On September 9th, attendees of the Apple event saw the unboxing of the new line of Phones, along with a new, larger iPad, and an update to Apple TV after so long. This launch event left many people questioning whether or not it was time to upgrade their systems, so the Nerds at Nerds on Call are here to steer you in the right direction if you are debating whether or not to purchase the latest tech from Apple.
iPhone 6s & 6s Plus
The biggest change in the new line of iPhones is the addition of 3D touch. 3D touch means that the screen can sense differences in the amount of pressure applied, and adds additional functions, such as previewing email by tapping and holding down. 3D touch can also be used to take advantage of their new “Live Photo” feature, of which a 3 second video clip can be imbedded in a photo, and holding down on the screen activates the video. Most noticeably, the new line of iPhones seen at the Apple Event had significantly better cameras. With a 12 megapixel iSight camera that has 4k video capability on the back, and a 5 megapixel front camera with flash. The retina screen will also act has a “retina flash” when using the front camera and promises true tone colors.
In addition to the big changes, the usual improvements such as a faster processor and stronger aluminum body. Apple also announced a new color, “rose gold” for the new line of iPhones. The pricing is the same as the and 6 plus, $199, $299, $399 on contracts, and an additional $100 for the 6s plus. Before you run out and go by the latest iPhone,speakers at the APple Event even stated that you do not need a new iPhone, your old one is just fine. Unless it is broken or not meeting your needs, then there is no reason to upgrade your iPhone just yet.
Apple TV
After years without an update, Apple TV got a great update at the latest Apple Event. The addition of Siri voice control allows users to seamlessly search through apps without moving a finger. Siri can even pause and rewind a program, adding subtitles when you ask, “what did they just say, Siri?” finally, a movie companion that doesn’t interrupt and then skip back 15 minutes on accident. The latest Apple event also saw the opening of Apple TV’s OS to third party software developers, so more Apple TV apps are likely on their way. If you have and like you Apple TV, the new one is definitely worth an upgrade, as it is closer competition to Roku 2, and more apps should be available shortly.
iPad Pro
The new iPad pro is much larger than any previous iPad. With a 12.9 inch screen, and full keyboard compatibility, the iPad pro is closer competition to the Surface from Microsoft. Apple has also announced that they will be coming out with a stylus to accompany the new iPad. Viewers of the Apple event heard this stylus being called “Apple Pencil”. Perhaps the only drawback of the new iPad Pro is the size, which makes portability more of a challenge than a forte. This iPad is a better replacement for a laptop, than being an actual tablet.
The Apple Event was fairly successful, and Apple fans are surely to flock to the stores for the latest Apple gear. Our Nerds are most excited about the new Apple TV, and would probably wait before upgrading to the new iPhone or iPad until the next line of products and updates are launched.
About The Author: Andrea Eldridge is CEO and co-founder of Nerds On Call, a computer repair company that specializes in on-site and online service for homes and businesses. Andrea is the writer of a weekly column, Nerd Chick Adventures in The Record Searchlight. She prepares TV segments for and appears regularly on CBS, CW and FOX on shows such as Good Day Sacramento, More Good Day Portland, and CBS 13 News, offering viewers technology and lifestyle tips. See Andrea in action at callnerds.com/andrea/.
Video Transcript
Mark: …Nerds on call.
Ken: Yeah, Cody Stark is hanging out with Ryan Eldrige this morning. Hey guys.
Cody Stark: I’m so happy. I’m so excited, Ryan. There was some big news released yesterday.
Ryan: Yeah.
Cody: Big news.
Ryan: You know, the thing about Apple these days, pretty much since the iPad was announced back in 2010 they haven’t really been coming out with really innovative things.
Man: Huh, what?
Man: Turn around here. We’re going to turn your mic on. Okay here we go.
Ryan: Now you can here me.
Cody: So he was saying exciting innovative things yesterday.
Ryan: Yeah hardware hasn’t been all that exciting. They came out with some cool software things yesterday that most people don’t even know about. It’s kind of cool. Okay, so we’ll start with the whole event.
Cody: Okay.
Ryan: So Tim Cook yesterday announced the new iPhone 6S.
Cody: Tim Cook by the way, went to Auburn.
Ryan: They look exactly the same as the phone you probably already have in your pocket. They cost pretty much exactly the same. But one of their cool new features that I really like, if I can get our screen to work properly here, is this cool 4-speed BackBoard touch.
Cody: Yes.
Ryan: It’s 3D touch and so let’s say you’re looking at a text or something like that, you can light tap it and what it will do is it will open up the email. Look at that. It opens up and then you let go. Boom, it closes it back up again. So you can get a quick preview and not have to worry about having to switch between apps the whole time.
Cody: Gotcha.
Ryan: Which can take a couple seconds off your life.
Cody: So basically different pressure will make it do different things.
Ryan: Yeah, for example you can lightly touch an address or a web address, it’ll pop open the window so you can kind of see what it is. If your done with it, go back to your text. Or you can hold it a little bit longer or a little bit harder and it’ll open up. And you can do that with different things from your camera. So let’s say you’re taking a picture and you want to preview what you just took, we all do that, it’ll show you a quick preview or you can go right back to your family. Just with a light touch or a hard touch.
Cody: Okay.
Ryan: They upgraded the camera yesterday. It’s got now 12 megapixels.
Cody: Yes.
Ryan: It shoots full 4K video.
Cody: Yes.
Ryan: And you were just talking about how you’re really looking forward to that. This is the disruptive feature that not a lot of people talk about. This is pictures…what it does is takes a one and a half second preview of the picture and then what happened after the picture. So it makes your pictures live. They’re called live photos.
Cody: Ohh.
Ryan: So basically when you post that to Facebook or whatever, because Facebook’s going to support this later this year, if you’re looking at a picture and go, “Oh, that’s a pretty picture of a dog” you click it and it’ll kind of show you a few seconds before and a few seconds after the picture and really brings them to life.
Cody: Wow.
Ryan: It’s kind of the difference between a gif and like a short video.
Cody: Right, right.
Ryan: It’s pretty cool and that’s going to be super disruptive. You’re going to see this everywhere.
Cody: Yeah.
Ryan: And Apple just came out with it. And not many people are talking about it. It’s the part that I was most excited about yesterday.
Cody: Wow, okay we got one minute.
Ryan: All right, so you can take selfies now, a little better selfies. Get a five megapixel camera upfront. So if you do a lot of facetime talking or things like that, you’re going to have a better quality video.
Cody: Okay, okay.
Ryan: They released a new color. So this is called the rose gold color. It’s not a very good picture but it’s basically pink. Some people might be very excited about pink. The iPhone 6 cost exactly the same as it always does.
Cody: Okay.
Ryan: There’s no big difference there but if you’re not going to upgrade to the newest version, you’re going to get 100 bucks off all the older versions and the 5S is now free. So that’s kind of cool.
Cody: Oh, that is cool.
Ryan: Apple also announced that they’re going to be able to finance your phone now. So if you want to just choose a different carrier or whatever, for 32 bucks a month Apple will finance your phone and you can get a new phone every single year, every time they announce a new one. And it includes Applecare which is normally 129 bucks. So if you break your phone you can get it replaced for 99 bucks, up to 2 times a year.
Cody: Okay.
Ryan: So that’s pretty cool. You don’t have to worry about repairing.
Cody: I like that.
Ryan: So I’m going to go real fast through the last two.
Cody: Okay:
Ryan: AppleTV, they announced a new AppleTV. It’s got storage on it. You can play apps on it and things like that. But the new feature is Siri’s involved. You can just talk to her and say, “Hey, show me the latest movies that are out” and she’ll show you all the new movies that are out. You can ask her to show you only action movies. You can say, “Hey, let’s play some games” and you can play games on your AppleTV.
Cody: On your AppleTV.
Ryan: You can use their little remote or you can get a Bluetooth controller and play it like your Xbox and I knew you were a big fan.
Cody: Aha! Yeah, I’m a big fan of that.
Ryan: So last things was the SurfacePro. I’m sorry, I mean the iPad Pro was announced yesterday.
Man: Oh, there you go.
Ryan: It’s a 12.9″ screen. It’s a massive beast. And if you’re really into editing video, like you are Cody, you can do a lot more with that. Plus they gave it the new multitasking feature in iOS 9. So you can have two different things on the same screen and not lose functionality. That’s kind of cool.
Cody: This is what I have been talking to my buddy Tim, over and over again at Apple. I call him up on a weekly basis. A bigger iPad is what I need, seriously. I do a lot of editing and a lot of photo…
Ryan: You’re serious, you call Tim every week?
Cody: Yeah.
Ryan: And he takes your calls still?
Cody: All the time. We’re Auburn guys.
Ryan: They announced the pencil which is kind of funny but it’s kind of cool if you’re really into fine editing and you’re really into graphic design and you’re doing something. It’s not excellent for note taking necessarily but it’s kind of a new feature.
Cody: Okay.
Ryan: Again, it’s kind of part of the Microsoft Surface.
Cody: Thank you buddy. Appreciate it.
Ryan: You’re welcome.
Cody: All right, back to you guys in the studio there. It was pretty exciting yesterday.
Ken: Yeah, absolutely. That’ll work.
Mark: Good stuff. I’m going to need a bigger stocking.
