Xeno

I know not many here jump on new Apple devices, but my office provides new Apple phones and iPad as I order them.

I bought an iWatch2 (on my own) and my office + personal computers are all Windows 10.

Last year the big September announcements came just as I left for or as I was flying to Brazil. It was tricky getting all the information correct to place my order which didn't start well due (in part) to my location.

This year Apple will release info on an iP8 and new iWatch one day before I go to China. Again I expect complications in tracking all the news and trying to place an order.

My real question is what web does the best job of forecasting what might be formally announced on Sept 12 (regarding iP8 + iW3)?

DYKWIA

Macrumors has a live feed of the Apple announcements.

CPRich

Google iPhone rumors and you'll get plenty of options. macrumors, macworld, bgr, digitaltrends, techradar, etc., etc.

the iPhone rumors- 7, 7s, "8" - are pretty concrete and consistent across the sites. The next watch is a bit fuzzy.

But, fwiw, I've seen no indication that the product line will be renamed to "iWatch"

Xeno

The iOS app MacHash has proven to be interesting including a report that iP8s will be sold at an Apple store not far from my Shanghai hotel on Sept 16.

Yes, Apple still says 'Apple Watch', but I simply prefer to go with iWatch.

nmenaker

I think if you are looking for advance rumors, try 9to5mac. they query all the asian rumor sites and try to filter based on historical track record. They also have one of the best "day of" streams for live updates.

CPRich

8 and 8 Plus for the standard phones. A bit of a surprise. X for the high end device?

Double the memory - 64GB - as base. $50 more than the old 32GB base, $50 less than the old 128GB upgrade.

maortega15

Well, it's about time for wireless charging. But seems late to the party.

Now seems to be a good time for airlines to start incorporating wireless charging onto their seats and lounges.

CPRich

They also seemed super hyped about 4K TV. 4K!!! Who else has that??

Umm, everyone?

And yes, the new one is the X (ten).

Oh joy - I can send animated turds in my messages....

Face ID fails the first time it's demonstrated. Stoking fears of a stupid, unreliable solution.

It appears to be able to do a whole lot of things I would never want it to do. "Check out the physics of the chicken" - I can make my face control an animated emoji of a chicken. Ummmm...OK.

maortega15

lmao

Is the physical size of the X (not screen) the size of the 8 or the 8 Plus?

CPRich

8 - 2.65 x 5.45

X - 2.79 x 5.65

8 Plus - 3.07 x 6.24


So X is 9% larger than the 8, 8 Plus is 22% larger than the X. (In surface area - they have different aspect ratios)

Depth is about the same for all 3. X weight is mid-way between the two.

Duke787

Yawn. It looks like an S8 with an Apple badge for an extra $150 (vs. the S8 Plus) but still without a headphone jack. I also think the thin flat bezel at the top of the S8 is a better approach than Apple's having it go into the top curve of the phone but then cutting down into it with the front camera section. It makes the screen look broken at the top instead of clean with straight lines.

The Face ID seems like another stupid Apple attempt to take something away from consumers for no reason. I use the iris ID version on the S8 from time to time but there are still some circumstances where having your face looking at the entire screen isn't practical and having the Finger ID is a good, quick backup.

Camera does seem like a nice iterative improvement and the lighting functionality likely gives it a slight edge over the S8 but if that's all they got ~5 months after the S8 launched I'm not sure what they've been spending their time on.

It goes without saying that the 8 isn't even worth talking about if comparing to the top line competitors since it's basically just an iPhone 7S.

Obviously I'll be keeping my S8 Plus.

Mary2e

I'm ready for a new iPhone and it looks like the 8 may be it I currently have a 3 year old 5s. I purchased it a few months before the 6 came out

But I'm wondering if I just shouldn't got with a 7. I don't really use it for a whole lot except email, a few photos, and some apps. The idea of have reasonably current technology is appealing, but the 7 is $150 less expensive (& I have to buy 2 of them).

Thoughts?

maortega15

IMO, the only breakthrough feature of the 8 is wireless charging. Everything else = meh.

I'm still debating what phone to get my mum if she decides to get a new one. She still has the 6 and only uses it for calls, texts and photos. She's not really a tech person. But is it really justifiable to get her the X or even just the 8?!

Mary2e

I was thinking to save the $$$, except the 7 has 32gig or 128gig. The 8 has 64 for only $50 more than getting a 128gig 7.

So I'll just ponder it a bit more I have a 32 now, but I'm near filling it up. I'm sure apps will only take up more & more space.

re: wireless charging... from what I read you had to plug in the pad, so for me, it's not a big deal. I often have it charging while I use it.

GadgetFreak

One thing I'm really disappointed by is that it doesn't seem to work with the Apple Pencil. I was really hoping for that. I've gone close to paperless when out of the office using an Apple Pencil and iPad for everything from taking notes to marking up docs.