Sketchy Photo of Claimed ‘iPhone 6s Plus’ Box Surfaces Alongside Rumor of Smaller Battery
A new photo obtained by cnBeta [Google Translate] (via Macotakara [Google Translate]) allegedly shows off what appears to be the packaging of the upcoming iPhone 6s Plus. The photo depicts a standard white iPhone box, similar to what Apple has used as packaging for previous phones.
The box is unfolded and has what appears to be a gold iPhone 6s Plus on the front, a gold Apple logo on the bottom and “iPhone 6s Plus” written on the side. The “S” is within a small square, as is standard on iPhone “S” packaging. The box also shows off what looks to be a brand new wallpaper featuring a black and gold fish.
Additionally, cnBeta says that the iPhone 6s’ battery capacity will be down to 1715 mAh from the iPhone 6’s 1800 mAh, while the iPhone 6s Plus will be down to 2750 mAh from the iPhone 6 Plus’ 2910 mAh. Macotakara says they’ve also heard the battery capacity for both models will be lower, lining up with earlier rumors that the battery capacity in the phones would be smaller. If true, it likely indicates Apple has increased the battery efficiency of both “S” phone models in order to make up for the smaller battery capacity.
However, it’s unclear how authentic the photos of the iPhone 6s Plus packaging are. The material of the box appears to be a thinner material than current iPhone packaging and displays an unfamiliar wallpaper that has not appeared in any iOS 9 betas thus far.
Apple is expected to announce both the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus at a September 9 event. The Cupertino company is also expected to finally unveil its new Apple TV with a new touch-based remote and full App Store. New rumors indicate the event could be held at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco.
Jony Ive and Jimmy Iovine to Speak at Vanity Fair ‘New Establishment’ Summit in October
Vanity Fair today announced its speaker lineup for the 2015 New Establishment Summit, revealing that Apple Chief Design Officer Jony Ive as well as Beats cofounder Jimmy Iovine will be attending as speakers. This is the second year in a row Ive is attending as a speaker.
Last year, Ive detailed Apple’s design process in his talk, explaining that he and his fellow designers gather around tables like the ones in Apple retail stores to draw and meet three or four times a week. He also noted that their ideas don’t come along until after the team creates physical objects based on their drawings. Additionally, and perhaps most interesting, Ive said that when Chinese manufacturer Xioami copies its designs what it’s really doing is theft.
The summit takes place from October 5 to 7 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco and promises “two full days of inventive programming and inspiring conversations around the ideas and innovations shaping the future.” The summit will kick off with a showing of the new Steven Spielberg film “Bridge of Spies,” starring Tom Hanks. Other speakers include Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Disney’s Bob Iger, film director J.J. Abrams and Steve Jobs biographer Walter Isaacson. The entire speaking lineup can be viewed at Vanity Fair’s website while a full schedule will be revealed soon.
New Evidence Points Towards Bill Graham Civic Auditorium as Location For September 9 Apple Event
Earlier this week, there was some speculation that Apple might be planning to hold its upcoming September 9 iPhone event at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, and now there are new details that further hint towards Apple’s involvement with the site.
Beginning on Monday, SFPD officers and private security guards began patrolling the grounds at the auditorium, prompting San Francisco news site Hoodline to do some digging into what was going on. It turned out the auditorium was booked for a “trade show” set to run from September 4 until September 10, but because it was registered to a company called “Adams and Associates,” nothing linked the booking back to Apple.
A police officer outside the auditorium, via Hoodline
Hoodline now reports that a “trusted source” has confirmed the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium will indeed be used for Apple’s September iPhone event.
Our source, who wished to remain anonymous due to the extreme privacy surrounding the event, has shown us documentation from event logistics indicating that Apple is renting the building through September 12th. This timing is consistent with what we were told by a security guard on Monday.
Hoodline has also unearthed information on planned street closures that heavily lines up with the timeline when we expect Apple to hold its event. One street will be shut down from 6 p.m. on September 8th until 11:59 on September 10th, while another will be closed on Wednesday, September 9 between 4 a.m. and 11:59 p.m.
The mysteriousness surrounding the booking at the auditorium combined with the information obtained by Hoodline and the upcoming street closures all seems to point towards Apple, but there continues to be no concrete evidence Apple has rented the site for its iPhone event.
In an interview with SFGate, the project director for the Civic Center said he had no knowledge of what the building was being used for, while a spokeswoman for the Planning Department said the “trade show” information was all department was told.
“I’m even the landlord of the building, and they won’t tell me,” said Rob Reiter, project director for the Civic Center. “I’ve never seen anything like it before, but I’m just a guy in the basement,” he said of his office in the bowels of City Hall.
As was shared on Monday, the San Francisco Planning Department is involved because four window panels are set to be removed to accommodate an “exterior wall mounted star graphic sign,” which may be a placeholder for an Apple logo.
In past years, Apple’s iPhone-centric September events have been held at a variety of locations around the Bay Area, so it would not be a surprise to see the company hold its event at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. With just two weeks to go until Apple’s September 9 event, it won’t be long before the company’s plans are unveiled. Media invites for the event will most likely be going out soon, confirming the event location.
Facebook Testing Siri Competitor ‘M’ Inside Messenger App
Facebook today rolled out a new virtual assistant called “M” inside its Messenger app for a limited number of users in the Bay Area, reports Wired. “M” is powered by both artificial intelligence and Facebook employees, enabling Messenger users to ask questions and complete tasks such as making restaurant reservations, ordering birthday flowers or discovering the best places to go hiking in California.
Using “M” is as simple as beginning a conversation with the assistant through the Messenger app, at which point it will begin providing you with recommendations or ask further questions to narrow down your request. Unlike Siri, “M” does not have a gender, nor it is possible to know whether you are being helped by a bot or a real Facebook employee — but Facebook aims to make sure that every request is answered.
“M” aims to take on Siri, Google Now, Cortana and a growing selection of virtual assistants as the “first stop for anyone looking to do or buy anything”:
It won’t take long for Messenger’s users to realize M can accomplish much more than your standard digital helper, suspects David Marcus, vice president of messaging products at Facebook. “It can perform tasks that none of the others can,” Marcus says. That’s because, in addition to using artificial intelligence to complete its tasks, M is powered by actual people.
Marcus believes that “M” will slowly expand beyond the Bay Area and eventually reach all of Messenger’s 700 million users around the world.
Facebook Messenger [Direct Link] is free on the App Store for iPhone.
Pad & Quill Review: Classic Apple Watch Band Is Attractive and Affordable
Those looking for a classic leather look on their Apple Watch can find a few options ranging in price from $149 to $249 in the Apple store. With a handful of third-party manufacturers getting into the Apple Watch band game, quality accessory designer Pad & Quill has introduced its own line of Classic Apple Watch Bands for a cheaper entry cost of $89.95 that hews most closely to Apple’s Classic Buckle.
The big difference with Pad & Quill’s option is an array of color options — Galloper Black, Chocolate, Whiskey, and British Tan — that let customers keep a traditional watch aesthetic with added customization. The company provides the option to purchase any color with either stainless steel or polished black finishes, to successfully match each user’s Apple Watch face (Sport editions will support the accessory, but the same visual and corrosive warnings from Apple’s own bands still apply).
Design
The Pad & Quill bands are created in an Italian leather tannery using a “soft-tumble method” that results in what the company aims to be a comfortable watch band with added durability. Designed in both the 38mm and 42mm Apple Watch sizes, the Classic Apple Watch Band will fit wrist sizes from 130mm to 210mm in diameter.
Unlike some other third-party companies, and Apple itself, Pad & Quill is making every leather color option of its band line available in both Apple Watch sizes, lending each band a unisex universality that looks good on any wrist. The company even lets users mix-and-match the color of the leather with the metal finishing in such a way that ranges from traditional (British Tan with stainless steel) to bordering on unattractive (Chocolate with polished black).
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Tim Cook and Eddy Cue Receive Combined $94 Million in Apple Stock
Apple CEO Tim Cook and Senior Vice President Eddy Cue received 560,000 and 350,000 restricted stock units respectively this week, worth a combined $93.8 million based on AAPL’s closing price of $103.12 on Monday, according to a pair of filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Tim Cook and Eddy Cue at an Apple Store in 2014 (Image: Bloomberg)
Cook was awarded with 280,000 performance-based restricted stock units in full based on Apple’s performance relative to the other companies in the S&P 500 over a two-year period ending August 24. Apple needed to achieve a total shareholder return (TSR) of at least 41.36% to place in the top third of companies in the index, and Apple’s TSR for the two-year period was 76.76%.
Cook and Cue did not sell any of their RSUs, although 290,836 and 171,853 shares were withheld by Apple respectively to satisfy the minimum statutory tax withholding requirements on vesting of RSUs. Cue transferred his remaining 178,147 shares that vested to a family trust, and he has now been awarded all 700,000 shares granted to him on September 2, 2011.
Cook has a remaining 4.76 million RSUs scheduled to vest as follows per the SEC filing:
700,000 RSUs on August 24, 2016; 700,000 RSUs on August 24, 2021; 1,680,000 vest in six equal annual installments commencing August 24, 2016; the remaining 1,680,000 are all subject to performance based vesting requirements and will potentially vest in six annual installments commencing August 24, 2016.
Cook must remain employed at Apple to receive his unvested RSUs on their applicable vesting dates.
The Note5 Stylus design flaw is Samsung’s “Antennagate”
I’m a Samsung Galaxy Note 5 owner. I picked it up on launch day after previously owning the Galaxy S6 and still owning the Galaxy S6 Edge. I love the premium materials, design and their new take on TouchWiz (even if I still do have some issues with it). To say the least, I’m a big fan of Samsung’s recent moves.
But the issues with the S-Pen recently coming to light are a huge problem and shows a massive oversight on Samsung’s part.
If you haven’t heard of the design flaw yet here’s what the issue is. If you eject your S-Pen, flip it around and enter it backwards (clicky end first) the S Pen will catch on the stoppers that hold the pen in place and you won’t be able to pull it back out. The phone isn’t broken at this point, it’s removing the pen which destroys the sensors that tell the phone whether the pen safely inside or not. Since there’s no way to release the stoppers from outside the phone you’re forced to yank the pen out and destroy everything in it’s path. Some users have been able to wiggle it out but the fact that you can destroy a major part of your phone this easily is a big design flaw.
We’ve seen multiple professional bloggers break their Note5’s by inserting the the pen backwards. These are people who know about phones, knew about the issue in advance and are still stunned by how easy it was to break. The pen simply slides in backwards with zero issue. Such a design flaw by Samsung should not be forgiven so easily just like it wasn’t for Apple with Antennagate.
To refresh your memory, when the iPhone 4 was released there was a flaw with how the antennas were designed and if you put your hand on the break between the two bands, there were cell signal issues often times resulting in dropped calls. The initial response from Apple CEO Steve Jobs, was simply not to hold your phone like that. Obviously that consumers were disappointed with that response. Consumer Reports refused to recommend the phone to its readers and shortly thereafter recalls were issued.
Samsung apparently didn’t learn the lesson from Apple’s sins. As reports have surfaced of many people permanently breaking their new Note5’s, Samsung’s response has been as disappointing as Apple’s first was.
““We highly recommend our Galaxy Note5 users follow the instructions in the user guide to ensure they do not experience such an unexpected scenario caused by reinserting the S pen in the other way around.”“
Telling your customers they’re doing it wrong and to read the manual is a serious PR issue. Almost as serious as designing an accessory that can so easily break a major part of the feature.
Samsung, you need to redesign your phone. Issue a recall if you need to but this is a huge issue and the public shouldn’t let you off the hook just like they didn’t let Apple off the hook.
The post The Note5 Stylus design flaw is Samsung’s “Antennagate” appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Verizon makes it easier to bring (some) phones to its network
As a CDMA-based carrier (until LTE takes over), Verizon isn’t nearly as friendly to the bring-your-own-phone trend as the likes of AT&T or T-Mobile. You can’t usually swap SIM cards and expect your unlocked phone to work. Thankfully, the carrier recently made the process a whole lot easier… provided you have the right device, that is. It’ll now activate compatible, unlocked versions of the iPhone 6 and Nexus 6. So long as you can find your device’s ID and pick up a Verizon SIM, you can jump over to Big Red without having to ditch your existing hardware. You’ll likely be stuck if you own another device, but that’s more due to technology (few unlocked phones have full Verizon CDMA and LTE support at present) than anything else.
Of course, Verizon isn’t opening up strictly out of kindness. Allowing outside phones helps Verizon honor the voluntary code of conduct for American carriers, which is meant to simplify jumping between providers and stay on the government’s good side. Also, this is simply wise from a business perspective. Few people relish the thought of buying a brand new phone (or waiting for a promotional credit) to switch networks — eliminating that hurdle potentially gets more customers, whether they’re unhappy with their old service or wary of owning a carrier-locked handset.
Photo by Will Lipman.
Filed under:
Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Apple, Google, Verizon
Via:
9to5Mac
Source:
Verizon
Tags: apple, byop, google, iphone6, mobilepostcross, nexus6, smartphone, unlocked, verizon, wireless
‘iPhone 6s’ Display and Logic Board Shown Booting to Gear Screen
We’ve already seen a number of part leaks from the upcoming “iPhone 6s”, and a source has now provided MacRumors with several photos and videos showing how those parts can be combined to build a partially functioning iPhone. Specifically, the new photos and videos reveal an iPhone 6s logic board and display assembly paired with a number of iPhone 6 components such as the rear shell and battery to create a device that starts up enough to be able to display a screen showing a gear icon.
The video shows the device booted to the gear screen and then opened, showing the various iPhone 6s and 6 components laid out and connected inside the rear shell. Several components such as the rear camera are missing, but there are enough parts present to deliver data to the iPhone 6s display.
One heavily rumored feature for the iPhone 6s is support for Force Touch, allowing the device to sense how hard the user is pressing on the display and activate differential controls depending on how much pressure is being applied. While the partially booting phone does not prove Force Touch support is present, there are some definite differences from the iPhone 6 such as the shielding on the rear of the display being glued in place rather than screwed in.
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Michael Stuhlbarg Speaks on Filming Steve Jobs Movie: ‘Unlike Anything I’ve Ever Done’
Michael Stuhlbarg, who plays early Apple employee Andy Hertzfeld in Aaron Sorkin’s upcoming Steve Jobs movie, spoke with Collider about his experience shooting the movie and shared some insight into the three-act structure of the film.
According to Stuhlbarg, the Steve Jobs movie was a “very unique project” with a rehearsal process that was split between each of the acts, with the actors spending two weeks rehearsing and then two weeks shooting the movie at each different location where the product unveilings took place. The film is centered around three product launches for the original Mac, the NeXT Computer, and the iMac.
This shooting method, says Stuhlbarg, was “unlike anything I’ve ever done to this point and probably unlike anything I’ll ever do again. He said it brought the actors together “in an extraordinary way.”
Also, it kind of gave us something in the telling of the story that you don’t often get, which is a sense of momentum of what a story is telling you. He got the opportunity to get the barrage of nonsense that was being thrown at him throughout the entire story. It was just unlike anything I’ve ever done before.
Stuhlbarg also spoke about the experience of working on a highly desirable Aaron Sorkin screenplay and his take on Andy Hertzfeld’s relationship with Steve Jobs, all of which can be read in the original interview on Collider or seen in the video below.
The Steve Jobs movie will premiere at the 53rd annual New York Film Festival on October 3 before seeing a wider release on October 9. The film, which was written by Aaron Sorkin and directed by Danny Boyle, stars Michael Fassbender as Steve Jobs, Seth Rogen as Steve Wozniak, Kate Winslet as Joanna Hoffman, and Jeff Daniels as John Sculley.
AIVAnet 