On October 16, 2014, Apple announced the iPad Air 2, iPad Mini 3,Retina iMac, and Mac Mini. While there were no improvements to the iPad Mini line aside from Touch ID, the iPad Air 2 was just the opposite. For the first time, Apple used 2 GB RAM and a triple core processor in a device. Compared to other iOS devices, this thing is a powerhouse.
There is one more notable improvement that Apple made to the iPad Air 2. They gave it an 8 MP camera, where the iPad previously had 5 MP. There is still no flash.
Mobile payments are nothing new. Android and Windows Phone have made use of mobile payments for years. It wasn’t until Apple invented mobile payments with Apple Pay that it really got mainstream support (see what I did there?).
Apple Pay came to the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus via iOS 8.1 on Monday, October 20. They actually did a really good job. It’s integrated into the operating system so even if the phone is asleep, it wakes up to pay with Apple Pay.
Shortly after Apple’s iPad Air 2 announcement, reports started showing up all over the Internet that the LTE variants of both the iPad Air 2 and the iPad Mini 3 would ship with a new Apple SIM card. It was a SIM that gave users that ability to choose between T-Mobile, Sprint, and AT&T. It was going to bring the carriers to their knees, forcing cheaper prices of data for the unwashed masses.
That’s right. The masses would pay less for their data plans and would finally be able to afford to wash themselves.
If you ask a tech journalist what kind of phone he uses, the answer will probably surprise you. You would expect to hear a phone that came out last week, such as the Sony Xperia Z3 or the Samsung Galaxy Note 4. You’d be a bit surprised if he told you he uses an HTC One M8 that came out in April. This is because we get review units and have at least five phones at any given time, we always have that one personal phone that is “the one we use”.
Apple’s iPad has always been the tablet that I use. Starting with the iPad 2, then the iPad Mini with Retina (now iPad Mini 2), then iPad Air, and now the iPad Air 2. It has a 4:3 aspect ratio not found on any other OS’s devices until the new Nexus 9, making it feel natural to be in portrait mode. After all, 4:3 is the same aspect ratio of a piece of paper.
By no means is the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 going to be the best phone this year and by no means does the iPhone 6 Plus have the best specs this year, but they do have one thing in common: they will both get the most media attention of any phone this year.
If there are two groups of fans that hate each other, it’s Apple fans and Samsung fans. It’s “we did it first” verses “we did it right”. It’s super power verses seamless experience. It is the clash of the titans.
I have been spending a lot of time with the Sony Xperia Z3 and the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact as of late. They are both a pleasure to use. In fact, I’ve developed a bit of a preference for the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact. While I intend to compare the Sony Xperia Z3, the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact, and the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 to all of the competing phones that I have in stock right now, for some reason it seemed proper to start the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact with a comparison with the iPhone 6.
The Sony Xperia Z3 Compact blows away the specs of the iPhone 6 in every way. That being said, the cameras are comparable. You have to understand that megapixels don’t matter. After all, a 4K display is 8.3 MP, so the iPhone 6’s 8 MP camera won’t make a difference with a 20.7 MP photo taken with the Xperia Z3 Compact. In fact, I have used 8 MP photos taken with the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact for the purpose of this comparison.
As you probably have heard, iOS 8.1 ships today to all devices currently compatible with iOS 8. There are two main features of iOS 8.1: Apple Pay and all of the stuff that Apple promised would be in iOS 8 but didn’t get done in time.
When iOS 8 came out, I wrote a guide to iOS 8, so I won’t go into any features that already exist in iOS 8. I also wrote one about freeing up space for an update, but I’ll brush over that here because so many people buy 16 GB iPhones and it is an important topic.
At Apple’s announcement, they unveiled the iPad Air 2. They spent a whole lot of time talking about it and it would really make one wonder why they hadn’t yet mentioned the iPad Mini 3 yet. I had been entertaining the idea that they would cancel the iPad Mini line as developers can no longer test apps on an iPad Mini simulator.
After they spent about ten minutes talking about the iPad Air 2, they quickly mentioned the iPad Mini 3 and went right into pricing. There is a reason that they just brushed over the iPad Mini 3.
At Apple event today, Apple announced the iPad Air 2, which is 13% thinner than the iPad Air. It will be 6.1 mm where the iPad Air was 7.5 mm. The display will have an anti-reflective coating, making it better for using in bright light.
The iPad Air 2 will use an A8X processor. This was a bit surprising because while the third and fourth generation iPads used A5X and A6X chips, respectively, the iPad Air used an A7. The A8X promises to be twice as fast as the A7, having 3 billion transistors while the A7 had 1 billion. The A8X will also use an M8 coprocessor.
For the Love of Tech 