Originally published at: http://appletalk.com.au/2016/09/tuesday-morning-news130916/
It should be noted that only the wide-angle lens in the iPhone 7 Plus has optical image stabilisation, at least according to a cutaway image shown on Apple’s website. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says he expects next year’s iPhone to have optical image stabilisation in both cameras, with the dual camera system remaining a Plus-sized feature for now.
The packaging of the Jet Black iPhone has been revealed to be completely black, with the rest of the iPhones getting white boxes. The matte black option was also unboxed and photographed, and while I’m still completely on the fence about Jet Black and Black, every time I see the matte black option in photos it looks great.
An explanation of how Apple makes the Jet Black iPhone from Wired breaks down Sir Jony Ive’s narration of the polishing and anodisation process as seen in the process video about the design of the Jet Black iPhone. It’s said the entire process happens in under an hour, so you can imagine how many iPhones Apple are subjecting to its polishing, anodisation, and ultrafine particle bath steps.
Stephen Hackett says that although there’s no new design for this year’s iPhone, it’s a bigger jump in specs and features than a regular S revision. I’d argue that the new Jet Black option is enough of a design update as is, but people want to see borderless displays and ever-thinner devices.
Interestingly, there’s now two versions of the iPhone 7 — one which supports the AT&T and T-Mobile networks in the US, and another which supports the Sprint and Verizon CDMA networks. It’s a step back from the iPhone 6s, which had one model (well, kind of) that supported networks worldwide. It’s all because Apple now uses chips from both Intel and Qualcomm, giving them the supplier diversity at the cost of minor manufacturing complexity.
Given that the iPhone Upgrade Program is a complete shambles, I’m almost glad it isn’t in Australia yet. A new class action lawsuit against Apple says the company prioritises new customers over those who bought into the iPhone Upgrade Program, who must do their new iPhone purchases in-store, as opposed to online or at third party stores.
The first iOS 10 apps have started hitting the App Store ahead of the release of iOS 10 tomorrow.
One such app is Mario Stickers for the Messages app in iOS 10. It comes ahead of Super Mario Run, which launches in December for iPhone and iPad.
Joe Cieplinski has two nitpicks about watchOS 3, which also releases tomorrow. He says while the performance improvements are staggering, there are still minor improvements that could be made to the activity rings watch face and to the charging screen.
If you want to back up your Health data (to, say, restore to your new iPhone), you now have two options: an encrypted iTunes backup, or the newer option, an iCloud backup.