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Google’s latest flagship smartphones have been revealed with the monikers Pixel (5″ version) and Pixel XL (5.5″ version). Nexus is officially dead. You heard it here first folks. The Nexus team will still be providing support; however, these phones note the end of an era of vanilla Android goodness and Pixel will take it’s place.
Features:
Google Assistant built in with Android 7.1, first device with this software addition.
Camera bump gone with a unique tapered design.
Best scoring camera of any smartphone….ever.
Newly designed Pixel launcher to getting to your favorite apps quickly and accessing Google Assistant in a moment.
Bottom line: The new Pixel devices from Google seem promising. Another step at taking back Android from OEMs and making a solid entry into doing that. With phones made by Google, users can expect a lot more from their devices such as quality support, updates when they are released and non-crippled experience that wouldn’t be bogged down by carrier and manufacturer bloat.
The new iPhone 7 and 7 Plus are IP 67 water resistant; however, this does NOT mean they are waterproof. There is a difference here. What does this mean? Your precious new iPhone can still get water damage if you’re “testing” it’s resistance to water.
iPhone under running water.
What is ok? Splashes, rain, accidental spills into a shallow depth of water and getting it out quickly. What isn’t ok? Submerging your device for 30 minutes to an hour in an attempt to show how resistant to water it is. These are $700 and above prices devices, treat them as investments, especially when the new devices are hard to come by in these early weeks after the release.
Bottom line: The iPhone’s IP 67 rating is there to protect the device and your investment, water damage can still occur on the device and can be detected by Apple, so be careful and don’t put your shiny new device in harms way because you want to “test” it’s resistance.
This is what we’ve been waiting for for YEARS. True Google devices, not necessarily labeled Nexus — but labeled as Google devices and to be sold as such. Devices with marketing behind them to show the power of a true Google Android device that gets updates, is secure and puts user-experience (not bloatware or cookie cutter apps) at the forefront. This is not only important to Google but paramount to users — at the end of the day, we (you) derserve a quality device that isn’t overrun with carrier software and will be secure and supplied with updates, which keep your device relevant, for years and in time.
Why does this matter? Simple. Everyone knows who Google is, having their name on the phone will be huge, rather than an OEM acting as if Android does not exist, when it’s actually powering the phone.
HTC made Google Pixel devices.
Quality
Device quality has skyrocketed over the past few years with better devices costing less and less. This is doing two things, keeping device manufacturers competitive and making those that are producing high-quality devices on their toes. Google understands the ramifications of creating a poor quality device, and the recent Nexus devices have shown that the company has commitment to creating devices that are solid in build quality.
Software
Two reasons we buy a device from Google is to get a pure Android experience and receive timely updates. When other major manufacturers put Android on a device the code is modified and differentiated so that it can look different from another. Up front, most users think that this is a good thing; however, over the course of years we have seen that this has created the word that has haunted Google and Android — fragmentation. Fragmentation occurs when a piece of software is different from one device to the next, since this phenomenon happened, Google is simply unable to get updates out to all of its users due to the many channels that it must go through. First, Google releases the code to the latest version of Android (either a full version upgrade or a monthly security update). Next, the OEM receives that update and merges the changes to the ROM that it is using — sometimes there can be issues because on the OEM side they’ve usually modified the stock Android code to look or behave in a certain way. Finally, the carrier has to test and push it out to the devices.
When it comes to updates and keeping your device secure, it is in your best interest to buy a phone directly from Google, like the upcoming Pixel or Nexus devices.
Experience
The stock or “Google” Android experience is usually better than that of a manufacturer in many ways — primarily because it is simple and lightweight. Lightweight in terms of how much space the software takes up on the device and the fact there are simply less processes on these devices that run, which in turn makes for a quicker operating system because less things are being held in memory. When it all boils down, a user simply wants their device to work well and usually when carriers and manufacturers get their hands on a device, expect a performance degradation.
Bottom line: We are expected to see the HTC made Google Pixel phones on October 4th — let’s hope that this spirals Android into the right direction and forces OEMs to do a better job. Perhaps it is best if some of them get left behind by increased standards. It is simply best practice to care about and protect those that support you with secure and high-performing devices rather than refusing to update phones and tablets.
Fear, stutter and shake at the big bad Google, Apple, Yahoo and others — these companies are here to invade your privacy, steal your data and give you no way of understanding and seeing what they are doing. False — at least not for all of these companies that are in the public eye.
This is how companies make their money
First, all companies that provide a free service are not out to get you. Your data is NOT more important or special than anyone else’s. But…. Your data is how you pay for a free service. Let me explain. Companies like Google make their money off of ads and serving those relevant ads to you. In fact, 89% of Google’s revenue comes from serving ads. Where do those ads come from? Typically, search results that you enter and things that you click.
Companies are matched to a user based off of what they have entered into the search bar and pay for being promoted. This type of promotion is called Google AdWords, learn more here.
Since more and more queries are being pushed into search this model tells companies that having an online ad would be value — making them pay top dollar to be placed in that section. Additionally, there is a publisher program called Google AdSense and it allow webmasters to make money by displaying relevant ads on websites and blogs, learn more here.
Data Collection
Companies collect data off of you that you willingly provide. Yes, I said willingly. Terms of Service is one of the biggest “gotchas” in the industry, primarily because people don’t take the time to read them and wonder why company XYZ suddenly has their email address. If you take the time to browse through you can easily see exactly what information the company will give away and what will not be given away. If we continue to look at Google, they benefit off of not selling your data, instead they house that data to be used in-house between other connecting Google services, which in turn makes YOUR overall user-experience that much better. If you need to know more information, check out Google’s privacy policy for yourself here.
Source: Quora
Bottom line: If there is an ad you don’t like from Google an email you don’t appreciate getting, go through the necessary channels and stop it from happening. Google’s My Account dashboard will give you a bird’s eye view into your account — that is something that 99% of other companies that collect data will not do. This page will allow you to tailor the experience that you get and change the types of ads that you see.
Most importantly, just remember that these options are there rather than complaining that a company is stealing your data. First, look into the company and their privacy policy, it may just surprise you. All of these companies are not evil and out to get you; yet, they are trying to make money just like you. There are services in this world that can truly make your life easier and if you are afraid of typing something into a search box — then you deserve to miss out.
Tim Cook, Pharrell Williams and James Corden appear in a car singing their favorite tunes along with small talk about the new iPhone. They arrive at a door and Tim gets out and walks onto stage at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium — and it begins.
Stats from Tim
Apple Music
Apple’s music service is noted to have reached 17 million total subscriptions and features numerous exclusives from various artists such as Drake and Frank Ocean.
App Store
Since it’s inception there have been 140 billion app downloads. The catalog contains approximately 500,000 games, making up the largest category on the App Store. This incredible figure makes the iPhone/iPad combination the largest gaming platform. Due to these feats by the iOS devices, Mario — that’s right — Mario, our favorite plumber will be gracing iOS with a new game entitled Super Mario Run!
Super Mario Run
This is the first time that a Mario game has been pushed officially by Nintendo to a mobile operating system and I’d easily say that they made the right choice by pushing it to the App Store. It is created with one-handed gaming in mind and features competitive features in the mode “Toad Rally”.
Education
ConnectED is a national initiative to bring technology to underserved students. With this Apple is working to donate iPads to 50K students. Additionally, we’ve seen updates to iWork with improvements in collaboration similar to other applications like Google Docs where the user can see additions made by other collaborators.
New Products
Apple Watch
The Apple Watch was second only to Rolex in the world for sales revenue in the year 2015 and is the top selling smartwatch overall.
Introducing Apple Watch Series 2.
With these impressive stats Apple has worked to produce Apple Watch Series 2 that is completely redesigned on the inside to provide water resistance. Additionally, the new wearable will be touting the Apple S2 processor, which garners faster app speeds on the device. This new mobile processor will also make it’s way to the first-generation Apple Watch, which will still be sold by the company. Furthermore, with the advent of the new Apple S2 processor, comes the new GPU that is 2x faster than the previous generation.
The display has been updated to be 2x brighter, blasting out pixel at 1000 nits (really bright, this is the brightest display that Apple has even put inside of one of it’s devices). With new processors built for speed the new drove of Apple Watch devices are poised to be great for new adopters.
Sport and fitness have been some of the highlight features of the Apple Watch and these alone have made it be one of the premier fitness trackers in the industry and with the introduction of GPS things are only going to get better (if the GPS feature is not something that you long for, opting for Series One is still a good idea or even the first-generation without the new processor if you can handle a device that is a tad slower). GPS tracking is a crucial feature for runners, cyclists and more who want a precise recap of the exact route that they followed. Apple has also partnered with Nike to create the Apple Watch Nike+. This specific model is similar to the Hermes Apple Watch that comes with a different band and a new watchface. The Nike+ watchface will provide a sporty interface in addition the watch will remind the user to run and get active.
The Series 2 device with an additional finish of ceramic will start at $369 and the updated Series 1 (first-generation Apple Watch) will be sold at $269.
iPhone
The Apple iPhone is the best selling product of it’s kind in the history of the world and has sold 1 billion units. Changes coming to iOS 10 include a newly redesigned Maps app that includes the ability to book rides and more directly from the app, changes to HomeKit, which is supported by virtually every major home automation product manufacturer, that are throughout the Home app that truly integrates home automation unlike any portal integrated into any mobile OS, changes to iMessage for more expression and tweaks and improvements that make this the fastest and best version of iOS to date. But with it has to come new hardware, right?
Introducing iPhone 7.
The iPhone 7 is coming to us with a slew of new features, which are detailed below:
All new jet black and black colors (Apple notes that the Jet Black color option may scratch easily and promote the use of a case)
Home button is changed from a physical button to a Force-touch button, similar to the trackpad on the MacBook and MacBook Pro line that works based off of the patented Taptic engine (see below, the removal of the headphone jack allows for this innovation)
Apple home button Taptic engine placement.
Water and dust resistant (IP67 certified) with gaskets throughout the housing
Camera features OIS on both 7 and 7 Plus models (additional camera features below)
F 1.8 aperture
6 element lens
12 MP sensor that is 60% faster than the previous model
Quad-LED true tone flash
Wide color gamut photos
RAW image capture
7 MP facetime HD camera
7 Plus features two 12 MP cameras, one wide-angle and another is telephoto so that the focal length can be manipulated and achieve the bokeh effect — these features will come as an update to iPhone 7 Plus users
iPhone 7 camera details.
Stereo speakers (one on top another on bottom)
Improvements to the Retina HD display that make it 25% brighter and support for a wide color gamut
No headphone jack, lightning ear pods are included (additionally a lightning to 3.5mm adapater comes with every iPhone 7 device)
Wireless AirPods, which feature the Apple W1 chip, are wireless buds that require one time setup and sync across all devices through iCloud
Apple’s new AirPods, starting at $159
Apple Pay support in Japan
Performance improvements through the newly design A10 Fusion chip, which is a 4 core 64-bit CPU that contains 2 high performance and 2 high efficiency cores (these can help save battery life when doing less intense tasks such as Email, calculator, light web-browsing and more)
A10 Fusion chip details.
All of these features for the same price as the previous generation, with the addition of more storage. So, starting at $649 you will get the iPhone 7 models that come in either 32, 128 or 256GB configurations with these options replicating down to the existing iPhone 6S and 6S Plus. The iPhone 7 will be available for preorder on 9/9 and will ship on 9/16.
iPhone Storage Configurations
Bottom line and takeaways: This is a very solid announcement for Apple and a leap forward for the iPhone and Watch lines. The camera is certainly the biggest selling feature on this device and with pictures becoming more and more important in our lives — it should be a focalpoint. The removal of the headphone jack may make some upset, but it’s 2016 — get over it and use wireless devices. Why tether yourself to a device that is meant to be mobile? One note is that the AirPods are absolutely disgraceful — they are hideous, if you don’t get the point. One of the newly released pairs of Beats wireless headphones seem to be a better choice here. Additionally, revamping the home button is something much needed as that is the primary button on the device and it is known for collecting dust and sometimes becoming inoperable on older devices — this is huge.
Apple Watch Series 2 simply builds on the great foundation that was laid out by the first-generation device. Now with better waterproofing, a new ceramic case and a faster processor — these updates bring it into 2016 with a bang.
Of course with any update, this is the best iPhone to date, with better storage options, same pricing scheme, snappy A10 Fusion chip — what more could we ask for?
Let’s end with a quick hands on of the newly announced iPhone 7 and Apple Watch Series 2 devices below, Enjoy.
iPhone 7 Hands on.
Apple Watch Series 2 Hands on.
Tech for the masses, meant to empower, educate and inform by Dexter Johnson.
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