It’s “the biggest advancement in the history of iPhone,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook, who, in a highly anticipated event on Tuesday, announced the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. After weeks of keeping details about the event tightly under wraps, Apple unveiled their new products to a buzzing crowd at the Flint Center in Cupertino, California, where Steve Jobs first announced the Mac computer almost thirty years ago.
The two new phones feature much larger screens, with 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch displays that dwarf the current 4-inch maximum. The displays are sharper and clearer, as well as featuring what Apple calls “Retina HD,” a display with more than double the amount of pixels currently found on iPhone screens. Sapphire crystal displays will be more durable, so you won’t scream with fear every time you drop your iPhone. The phones are also much thinner and lighter, having shrunk to 6.9 and 7.1 millimeters, respectively.
A bigger phone may seem more cumbersome, but Apple has implemented new hardware and software features to simplify one-handed use. The sleep/wake button has been moved to the side and nearly all apps will feature a landscape view, including the home screen. Current apps will automatically fit the larger display sizes.
With expanded LTE roaming, calls made over Wi-Fi, a smaller and faster processor chip, and longer battery life, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have been touted as an improvement in all ways, a boost that Apple is desperately seeking in the face of competition from larger Samsung Galaxy phones. The Wall Street Journal suggests that Apple is essentially playing catch-up, and the phones’ tagline “Bigger than Bigger” recognizes Apple’s attempt to create a phone that is not just bigger, but better.
The phones will be released with iOS 8, the new operating system featuring an updated messenger app, a keyboard that guesses what you’re going to type before you type it, a health app, and a one-touch method of automatic paying called Apple Pay. iOS 8 will be available for all iPhone users on September 17th.
Also introduced was the Apple Watch, which received a standing ovation from the crowd as an overjoyed Tim Cook threw his arms in the air triumphantly. The watch is essentially a screen on your wrist, with a brand new user interface and digital crown dial used to navigate it. It can make calls and send messages (and customizable emojis), but seems impractical in daily use. It may be the perfect product for businesspeople, but the laity might be better suited to their iPhones. The product is still in its infancy, though, so there’s no telling how well it will catch on.
The Apple event closed with a performance by U2, who have released their new album free on iTunes. The hype surrounding this event seems to have paid off; celebrities like Ellen DeGeneres tweeted live expressing their excitement and a newly constructed pavilion was swarming with eager Applephiles excited to test out the new products.
The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus will be released September 19th starting at $199 and $299 respectively. Both phones come in larger 128-gigabyte sizes and three colors: silver, gold, and “space gray.”
The Apple Watch, which also comes in a lighter, more durable Sport variety and gold-plated Edition variety, will be released early next year at $349.
Sources:
http://online.wsj.com/articles/heard-on-the-street-winding-up-apple-for-its-next-act-1406066544