Episode 99: A special episode featuring a brief recap of today's Apple event. We discuss our first impressions of the new Apple Watch colors and bands, the iPad Pro, the new Apple TV, and the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.
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As I was watching Apple's media event unfold this morning from halfway across the world, I kept my fingers crossed for a 4K-capable Apple TV. Thankfully, the much improved Apple TV is at long last official but it's conspicuous that there is absolutely no word of 4K support whatsoever.
True, 9to5Mac did report last month that the new box would “lack 4K support for streaming video and AirPlay,” but apparently the hardware itself does support 4K capability, meaning Apple has purposefully disabled 4K on the new Apple TV,
Does that mean that the company is planning on enabling 4K with a software update int the future? This has been on my mind since the event has wrapped up and I'm hoping you could help me get to the bottom of this matter.
SteelSeries and Apple on Wednesday announced the Nimbus, the first gamepad designed specifically for the new Apple TV. It's unclear how much Apple was involved in the development of the controller, but the company is highlighting it on its website and there does seem to be an above-average level of cooperation here.
For starters, the Nimbus features a Lightning port for revitalizing its internal battery, which SteelSeries says will provide gamers with more than 40 hours of gaming per charge. It also has an extra large Menu button, similar to the one found on the new Apple TV remote, which could allow users to navigate around the new tvOS.
iCloud storage has always trended towards the more expensive side of things when compared to other popular cloud storage providers such as Google and Microsoft. Users will be happy to know that Apple apparently understands this, and as a result, its significantly reduced the price of its iCloud storage. With 4K video support and a higher megapixel camera featured in the new iPhone 6s, iCloud storage will be in higher demand for those of you using iCloud Photo Library.
One of the best features of the new Apple TV, in my personal opinion, is its redesigned remote with Bluetooth 4.0 and built-in dual microphones for Siri functionality. Too bad not all buyers will be allowed to enjoy the new Siri Remote, as Apple is calling it.
According to the company's official documentation for developers, the new Siri Remote is available in just eight key markets like the United States, United Kingdom and Germany, to name a few. Apple TVs in all other countries will be packaged with the standard remote.
If you're in the market for a new iPhone, and prefer the color gold, you're going to have to spring for the new iPhone 6s (or its larger sibling). The gold version of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus disappeared from Apple's website this afternoon, and the company has confirmed with The Verge that its older handsets are no longer available in the color.
As part of today's event, Apple announced the new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus with 3D Touch technology, a hardware and software combination that tracks how much pressure is being applied to the display and carries out different functions based on various levels of pressure. Also announced was the Taptic Engine in Apple's new 6s iPhones, which brings the addition of subtle taps, deepening the experience of 3D Touch with a haptic feedback element. Apple likens 3D Touch's new Peek and Pop actions to the legacy Tap, Swipe, and Pinch Multi-Touch gestures, but with a third dimension of functionality, bringing about the "3D Touch" moniker.
You'd be hard-pressed to find that piece of information on Apple's Tech Specs webpage for the new Apple TV, but newly posted documents related to third-party tvOS software development provide some interesting tidbits related to the device's underlying hardware.
In addition to the 64-bit A8 chip, the new box has two gigabytes of RAM, up from just one gigabyte of RAM inside the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, both of which also use the A8 chip. The new Apple TV isn't exactly focused on multitasking so Apple most likely doubled the RAM to enable finer detail in games.
As of today's big launch announcement, Apple now has four really powerful smartphones in its lineup, not including the entry-level iPhone 5s. At the lower end of the totem poll, there's the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. At the top of the lineup are the just-announced iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.
How do all of these devices compare? What about things like battery life, size, and weight? In this comparison post, I'll breakdown the differences between each of Apple's iPhone offerings.
It's interesting that we haven't seen any major triple-A games shown off as part of today's on-stage demos of third-party applications for the new Apple TV.
Now it's clear why: the existing multi-gigabyte iPhone and iPad games such as the Infinity Blade trilogy, Asphalt 8 and many more must be refactored to fit the inexplicable 200MB limit for an Apple TV app.
This means that assets like new levels and worlds will be retrieved on demand from the App Store, indicating Apple is positioning its new box as a casual gaming device for your living room rather than a full-on gaming console.
In addition to the new iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, Apple on Wednesday announced new accessories for its next-generation handsets. The products didn't get much stage time, but listed on Apple's website are a new Lightning dock, leather and silicon cases, in new colorways.
The new dock is very similar to the one Apple announced in May, except now it's available in iPhone-matching colors Gold, Rose Gold, Space Gray and Silver. It's compatible with all late-model iPhones and iPod touches, and will be available for online order today for $49.
If you didn't follow a live-stream of Apple's keynote presentation this morning, you can now enjoy the event anyway as Apple has just posted the full replay stream of the event on its website. The press conference was packed with several announcements, including the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, the iPad Pro, the Apple Pencil, the new Apple TV and more.