Originally published at: http://appletalk.com.au/2017/08/wednesday-morning-news090817/
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo speculates that there will be three new iPhones launching in September, consisting of LCD versions of the current 4.7 and 5.5-inch form factors, along with the 5.8-inch OLED version that everyone is interested to see. It’s also said that all three devices will be limited to three colours, with rose gold being the casualty this time around. Perhaps the “bros’ gold” version just hasn’t been as popular as the other colour variants?
The good news is, Apple Maps now supports public transport information in Brisbane, Perth, and a few larger cities in north Queensland. While long-distance train routes are supported in Perth but not in supported in greater Queensland, the Gold Coast sees its G:link trams added to Apple Maps. The new Australian cities haven’t been added to Apple’s page on transit availability, but Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney are already on the list.
Following the release of the fifth developer beta of iOS 11, tvOS 11, and macOS High Sierra yesterday, Apple has now released the fourth open beta of their respective mobile, Apple TV, and desktop operating systems. There was a new watchOS 4 beta released for developers yesterday too, but members of Apple’s public beta program don’t get access to that one.
One of the big changes in the latest iOS 11 beta is the removal of the Messages in the Cloud feature. It’s not known why it was removed or when it will be back, but the release notes say that it will be re-released in a future version of iOS 11, suggesting it won’t be back for the proper September release of iOS 11. MacRumors summarises the other changes in the beta, including new icons for Camera and Settings that up the contrast ante.
A Foxconn employee has taken photos of the internals of the next iPhone. The Engineering Validation Test of the Ferrari iPhone model depicts a large wireless charging coil located in the centre of the device, but the real WTF here is that the photo appears to have been taken from a computer still running Windows XP.
An Apple patent says an upcoming device could use the front-facing camera and sensors for health measurements. Electrical contacts could be used to measure body fat content, for example, or an ECG reading, perhaps even pulling double duty as some kind of Smart Connector for connecting to peripherals.
David Smith tells us about his favourite programming hack in Pedometer++. Previous versions of Pedometer++ could optionally display the day’s step count as a badge on the icon, and Smith had to work out how to display a step count without the number getting truncated when it went above four digits. How he accomplished it is pretty cool, and makes for a great story.
There are a few problems with iOS notifications, and a concept redesign rethinks how they could work better. The thing is, iOS 9 used to group notifications by app, but I do like the more subtle notifications when device has Do Not Disturb enabled.
Motherboard tells us that Ron Wayne, Apple’s third co-founder, has never used an iPhone and has no regrets. He’s 83, so it’s understandable that he’s not into the whole “being connected 24/7” thing, but man, being able to say he’d do it all again — including selling his 10% share of the company for a measly $800 — is wild.
Apple’s Instagram account is its latest form of advertising. It looks like they’re starting off with a Shot on iPhone campaign, with descriptions of every photo written by the original photographer.