6 ms·
may be less than people expected, but still very impressive list of improvements: - 20% lighter than the previous model - a little larger display - A6 proces
by ddon 14y ago
may be less than people expected, but still very impressive list of improvements:
- 20% lighter than the previous model
- a little larger display
- A6 processor
- camera with a better low-light performance
- 802.11a/b/g/n 2.4GHz, dual channel 5GHz, just like in the Kindle Fire HD
- 4G LTE networks support (around the world)
- HSPA+ and DC-HSDPA (improvements to the existing 3G technology)
and, looks like more news to come...
- nubela 14y agoiterative, my friend. apple has lost its touch on innovation, imho.
- MiguelHudnandez 14y agoIteration and innovation each have their places. Innovation works best when the existing alternatives are awful. I'm not sure why one would "innovate" against their successful formula. Individual features might be innovative, however. For example, the re-arrangement of photo processing tasks to produce better low-light photos. http://live.arstechnica.com/apple-september-2012-event-its-almost-here/#post-144960 http://live.arstechnica.com/apple-september-2012-event-its-a...
- parrots 14y agoYes, because every iPod they released was a revolution with tons of innovations compared to the previous year's, right?. Just like every Mac? Iteration is how Apple plays it, and they play it well.
- untog 14y agoAlthough I agree with your broader point, the iPod actually seems like a terrible example to me. They did innovate a ton- the mini, the nano, thin nano, fat nano, square nano, chewing gum shuffle, square shuffle...
- parrots 14y agoTrue, true. My thoughts were along the line of the Classic - from year to year they didn't innovate much along that one line, but you're 100% correct they innovated to fill more niches with new lines.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- fredoliveira 14y agoYou have to be pretty innovative with chip design to make processors that double the performance over the previous model. You have to be pretty innovative with hardware design to reduce the weight of a phone that's already compact by 20%. I don't think they lost their touch at all.
- brunnsbe 14y agoI think we need to wait for some real benchmarks and not just Apple's sales department's numbers to find out the real performance of the new processor.
- rieter 14y agoDo you really believe Android manufacturers use fundamentally different chips? Most of Apple chips are designed and manufactured by other companies, including the CPU.
- fredoliveira 14y agoI'm sorry, but you're wrong. Apple's Ax processors are manufactured by other companies (mostly Samsung) but they're designed by Apple, in-house. They started doing so after the acquisition of PWRficient. They are indeed different from the CPUs used by other smartphone manufacturers.
- blibble 14y agoRemember that it's another ARM based SOC; as a percentage of gates it would surprise me if Apple's input was more than a percent. I also suspect that most of the speed and power gains come from process improvements.
- wmf 14y agoOf course, Apple "designs" the exact same Cortex-A9 and PowerVR cores as everyone else. (I'll give them some credit if they are first with A15.) Qualcomm is arguably more innovative given that Krait, Adreno, and the baseband are all in-house.
- 14y ago
- arrrg 14y agoYes, one of the hallmark traits of Apple and one of the reasons why I still sometimes can love them. A company that is willing to perfect their products, that doesn't go for new for the sake of new, that's really rare. I hate many of their decisions, many of their views, but I think they always had and still have the right mix of iteration and innovation.
- bulltale 14y agoThe innovation/iteration process of Apple is often misinterpreted. Apple has had a clear line in this for a long time: - The main innovation is done to create new products: iMac, iPod, iPhone, iPad. Such products are a result of years of research and development. When Apple releases the product, they make sure the core usability philosophy is sound and does not need to be changed afterwards. - After a product and the surrounding concepts are released, Apple is very conscious not to depart to far from the original concepts and philosophies surrounding that product group. This creates trust and customer loyalty that more "innovative" brands would pay dearly for. This, in my opinion, has been an oft-overlooked factor in Apple's success.
- untog 14y agoSome good improvements, but it's definitely a resounding "meh" from me. I'm not sure why. The first iPhone was, obviously, mindblowing. Retina on the iPhone 4 was similarly amazing. But I can't think of a single thing we're seeing today that we haven't seen already.
- bluthru 14y agoYou haven't seen a unibody phone anywhere. This thing will be a tank. The processors look nice and beefy as well.
- andrewmunsell 14y agoWell, technically there are unibody phones... ie. Nokia Lumia 800
- barista 14y agoand with much better specs particularly in camera department.
- untog 14y agoAs andrewmunsell said, the Nokia phones are unibody, including the new 940. Though I don't expect to get one, a Nokia WP8 actually does seem quite innovative. WP8's UI, camera features, unibody design, offline maps... well, it's interesting at least.
- ccozan 14y agoDon't forget the actual Nokia N9, after which the Lumias were made. Same unibody, solid Linux/MeeGo experience. The amazing is that I can impress anyone with it, while an iPhone is such a common view that is becoming the next "xerox" or "velcro".
- olex 14y agoMy HTC One S is a unibody.
- jimmar 14y agoBut worth $200 and lock-in for 2 more years? Probably not for me. My ATT contract I got with the iPhone 4 just expired. The iPhone 5 specs don't make me want to fork out the cash and get locked into another 2 year contract. I'll wait to see what Android devices do in the next few months.
- sgt 14y agoI prefer just to buy the phone cash and go with a regular monthly contract.
- rorrr 14y ago"impressive list of improvements" if you lived in 2010. Nokia Lumia 920 beats iPhone 5 in pretty much every spec.