us really stop to contemplate just what it takes to design, build, and test a smartphone or tablet.
Now a post from Chrome evangelist Francois Beaufort sheds some light on UI testing and, specifically, on how the Chrome team uses a robot called TouchBot to measure responsiveness.
TouchBot emulates the interactions a human user might have with their device. In essence, it’s a mechanical finger, but unlike its biological counterparts, this finger never tires or slows down. Even more importantly, it can repeat the same precise movement thousands of times in a row.
The robot is manufactured by Finnish company OptoFidelity, which has been delivering interaction testing robots to the world’s top electronics manufacturers since 2005. In fact, there’s a good chance the smartphone you’re using right now has experienced the cold mechanical touch of an OptoFidelity robot. According to the company’s CEO, eight out of the top ten phone makers have bought OptoFidelity equipment over the past couple of years.
Back to the Chrome testing video, thanks to the magic of high-speed cameras, we can see the minute lag between the moment the “finger” touches the screen and the corresponding reaction. The smaller the number of milliseconds between the two events, the faster and more fluid the user experience feels.
Google is working hard to reduce this lag: in April, it said it would adopt Pointer Events to reduce the time needed for a touch to register, while in May, the Chrome team announced a new task scheduler that prioritizes rendering over background tasks in order to increase fluidity. When changes like these are tested, the TouchBot comes in very handy.
OptoFidelity’s machines can accomplish a variety of other tasks, from simulating the stress of repeatedly inserting a headphone plug into the audio jack, to testing out the durability of buttons and general software testing. More in the presentation video below.
LG hexagonal batteries improve smartwatch battery life
Battery resarchers may be focusing on innovative new materials and flexible designs, but research in this field is also opening up opportunities for batteries in new weird and wonderful shapes. LG Chem has just announced a new hexagonal battery design that could have a lot to offer the growing wearables market.
The hexagonal battery makes us of LG Chem’s patented “Stack & Folding” method. This technology injects electrolytes after stacking anode material, separation film, and cathode material layer by layer. This results in greater freedom in design, energy density, and more stable performance than the commonplace Winding method.
LG is the first to announce such a shaped battery and is planning to have the battery enter mass production before the end of 2015.
“A reason why we are mass-producing Hexagon Batteries are due to increased recent demands for circular design. We have worked together with global IT companies on developing battery technologies for Smart Watches.” – LG Chem
Clearly, a hexagonal design can make a much more efficient use of the space inside a circular smartwatch design than a square battery. LG expects that this superior use of space could increase battery capacity by up to 25 percent, which could result in up to 4 hours more screen on-time with your typical smartwatch. Although not every wearable product will find use for this battery shape, smartwatches are mostly beginning to confirm to more traditional circular designs.
The company is also working on other battery shapes for different products, including L-shape and ‘doughnut’ batteries with a hole in the middle. In the past, the company has also shown off its curved and wire battery prototypes.
Gartner research predicts that smartwatches will make up 40 percent of the watch market by 2016 and that over 200 million smartwatches will have shipped by 2020. LG is setting itself up to power a good portion of these devices over the coming years.
Sprint-bound HTC Aero reportedly coming in November carrying “One” branding
Although many consumers around the world believe the HTC One M9 to be a wonderful device, the flagship might not be doing as well as the company had hoped. With reports trickling in claiming that there have been roughly 43% fewer shipments for the One M9 than the One M8, it’s not irrational to think HTC might have something up its sleeve that could make up for the One M9’s loss. So when popular leaker @evleaks gave some insight on the potential release of a new handset called the “HTC Aero”, many folks began speculating that this could be the hero device we’ve all been waiting for.
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But if recent tweets from the leaker prove true, the Aero might not come to market as a flagship device. According to the tweet, the HTC Aero will make its way to Sprint in November, among other places. The handset will reportedly also be a member of the One family, though it will be classified as an “intermediate” device. Traditionally, smartphones classified in the “One” category tend to be on the high-end side, so it’ll certainly be interesting to see what the company has planned.
HTC CEO Cher Wang recently told us that the company’s hero smartphone was slated to launch sometime in October, though no other details were given regarding that handset. Could HTC’s hero device turn out to be the Aero, or are they two completely different handsets? The only thing we can do at this time is speculate and wait for more details to surface, but there’s certainly no harm in that. If these leaks prove true, what do you think the Aero will bring to the table? Be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Chrome TouchBot tries to catch those lag bugs
The software on our devices are continually stuffed with the latest ideas and eye-candy. However, that would mean nothing if the user constantly got annoyed by lags throughout the OS. So you can probably imagine that testing such concerns would be a crucial part of the development process.
We got a peak at one of these latency-testing apparatuses, courtesy of the Chrome OS team. Built by the Finnish company, OptoFidelity, the Chrome TouchBot was built to “measure end-to-end latency of Android and Chrome OS devices.” The machine runs through various types of testing inputs.
One cool thing is that the team made TouchBot’s source code open and available for anyone to try it out different test scenarios on their own device. You can try it via: http://crostouchlatency.appspot.com
The post Chrome TouchBot tries to catch those lag bugs appeared first on AndroidGuys.
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