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Geared Up: Hands-on with iPhone 11 & iPhone 11 Pro, but What Does Pro Mean?

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Wearables,

Hands on with iPhone 11 & iPhone 11 Pro

In this episode, we go over all the big announcements from Apple’s iPhone 11 launch event. Andru was in Cupertino for the event and gives his hands-on impressions of the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro, and we discuss the meaning of the “Pro” naming scheme for the iPhone and tech products in general.

There’s also a new Apple Watch Series 5 (finally sporting an always-on display!) and a couple of new finishes, and Apple has seemingly set up Apple TV+ to become the number one streaming video service in the world in the next 12 months - we show you the math!

LINKS MENTIONED IN THE SHOW

SPONSOR: National Car Rental - skip the line with the Emerald Club. Go National. Go Like a Pro.

Listen to the episode in the player above or subscribe to Geared Up in your favorite podcast app to listen on the go:


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Apple announces dedicated iPadOS: The iPad Finally Grows Up

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Corporate News, Software,

iPadOS features

The iPad now gets its own dedicated version of iOS, which Apple is calling iPadOS - here are some of the highlight iPadOS features, announced during WWDC 2019:

  • You can now pin widgets to the home screen
  • Slide-over now gets a card interface for multitaking, similar to what you get on an iPhone
  • Split-View now allows for multi-window capability. So you can have two instances of the same app side-by-side. Examples shown were apps like Pages, Notes, and Microsoft Word. You can have multiple apps side by side within multitasking as well.
  • The Files app now supports folder sharing,SMB network shares, and thumb drive, external hard drive, and SD card support.
  • Safari on iPad is now a desktop browser rather than mobile browser, so you get the full desktop-class experience on the iPad. This includes 30 keyboard shortcuts, a download manager, and more.
  • Fonts management
  • Text editing is improved. Use the scroll indicator to drag directly to an area in a document. Text selection now works with a tap and drag. Three-finger pinch for copy, and three-finger expand for paste, with three-finger swipe to undo.
  • Apple Pencil latency has been improved from 20ms down to 9ms, making it even more responsive. Drag your pencil up from the corner of the screen to immediately go into markup mode no matter where you are.

iOS 13 Announced: Dark Mode, New Reminders app, Enhanced Privacy, and more

iOS 13 features

During today's WWDC 2019 keynote, Apple announced iOS 13, the next major release of its major mobile operating system platform.

  • iOS 13 is even faster and performance has been tuned across the board. This results in 50% smaller app downloads, 60% smaller app updates, and 2x faster app launching than in iOS 12.
  • Dark Mode was announced for iOS 13, a feature that users have been asking for for years. We saw Notes, Messages, News, Music, Photos, and other Apple apps in dark mode.
  • Swipe gesture support is added to the keyboard
  • New share sheet will offer suggestions when it finds people in photos, and offer people you typically share with.
  • Apple Music now supports time-synced lyrics
  • New apps - Notes gets a gallery view and shared folders, Safari, Mail
  • New Reminders app will recognize what you type, keep smart lists, allows for tagging people, and more
  • Maps are being rebuilt from the ground-up, completely rolled out in the US by the end of 2019. Collections allows you to save a bunch of locations in a folder. New Look Around feature brings Street View functionality to Apple Maps. You'll be able to share an up-to-date ETA with friends going forward.
  • Privacy: You can now grant apps access to your location just once. Wi-Fi & Bluetooth backdoor tracking is shut off. New Sign In with Apple allows you to sign into Web sites without being tracked the way you are with Facebook and Google sign ins - you can choose what info you provide to an app. If you give them email access, Apple will give them a fake email that forwards to your real email.
  • HomeKit: Apple announces HomeKit Secure Video - videos are analyzed in your home instead of in the cloud, using iPad, Apple TV, HomePod, and more.
  • Messages: You can share your name and photo in Messages, which lets you control who sees your name and picture.
  • New Memoji options let you add eye shadow, lipstick, piercings, teeth, earrings, hair, hats, glasses, AirPods, and more. Memoji Stickers will take your Memoji and add a bunch of expressions that can be used on any device with an A9 processor or later.
  • Camera: New High Key Mono portrait lighting effect. You can also move the lights closer or further away from your subject when in Portrait Lighting mode.
  • Photos: New photo editing tools in Photos allow you to adjust your pictures in new ways. Apple also says these same effects can be used with videos as well - filters and effects are supported. Browsing large photo libraries is now easier as Apple intelligently hides duplicates, receipts, whiteboards, etc. You can still get to them, but they won't show up right in the main library. Apple will also let you sort by year, month, days, and All Photos, making it really easy to browse the greatest hits of your photo library.
  • AirPods: Siri can instantly read you your new messages as they arrive, and you can respond with your voice right away. New Audio Sharing feature allows you to share audio with a friend.
  • HomePod: Apple brings Handoff to HomePod. Bring your phone near a HomePod to have it continue your music, phone call, podcast, etc. right where you left off. HomePod will also recognize who's talking and personalize its response, giving it multi-user support, including for apps like Music, Notes, Messages, Reminders, and more.
  • CarPlay: Siri will work with third-party apps like Pandora and Waze in the car.
  • Siri now sounds a lot more natural with cadence and emphasis, using Neural TTS. The voice is now completely generated in software rather than using clips from a voice actor.
  • You'll also be able to sent calls from unknown callers directly to voicemail.

Geared Up: Apple TV+, Apple Card, Apple Arcade and the Rest of Apple’s New Services

Apple TV+

Apple unveiled a host of new services at their March 25th event this week (be sure to check out my full wrap-up video of the Apple event!), and we take a look at each one in this episode of Geared Up!

  • Apple TV+ is the company's new original TV and movie subscription service.
  • Apple Card is a credit card from Apple that aims to change the way consumers use and view credit cards and their financial data.
  • Apple News+ is a new subscription news service that gives you unlimited access to over 300 magazines and newspapers for a flat monthly fee.
  • Apple Arcade is a subscription gaming service with 100 exclusive games for iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, and Mac.

Listen to the episode in the player below or subscribe to Geared Up in your favorite podcast app to listen on the go:

Listen to this episode of the Geared Up podcast for analysis of the latest from Apple and its new services.

SPONSOR: National Car Rental - skip the line with the Emerald Club. Go National. Go Like a Pro.


Apple TV+: Apple’s new video subscription service announced

What is Apple TV+?

Apple finally unveiled details about its subscription video streaming service, Apple TV+, at its It's Show Time Apple Event today. There were several components to the Apple TV+ announcement, starting with an updated TV app for the Apple TV, iPhone, iPad, Mac, and even smart TVs and competing streaming sticks.

The TV app is free to use, and aims to bring in content from all of your favorite channels and apps (no Netflix, though,) all into one interface. Part of this is a new feature called Apple TV Channels, where you can choose to add free and pay services like HBO, Showtime, Starz, CBS All Access, and more and watch all content right there. Apple handles the actual video streams, guaranteeing picture quality and sound will both be top-notch. The new TV app, which drops in May, will also provide customized and personalized recommendations for shows it thinks you'll want to watch, based on your viewing habits. Apple says processing is done locally on your devices, and your viewing remains completely private.

As far as the content play, Apple TV+ will introduce a bunch of original programming that will be part of the service. Several Hollywood stars and personalities took the stage to talk about their prohects today, including Steven Spielberg, Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston, Steve Carell, Jason Momoa, Kumail Nanijani, J.J. Abrams, Sara Bareilles, Big Bird, and Oprah Winfrey. Apple is said to be spending roughly $2 billion on original content this year which it hopes will be able to set them apart from services like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and similar.

Click to continue reading Apple TV+: Apple’s new video subscription service announced


Apple Card: Apple announces its own credit card with a focus on privacy

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Corporate News,

Apple Card credit card

During today's It's Show Time Apple Event, the company announced Apple Card, a brand new credit card that promises to change the way consumers work with credit cards. Apple says it is focusing on simple, instant applications, no fees ever, lower interest rates, and better rewards. In order to sign up, users use the Apple Wallet app in the iPhone, and instantly upon approval they get a digital card that is ready to use in their wallet. You'll be able to track purchases, check balances, make payments, and more right from the app.

As for bonuses, Apple is introducing Daily Cash. You get 3% cash back when buying from Apple (including Apple Store, App Store, etc.,) 2% cash back when you use your Apple Card through Apple Pay, and 1% cash back when you use your physical card (and by the way, the physical Apple Card is forged from titanium!) Daily Cash is instantly accessible to be used for whatever you'd like - pay your balance, buy apps, send the cash to friends, spend it, etc.

Focusing on privacy, “Apple doesn’t know what you bought, where you bought it, and how much you paid for it,” says Jennifer Bailey, VP of Apple Pay. All the spending tracking and other information is stored directly on the device, not Apple’s servers. Apple also says “Goldman Sachs will never sell your data to third parties for marketing and advertising,” either.


Apple News+: Unlimited access to magazines and newspapers

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Corporate News, Videos,

Apple News+ subscription

During today's It's Show Time Apple Event, the company unveiled Apple News+, an all-you-can-eat subscription news service that gives you unlimited access to newspapers and magazines. Apple News+ is found within the Apple News app itself, which ships on all iOS and macOS devices. Some of the notable inclusions in Apple News+ are the LA Times, Wall Street Journal, Wired magazine, Bazaar, InStyle, Sports Illustrated, and more. In all, there are over 300 magazines that will be available with a single subscription. 

As Apple noted on stage, none of the publications get your personal information. Privacy is paramount, and even Apple doesn't know which magazines or articles you choose to read.

Apple News+ will cost $9.99 per month, and in a great move, it is available for families for no extra charge which means that same $10 allows you and up to 5 other family members to access the service. You can access Apple News+ starting today, and the first month is free.

What do you think? Will you be giving Apple News+ a shot?


Apple iPhone 6s & 6s Plus: 3D Touch, 12MP camera, 4K video recording, starts at $199 on September 25

iPhone 6s & 6s Plus

During it's Hey Siri, Give Us a Hint event, Apple unveiled the new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus smartphones. The updated smartphones still sport the 4.7-inch Retina HD display for the 6s and 5.5-inch Retina HD display for the 6s Plus, but there's a lot of new stuff that Apple is bringing to the table with this years flagship models:

  • 12 megapixel iSight Camera: Apple has bumped the megapixel count in the iPhone for the first time in 4 years, going from 8 megapixels to 12. This is a 50% increase in pixels, and with it comes 50% more focus pixels, making autofocus even faster than before as well.
  • 5 megapixel FaceTime HD camera: Another big improvement, as the front camera on the iPhone goes from 1.8 megapixels to 5.0. Apple will use the display itself as the True Tone Retina Flash for those selfies you need to take while in the dark.
  • 4K video recording: You can now shoot 4K video directly from the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus
  • 3D Touch: This is one of the tentpole features. The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus can now sense depth. This is similar to Force Touch on the Apple Watch, but much more advanced. Pushing down on different elements throughout iOS will allow you to select shortcuts, preview information with the "peek" gesture, go further into that data with the "pop" gesture, and more.
  • A9 processor: Apple's A9 processor offers 70% faster performance and 90% faster graphics than the previous A8 chip. Not only will things feel much faster, but games are now "console quality" according to Apple.
  • Touch ID Second Generation: Apple has doubled the speed of the Touch ID sensor
  • Wi-Fi speeds doubled
  • LTE Advanced with support for 23 LTE bands, and speeds that are twice as fast
  • Live Photos: This might have been the coolest thing Apple showed today. The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus will capture 1.5 seconds before and after you take your photo

The new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus will be available in silver, space gray, gold, and a new rose gold color option. Be sure to check out our iPhone 6s pricing guide.


OS X 10.11 El Capitan will be released on September 30

OS X El Capitan Beta 5 download

During a demo of the new iPhone 6s 3D Touch feature at the Hey Siri, Give Us A Hint event, Apple's Craig Federighi opened an email on his iPhone 6s from Phil Schiller that announced that OS X El Capitan would be released on September 30th. Apple's latest OS X 10.11 Mac operating system has been in beta since WWDC 2015 in June. Thanks to that peek at Federighi's email, we now know that all Mac users with compatible computers will be able to update to El Capitan three weeks from today, completely for free.

Click to continue reading OS X 10.11 El Capitan will be released on September 30


Apple announces brand new Apple TV with Siri integration and touch remote

Apple TV 2015

During today's Hey Siri, Give Us a Hint event, Apple announced the long-awaited, completely redesigned Apple TV. In an effort to bring TV into the modern age, Apple is focusing on an app-based solution for reinventing television. On the inside, Apple has added 802.11ac Wi-Fi networking, giving the Apple TV faster networking access. The App Store is now front and center on the new Apple TV, allowing users to download television-optimized apps from developers. The user interface has been modernized, and on the inside, Apple has included the A8 processor from the iPhone 6. This is a big improvement over the A5 processor found in the previous model. Apple has updated the software to a version of iOS 9 that it's calling tvOS.

Click to continue reading Apple announces brand new Apple TV with Siri integration and touch remote


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