Ars Technica put the TSMC and Samsung manufactured A9 chips in the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus to the test, and found that the results are mostly what Apple quoted to the press last week. While the device with the Samsung chip did have consistently lower battery life, the kind of usage scenarios where you’d even notice a difference just aren’t that common, and for all intents and purposes, iPhone 6s battery life should be similar enough for it to be a complete non-factor.
Something that isn’t a complete non-factor is the state of the Australian Dollar, which will mean the prices for apps will rise. Within the next 36 hours, the minimum price for an app will be $1.49, compared to the 99-cent minimum in the US. Presumably the price of other media on iTunes will also rise, but the email sent to developers only mentions price changes for apps.
IFixit took apart the display in the iPhone 6s in order to find out what kind of strange display tech makes the 3D Touch feature work, and their teardown of the display layer by layer is fascinating to see.
Apple has partnered with Imagine Dragons and the One4 project to provide support to the UN Refugee Agency during the Europe refugee crisis, reports MacRumors. All proceeds from Imagine Dragons’ I Am Me will go towards relief efforts.
Apple has seeded the fifth beta of iOS 9.1, available to both developers and members of Apple’s public beta testing program at the same time. It’s likely this will be one of the last betas, since the iPad Pro is expected to launch with iOS 9.1 sometime in November.
Satechi has an Apple Watch Grip Mount, which lets you remove the bands from your Apple Watch to mount it to your steering wheel or to the handlebars on your bike. I’m unsure if this is a good idea or not, but it seems pretty ridiculous.
Facebook’s iOS app has been updated with 3D Touch Quick Actions, letting you write a new post, or take/share a new photo/video. If you’ve seen a particularly cool implementation of Quick Actions, I’d love to hear about it.
AppleInsider walks you through using 3D Touch to control the text input cursor in iOS 9 on the iPhone. I’m still confused why this feature wasn’t brought to earlier iPhones, especially given it worked fine in an earlier beta of iOS 9.
Black Pixel checks out what Apple TV apps could do for retail on the platform, giving users a different way to shop online from the comfort of their lounge room.
Apple’s insurmountable platform advantage kind of needs to be just that — insurmountable. Remember that the iPhone represents two-thirds of Apple’s business now, so a lot depends on the iPhone going from strength to strength.
Originally published at: http://appletalk.com.au/2015/10/tuesday-morning-news131015/