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The Tech Thread

I figured this would expand into other areas...but Apple announced iPhone 8 and their new flagship iPhone X today:

https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/12/iphone-x/

Apple’s iPhone X, like the new iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, comes with a brand new design, ditching bezels and opting for a glass front and back. Apple says there is a deeper strengthening layer in the glass that makes it the “most durable in a smartphone.”

Thanks to this new design, the iPhone X is sealed for water and dust resistance.

It’s made from surgical-grade, stainless steel and comes in two finishes: space grey and silver.

Following the current trend in smartphones, Apple has done away with the bezels on the iPhone X, offering an edge-to-edge 5.8-inch display. In fact, Apple is upgrading quite a bit in that department, offering an OLED display for the very first time, calling it the Super Retina Display. This brings with it all the standard benefits of OLED, including more accurate colors, better image uniformity across the screen, etc.

The iPhone X Super Retina display supports 2046×1125 resolution, with 455 PPI, and HDR in both Dolby Vision and HDR.

The company is reportedly paying around $125 per panel, which is part of the reason for the reports of a more expensive iPhone.

This is also the first iPhone that will not have a home button, with the new screen reaching across the entire front of the device. Users can wake up their device by picking it up or swiping across any part of the screen. To close an app, simply swipe up on the screen and throw it away. Users can also reach Siri by simply saying “Hey Siri” or by pressing the side button.

Given that the home button has historically been central to the iPhone’s security, the replacement comes in the form of a depth-sensing front camera which will unlock the phone by detecting the user’s face. Apple is calling it FaceID.

This means that the iPhone will know what your face looks like from all angles and can unlock the phone while it’s, say, lying on a table. It also means that the feature shouldn’t be susceptible to trickery, such as unlocking for a two-dimensional photo of you instead of the real thing. Apple says the chances that someone can trick FaceID and break into your phone are 1 in a million.

“You’re wearing glasses, or wear a hat, or do it up any way you want to do it…” FaceID still works, day or night, according to Phil Schiller.

FaceID is enabled by a True Depth camera system, equipped with an infrared camera, flood illuminator, dot projector and more all packed into the top of your iPhone.

The feature is used for Apple Pay now, as well as a new feature called Animojis for messaging. Animoji’s use FaceID to lay your facial expressions into emojis, giving them your own unique take. You can pick from a dozen different animated emojis.

As far as cameras are concerned, the iPhone X is about as locked and loaded as one can get. The rear camera features a 12-megapixel sensor, with dual-lenses at f1.8 and f2.8 apertures (which is brighter than the 7 Plus telephoto). It comes with dual-image OIS quad-LED TrueTone flash.

Because of the combination of the new A11 Bionic and the enhanced camera, Apple is introducing a new Portrait Lighting, letting users select their lighting effects. These aren’t filters, but rather a real-time analysis of the light hitting the subject’s face, and these lighting effects can be added before and after the photo is taken.

Video is vastly improved as well. Combined with that A11 processor, video can be captured at 60FPS in low-light mode, with faster frame rate support and 4K capture. Slo-mo videos shot in 1080p will have 240 FPS.

The front-facing camera is powered by that True Depth camera system that supports FaceID. But the big news here is that Portrait mode and Portrait lighting is now available on the front-camera.

The iPhone X, as well as the other new iPhones announced today, comes with wireless charging capabilities, thanks to that new glass back. Wireless charging is supported by Qi, which is considered as the standard in the wireless charging industry.

Plus, battery life is two hours longer than the iPhone 7, with most of the improvement coming by way of software enhancements. But because Apple likes to take things to the next level, the wireless charging on the new iPhones is coming with a new accessory called AirPower. It’s a larger mat that lets users charge their iPhones, Apple Watch and AirPods all at the same time.

The iPhone X is packed with the new A11 Bionic processor: 64-bit design, six cores, two high performance processors that are 25 percent faster than the A10 and 4-high efficiency cores (two more than the A10) that are 70 percent faster. The GPU is 30 percent faster.

Part of the bigger news here is improved photographs. As Panzarino noted in the live blog, “The Apple ISP is one of its secret weapons in photography. If you’ve loved an iPhone picture you’ve ever taken then thank the image processor inside the phone for that result.”

The iPhone X starts at $999 for the 64GB model, with a larger 256GB option.

Pre-orders begin on October 27 and regular sales begin November 3, just in time for the Holidays.

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Here's a fantastic account of a local guy getting jerked around by BellMTS in order to keep his discount:

https://twitter.com/Brent_Neill/status/1116461907966332929

 

I switched to TekSavvy for my internet last month and it couldn't have gone smoother. Went from paying Shaw $75 for 15 mb/s to $37.95 for 25 mb/s (both unlimited). Signed up for Tek online and just hooked up the modem they sent me on service change day. When I called Shaw to cancel (and waited on hold for 25 minutes), the guy first said "what can we do to keep you with us", but when I told him it was too late and told him who I was switching to, he basically said "I don't blame you, we can't come near their prices".

2 hours ago, nate007 said:

Here's a fantastic account of a local guy getting jerked around by BellMTS in order to keep his discount:

https://twitter.com/Brent_Neill/status/1116461907966332929

 

I switched to TekSavvy for my internet last month and it couldn't have gone smoother. Went from paying Shaw $75 for 15 mb/s to $37.95 for 25 mb/s (both unlimited). Signed up for Tek online and just hooked up the modem they sent me on service change day. When I called Shaw to cancel (and waited on hold for 25 minutes), the guy first said "what can we do to keep you with us", but when I told him it was too late and told him who I was switching to, he basically said "I don't blame you, we can't come near their prices".

Yeah if you just need net then TekSavvy. What i found weird is that a buddy who is just south of Perim can only get lowest of the low DSL and Shaw says they dont go there but Teksavvy shows they can double the speed at same price as BellMTS.

Edited by FrostyWinnipeg

  • 4 weeks later...

And to think I thought this was crazy.

 

 

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My phone is up for renewal and the only phones I can get for free without jacking up my plan are a Huawei P30 or a Galaxy s9. Any recommendations? Is Huawei loosing access to android really an issue for existing plans?

2 minutes ago, Fraser said:

My phone is up for renewal and the only phones I can get for free without jacking up my plan are a Huawei P30 or a Galaxy s9. Any recommendations? Is Huawei loosing access to android really an issue for existing plans?

My concern would be future updates and support. I know they've said they'll continue to support it but what resources will they put into it versus their own solution? 

5 minutes ago, JCon said:

My concern would be future updates and support. I know they've said they'll continue to support it but what resources will they put into it versus their own solution? 

I kind of wonder about future updates as a good thing. Maybe I paranoid but I feel like my s7 has gotten worse with every update post my contract expiring as a way to entice me to get a new phone/contract

Just now, Fraser said:

I kind of wonder about future updates as a good thing. Maybe I paranoid but I feel like my s7 has gotten worse with every update post my contract expiring as a way to entice me to get a new phone/contract

I have an S7. It's a back up now that my kids use for their needs. It was getting worse until a recent update, which seem to have saved the battery a bit. 

 

I'm less worried about the features of future updates and more worried about the security patches and updates. However, if you're going with Huawei, security probably isn't a concern for you! (I kid) 

  • 2 weeks later...

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