This week on the new B&B Podcast, Ben and I share tips and tricks about LaunchBar starting with a bit of history. For example: did you know LaunchBar is the original application launcher to use the Command+Space keyboard shortcut?
In the After Dark we talk iPhone 5 and considerations on switching from AT&T to Verizon.
* * *
If you’re interested in sponsoring the show to promote your product, service, or business to our live audience and our weekly listeners, please get in touch.
There were some great announcements from Apple today. But at each turn I couldn’t help but think how nearly everything being announced was something we’ve seen already or expected.
This marks the second major hardware revision for the iPhone that Apple didn’t get to introduce to the world. Like we saw with Gizmodo and the lost iPhone 4 in 2010, the iPhone 5 looks just like the leaks and rumors said it would.
But that’s not all: the new dock connector — Lightning — and the new EarPods also look just like we’ve already seen. And though we didn’t have pictures of what they’d look like, we were told what to expect in the new iPod touch and also to expect new nanos today as well (not to mention the “Loop” accessory). Even iTunes 11 was leaked via Apple’s own website earlier this morning.
It was like the whole internet had the run sheet for today’s event.
Earlier this year Tim Cook said Apple was doubling down on secrecy, and yet virtually every single thing announced today was called by the rumor mill.
That is not to say that today’s event was a disappointment. Quite the contrary. The mystery and surprise of today’s announcements may have been diminished, but the quality of the products themselves was not. Knowing about the iPhone 5 before it was announced doesn’t make it any less a device had we not known anything at all.
This image from Dustin Curtis is often referenced as a prime example of why the smaller-screen of the iPhone is superior to the ginormous screens of Android phones these days.
The onehandability of the iPhone has always been a great advantage. Especially for a guy like me who is 5’8″ and has somewhat small hands.
My biggest qualm with past Android phones I’ve tested or borrowed is how difficult they are to use one handedly. Jim Dalrymple reported that the iPhone 5 is, in fact, easy to use with one hand. My question, which would solicit a different answer from everyone because it’s unique to hand size is if the iPhone 5 is as easy to use one handed as the past iPhones have been.
On another note, with the extra vertical space there’s room for another row of icons. I’ve always kept my bottom row free from icons so now I can fit a 4th row without cluttering up my Home screen. Which is an interesting idea if you think about it. I can’t imagine how cluttered and random most peoples iPhone home screens are, and one of the solutions is “bigger physical screen”. I’m still standing on my soapbox that the iPhone Home screen needs a radical redesign.
Having a significantly faster cellular connection means a significantly improved user experience (especially when battery life doesn’t take a hit). Because, at the end of the day, it really just boils down to less time waiting. And we all want that.
I wonder how many people are going to turn off wi-fi on their iPhones because LTE is faster than the internet in their home?
Data speeds are great but they aren’t something that I’ll look back on 40 years from now with my kids and grandkids to talk about. No, those will be the photos and videos that I shoot.
Not to get all mushy, but Apple’s investment into the quality of the iPhone camera is an investment into our future. The iPhone is the camera we have with us and it is the one we are using to capture our memories and the one we use to feed that habit of amateur photography we’re now all into.
iTunes 11: 435 Million iTunes accounts. The new design, looks great. But I use Rdio for music, my Apple TV for movies, my iPad for books, and my iPhone for podcasts, so I spend hardly no time in iTunes. Nevertheless it’s a great update that was a long time coming.
iPod nano: Has any Apple device seen as many significant hardware changes as the nano? The nano is Apple’s hardware design playground.
Also, with the change in size of the nano, I think it’s clear that Apple’s is not planning on making it some sort of iPhone-satellite device. The device is designed as a stand-alone product.
As for the new design, I like it a lot. As John Siracusa said on Twitter, the new iPod nano looks like a tiny Lumia phone.
I plan to pre-order a black 32GB AT&T iPhone on Friday morning. When upgrading from the 3GS to the 4 in 2010, and from the 4 to the 4S in 2011 I received a fully-subsidized pricing with the renewal of my contract. However, as of this writing, I’m not eligible for a subsidized upgrade from AT&T.
And it’s not just me. All of my regularly-upgrading friends and many of my Twitter followers are all reporting the same thing. We’ve been getting subsidized upgrades year-over-year but apparently not this time.
Perhaps that will change before iPhone pre-orders open up, or perhaps AT&T has ceased its good will and will not let us upgrade early. If I do have to pay a non-subsidized price for an iPhone, I may chose instead to cancel my AT&T contract and switch to Verizon since its nation wide LTE coverage is immensely superior to AT&T’s.
Jim Dalrymple:
What was important to me for an updated iPhone was the larger screen. However, making a larger screen does come with its drawbacks if it’s not done right. Specifically, if you can’t operate it with one hand, it might be a difficult sell for a lot of people.
I’m happy to report that I was able to operate the iPhone 5 with ease using one hand. That means I was able to reach the top of the screen with my thumb, change options and navigate through the screens without having to reach uncomfortably.
Ben Brooks:
The photos you take with your iPhone are, themselves, a lasting marketing tool for Apple to sell more iPhones — so it only makes sense that they spend so much time improving the camera with each version.
This is an angle that I’d never thought of.
As a consumer, I love that Apple keeps pushing the bar higher and higher for their iPhone camera because an improved camera is one of the things I most look forward to in getting a new iPhone.
And look at the Lock screen now. From there you’ve got two actions: slide that icon up to take a photo, or slide that square to the right to do anything else.
Nice touch for plugging the tall iPhone 5: the Apple homepage is responsive to the vertical height of your browser window, not the width. (Thanks, Matthew.)
A way better camera, LTE, great battery life, taller screen, and all new hardware design. Pre-orders start this Friday the 14th and the iPhones ship next Friday the 21st.
If you’re only going to track with one site, I’d suggest gdgt. Ryan Block has become my new favorite “liveblogger” for the Apple Events. He did a great job last year for the 4S announcement and again earlier this year for the iPad 3.
Also:
And I’ll be tweeting on Twitter, of course.
Last year, before the 4S was announced, I wrote about one of the reasons Apple’s product launches are so successful:
Good marketing may get people in the door the first time, but it’s good product development that gets them in the door the second time and the third time.
Marco Arment (via Michael Mulvey):
When Apple makes a new product, usually the message is, “Can you believe how great this is?”
And when Amazon makes a new product, usually the message is, “Can you believe how cheap this is?”
Dan Frommer:
Apple and Amazon are both in the business of designing small computers – tablets, ereaders, phones, media players – and selling them to the public. But how they do it is the big difference. And that’s best depicted by the astonishing difference in the two companies’ profits.
“How am I supposed to give a dramatic keynote if people already know what the iPhone 5 looks like?”
Because, you know, maybe you’re in need of another easter egg factoid to prove that yes, you are the biggest Mac nerd your friends or family know.
When sending a website as a to-do item to OmniFocus, now if you’ve selected some text in the page then it too will get added to the task’s notes in addition to the URL itself. I didn’t even know I could do this ever, let alone that it was broken in Safari 6.
That’s what it said on the back of the HP TouchPad box I bought last summer. I wonder what it says on the back of the Spectre One box.