Showing posts with label know. Show all posts
Showing posts with label know. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus Everything You Need to Know
Right on schedule, Apple has carried out its annual iPhone refresh cycle. Dozens of leaks and endless reams of speculation proved mostly to be correct, as the devices unveiled at Apples California event on Tuesday were not surprising at all. Still, Apple managed to keep most of the specifics about its hardware and software improvements under wraps. Heres all you need to know about what makes the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus special.
Screen sizes
Of course the most important difference is larger screens. Apple, which has steadfastly refused to follow industry trends in the past, has now seemingly bowed to pressure and gone in the direction that most Android device makers have gone. TheiPhone 6 has a new 4.7-inch 750x1334-pixel screen, which is considerably bigger than the one on the iPhone 5s, while the iPhone 6 Plus comes in at an even bigger 5.5 inches and 1080x1920 pixels. The 326ppi density stays the same on the 4.7-inch screen, although Apple now calls it a "Retina HD" screen, while the 5.5-inch model gets a considerable bump up to 401ppi. The iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c both have 4-inch 640x1136-pixel screens.
The larger of the two new devices borrows some software features from the iPad line, and takes advantage of its extra screen space by allowing more content on each screen. For the first time, you can use an iPhone entirely in landscape - the home screen will rotate, but unlike on iPads, all the icons stay in the same places. Theres even an enhanced keyboard with dedicated keys for copy, cut and paste.
Dimensions
Of course the larger screens mean that both models are taller and wider than their predecessors, but Apple has made the most of that and reduced thickness to compensate. The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are 6.9 and 7.1mm thick respectively, as opposed to the 8.97mm of the iPhone 5c and 7.6mm of the iPhone 5s and 5, which had felt so much thinner than the 4S when it first launched.
The power button on both models has been moved to the upper right edge, which is easier to reach than the top.
Power
Some might argue that the iPhone 5s was thin enough, and that Apple should have used larger batteries instead of reducing volume further. The iPhone 6 promises up to 14 hours of 3G talktime while the iPhone 6 Plus is rated for an astonishing 24 hours. Thats compared to 10 hours on the iPhone 5s and 5c. Standby time remains the same 10 days on the iPhone 6, whereas the iPhone 6 Plus can last up to 16 days on a single charge.
A lot of the power savings can be attributed to Apples new A8 SoC and M8 motion coprocessor. Apple has not disclosed the chips specifications or speeds, but has promised 25 percent more CPU power and 50 percent faster graphics, along with impressive power savings. The A8 is manufactured on a 20nm process and has 2 billion transistors. The iPhone 5s was the first iOS device to use a 64-bit processor, last years Apple A7, and also the first to have a dedicated motion coprocessor. The iPhone 5c uses the older Apple A6 SoC which was introduced with the iPhone 5 two years ago.
Cameras
One area in which Apple has not bothered trying to catch up to Android manufacturers is its cameras. In terms of raw resolution, weve got the same 8-megapixel rating as before. However, Apple says the sensor is all new, and has been designed to lock focus much faster. A new "Focus pixels" feature senses light intensity quickly, allowing the autofocus to lock that much faster.
Apple also touts improved colour accuracy and more advanced noise reduction algorithms. There is dedicated hardware for image processing.The iPhone 5s camera doesnt have these new features but is still superior to the iPhone 5c camera, which has a single LED flash.
The larger iPhone 6 Plus has optical image stabilisation, which physically adjusts the lens to compensate for shaky hands and sudden movements, leading to sharper images and video. The iPhone 6 and 5s use digital stabilisation, which is a method of achieving similar results through software. The 5c doesnt have any kind of stabilisation.
Video is still 1080p on the two new phones rather than 4K, but can be recorded at a smoother 60fps. Slow-motion video can now be recorded at 240fps. The iPhone 5s introduced 120fps slow-motion video, but the 5c cannot process even this.
The front camera now supports a burst mode and you can panoramas up to 43 megapixels big with the primary camera, which uses the phones gyroscope to automatically line up the edges of each frame.
NFC and sensors
Apples new Apple Pay feature works using a combination of NFC and fingerprints. You can tap your iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus to a payment terminal while holding your finger to the Touch ID sensor to authorise payments. This feature wont be available on older iPhones including the iPhone 5s. The iPhone 5c lacks the Touch ID sensor, so transactions still need to be authorised with traditional passwords.
Theres also a new barometer, which helps health and fitness apps track your movements. The new sensor allows detection of altitude so the device knows when youre walking and when youre climbing stairs.
Networks
On the less glamorous side, the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have been upgraded with high-speed Wi-Fi ac support. They also work on more LTE bands around the world - the total is now up to 20, including the TD 2300 band used in India. The iPhone 5s and 5c also support the Indian LTE band but Wi-Fi n is the highest speed standard supported.
The two new iPhones gain VoLTE (voice over LTE) support and carrier aggregation, which allows multiple bands to be used simultaneously to increase throughput.
Pricing, variants and availability
The iPhone 6 replaces the iPhone 5s at the $199 price point (on contract in the US), but the iPhone 6 Plus comes in at a new $299 level. These are the starting prices for 16GB models, and the increment is still $100 for each bump in capacity.
Interestingly, Apple has discontinued the 32GB mid-tier models and youll now get 64GB at the same price. Another $100 will get you 128GB instead of 64GB. Both models will be available in the same three colours as the iPhone 5s: gold, silver and space grey.
The iPhone 5s will continue to be available in 16GB and 32GB models. While the 16GB model drops to $99, the increase to 32GB will cost only $50 more. Only the 8GB version of the iPhone 5c will remain available, but it will be free on contract in the US.
Apple had initially put a date of September 26 on its India website, which seems to have been a mistake, as it has now been updated to show October 17. It is not clear if this applies to the iPhone 6 Plus as well, though this is unlikely considering reports of production issues that have constrained supplies. Pricing in Indian rupees is not yet known. Apple will most likely announce prices and retail tie-ups in the week prior to the launch.
Software
The new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus will come with iOS 8 preinstalled. Owners of older iPhones (as far back as the iPhone 4S) will be able to download an iOS 8 update starting on September 17. The new OS introduces a number of features including Health, a new app that helps track your activity and nutrition; Photos, an all-new photo management and editing tool; more intelligent Spotlight searches; voice clips in the Messaging app; an improved keyboard with suggestions; and loads of new frameworks for developers to build on.
Most of these features should translate well to older iOS devices, but some, such as Apple Pay, require specific hardware that older products wont have.
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
What on Earth Is Minecraft 10 Things to Know About Microsofts Billion Dollar Acquisition
With over 54 million copies sold, Minecraft represents the biggest niche audience since gaming itself. News that Microsoft has acquired Minecraft maker Mojang for $2.5 billion should have gotten your attention, so lets take a look at what Minecraft is. The game itself was released nearly five years ago, so this isnt an in-depth explanation - just a quick guide to get non-gamers up to date with what the hype is about.
1. Minecraft is a video game
This should be obvious, but Minecraft is a video game that was first released in an "alpha" state in 2009. You might be familiar with the concept of a beta, where software is released but continues to be developed to remove bugs. An alpha is what comes before the beta - where youre not just testing for bugs but still developing the key features, and creating art, sound and other assets in case of video games.
Minecraft was originally released as a PC game, but over the years as its popularity grew, it was ported to more platforms. Today, you can get Minecraft for Windows, OS X, Linux, Android, iOS, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation Vita.
2. Minecraft isnt really a video game
While Minecraft has many game-like elements, its really much more like digital Lego. The game itself doesnt really have a goal - you can explore the world, and build what you want. In Survival mode - which is the closest Minecraft gets to a game, you have a health bar which can be depleted by attacks from monsters, starvation, suffocation and more events.
You can make armour and weapons, and build defences, breed animals and more. Then theres Creative mode, where you have access to most of the resources through a menu, and you can fly around the world. Youre free to build large projects, and just have fun.
3. Minecraft has sold over 54 million copies
Whether you think that Minecraft is a game or not, theres no denying that it is a success. Taking into account all platforms, Minecraft has sold over 54 million copies. You can play Minecraft by yourself and create things on your own, and if you want, you can connect to this huge community in multiplayer worlds, where you can work together to build things.
4. It looks like first-person Lego
Minecraft has a unique visual style that has inspired quite a few imitators by now. Everything is made up of blocks - including your character, and even the water looks blocky. This is a deliberate stylistic choice, although some players use mods to change the way Minecraft looks. Funnily enough, while Minecraft has been described as digital Lego at least partly for this reason, there are now official Lego Minecraft sets you can buy.
5. There is mining, and crafting
In survival mode, you start the game empty-handed and need to hit blocks to collect them. So you can hit a tree, and get some wood, for example. Thats the most basic thing you can do though. The next step is to use the crafting grid to turn those blocks of wood into planks. From there, you can turn the planks into a crafting table, where you can make more complex items - such as a wooden axe, with which you can get wood faster. Keep crafting and your mining becomes better.
The more you mine, the more materials and combinations become possible, and after that, you can start to build highly complex structures. People have made reproductions of Hogwarts and real world locations like the Eiffel Tower, giant Marios bestriding the blocky tiles, and even simple towers to protect themselves. Using special "redstone" blocks that can have more than one state, people have built calculators and even computers, investing a huge amount of time and effort to work it all out and then put them together.
6. You can play Minecraft inside Minecraft
You know how we mentioned that using redstone blocks you can create binary switches and make computers? Setting up several thousand of these blocks, some people have even made a very basic 2D Minecraft that you can play - inside Minecraft. The scale of the work required to do this honestly boggles the mind, and thats just putting it all together.
First, someone had to figure out how to make this whole system of tens of thousands of bricks to work together.
7. The world of Minecraft is 9 million times the size of Earth
The world of Minecraft is theoretically infinite - the areas are made up of chunks that are loaded as required. There are some technical limitations to the total space possible, and therefore, the total surface area is 4.7 quadrillion kilometres squared. The Earth is "just" 510 million kilometres squared, making Minecraft effectively over 9 times bigger.
8. Minecraft helped popularise the "early access" model
Today, paying for a game that is still a work in progress isnt a big deal. Theres Kickstarter of course, where you might pay for something thats barely an idea. And then theres something like Steam Early Access, where you can pay for games that are still being made.
Minecraft is probably the most famous example of the trend - players could buy the game in the initial development stages, the alpha and later the beta, all the way up to the final release. At each stage, the cost of the game went up, but if you bought an older version of the game, you were assured a copy of the final game at no additional cost, along with other benefits. Games like DayZ would come along later and cement the model, but Minecraft is certainly one of the games that set the early trend.
9. Minecraft has a huge fanbase, with merchandise and meetups
There are Minecraft conventions, including the official one - MineCon, which has taken place in locations like Washington, Las Vegas, Disneyland Paris and Orlando, Florida. These events were heavily attended and show how involved the community is. On the Minecraft website, you can buy a lot of merchandise as well, ranging from soft toys to vinyl figures, foam swords, blocky torches, mugs, posters and clothes.
Minecraft might have started as a digital distraction, but it is very much present in the real world today.
10. Minecraft has applications well beyond Minecraft
Minecraft has been discussed as a teaching tool for Computer Aided Design, and for other educational tasks. It can be used to build virtual designs for 3D printers, for example. This year, the Danish Geodata Agency recreated all of Denmark at a 1:1 scale in Minecraft, a virtual world anyone can visit. Minecraft has also been introduced in several schools to teach subjects such as history and science. For example, teachers have taken advantage of the popularity of the game to build multiplayer servers where they can recreate the pyramids, and other monuments, together in Minecraft.
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