Apple Event 2015 (longest blog ever.... Sorry LoL)
The big event of the year everyone waits for.... everyone..... Android fans wait for it to see what features Apple is adding to their devices that Android has had for years but selling as brand new, Apple fans wait for the Kool Aid to be poured about these "new features" and fawn all over them..... At least, that was the case..... With the release of the iPhone 6 and 6 plus last year, the gap between the 2 operating systems and devices has significantly closed!
I've been an Android fan since 2010 when I purchased my first Android device. I not only liked the UI, I liked the brand.... I was already a Linux OS user, I liked the free and open nature, the freedom to customize everything, the choice of different apps to do the same thing to find the one that fit you best! There was always just one thing I WAS always envious over though.... The iPhone always just worked! Old, new, memory full, they had an unparalleled reliability!
Let's skip to the Apple Event last year, 2014! I won't go over changes 1 by 1, but THIS model change was the leap Apple needed. In my opinion, this change added ALL the things that I thought were lacking in the iPhone compared to flagship Android devices. On paper it looked great, and after handling a friends 6+..... I knew I was ready to make the change and that this, or some variant of it would be my next phone.....
The event got off to a rocky start.... Went to the Apple site, got the message that my browser was not compatible..... Chrome on windows 7.... Ok, fine..... Firefox.... Same thing.... As a HAIL Marry I open IE (the only other time I open it is to download Chrome) and of course, get the same error message. I found a YouTuber who was live streaming it on his channel, and thank god for that because otherwise I would have missed it! I later learned that it only worked on the new MS browser found on Windows 10.... (and prob every Apple product without issue at all)
So by the time I got on there were talking about changes to the Apple watch.... blah blah blah, it's only more popular than Android wearables (and there are a few) because it's Apple. Has some new band colors and some new features. I love how in every Apple release they always say "this is the _____ (best? Strongest? Most robust?) _________ (iPad, iPhone, Apple watch) that we've built EVER!!" Well it SHOULD be.... It makes me want to troll people buy building a great, reliable, feature filled product, and then releasing a second generation and saying "eh, the last one was better, but you people like new shiny shit so here ya go...." No one DOES that!
They then transitioned into the iPad.... This was when the real party started..... The new iPad has has a lot going on.... As it should for a starting price of $799. I don't want to spend a lot of time on this (even though it IS cool) so long story short, it's huge, it's faster, it has a new smart connection that looks promising (but also maintains the old connections as well) and has a cool stylus accessory.... that for $99, would not be something I added, right away anyway. If you have the money though, it does seem fun!
Apple TV. It also received a huge makeover. New OS, new hardware, Wii like connectivity.... They were demoing a game called "Crossy Road" on it like it was some super cool thing, but I thought the graphics sucked and it seemed like a REAL expensive way to go about playing an Atari looking game.... It did have an amazing baseball stat integration for watching sports and the hockey version will be coming this winter. At only a few bucks over the last model, this is probably worth it if you're already thinking of Roku or something of that nature.
The moment I waited over an hour for.... The iPhone..... They did decide to release an S version of the plus which made me cheer as if I were at a sporting event! Lots of people were speculating that there was going to be an S version of the 6 but not the 6+..... I immediately texted my best friend and said "I've found my new phone...." (I'm due for an upgrade but was waiting for this announcement.) There's so much to say about the new iPhone and I've already gone WAYYY past the TL;DR length I place on articles I read, so here are the highlights......
I've been an Android fan since 2010 when I purchased my first Android device. I not only liked the UI, I liked the brand.... I was already a Linux OS user, I liked the free and open nature, the freedom to customize everything, the choice of different apps to do the same thing to find the one that fit you best! There was always just one thing I WAS always envious over though.... The iPhone always just worked! Old, new, memory full, they had an unparalleled reliability!
Let's skip to the Apple Event last year, 2014! I won't go over changes 1 by 1, but THIS model change was the leap Apple needed. In my opinion, this change added ALL the things that I thought were lacking in the iPhone compared to flagship Android devices. On paper it looked great, and after handling a friends 6+..... I knew I was ready to make the change and that this, or some variant of it would be my next phone.....
The event got off to a rocky start.... Went to the Apple site, got the message that my browser was not compatible..... Chrome on windows 7.... Ok, fine..... Firefox.... Same thing.... As a HAIL Marry I open IE (the only other time I open it is to download Chrome) and of course, get the same error message. I found a YouTuber who was live streaming it on his channel, and thank god for that because otherwise I would have missed it! I later learned that it only worked on the new MS browser found on Windows 10.... (and prob every Apple product without issue at all)
So by the time I got on there were talking about changes to the Apple watch.... blah blah blah, it's only more popular than Android wearables (and there are a few) because it's Apple. Has some new band colors and some new features. I love how in every Apple release they always say "this is the _____ (best? Strongest? Most robust?) _________ (iPad, iPhone, Apple watch) that we've built EVER!!" Well it SHOULD be.... It makes me want to troll people buy building a great, reliable, feature filled product, and then releasing a second generation and saying "eh, the last one was better, but you people like new shiny shit so here ya go...." No one DOES that!
They then transitioned into the iPad.... This was when the real party started..... The new iPad has has a lot going on.... As it should for a starting price of $799. I don't want to spend a lot of time on this (even though it IS cool) so long story short, it's huge, it's faster, it has a new smart connection that looks promising (but also maintains the old connections as well) and has a cool stylus accessory.... that for $99, would not be something I added, right away anyway. If you have the money though, it does seem fun!
Apple TV. It also received a huge makeover. New OS, new hardware, Wii like connectivity.... They were demoing a game called "Crossy Road" on it like it was some super cool thing, but I thought the graphics sucked and it seemed like a REAL expensive way to go about playing an Atari looking game.... It did have an amazing baseball stat integration for watching sports and the hockey version will be coming this winter. At only a few bucks over the last model, this is probably worth it if you're already thinking of Roku or something of that nature.
The moment I waited over an hour for.... The iPhone..... They did decide to release an S version of the plus which made me cheer as if I were at a sporting event! Lots of people were speculating that there was going to be an S version of the 6 but not the 6+..... I immediately texted my best friend and said "I've found my new phone...." (I'm due for an upgrade but was waiting for this announcement.) There's so much to say about the new iPhone and I've already gone WAYYY past the TL;DR length I place on articles I read, so here are the highlights......
- New aluminum construction. Stronger than the previous model.
- New color (of course...) which is a rose gold.
- New glass, stronger than previous model.
- New "3D touch" system!
- Recognizes force on touch screen. This adds hard hold and soft hold to long hold and tap
- This feature can be used to create customized shortcuts within apps!
- To me it seemed a lot like velocity pads on DJ and music production equipment. I bet it would be a dream to use with music software, and I REALLY hope this makes it to the next iPad (kind of surprised it didn't this time around actually.)
- Has a new, super high speed feedback vibrator to work in conjunction with this feature
- Feature I liked was ability to preview / view webpages people txt within the txt message without having to leave the screen
- 3rd party apps such as Facebook and Instagram already creating features for it
- It DOES seem like it has the potential to be buggy or temperamental, but still nothing like you'd experience with an Android device LoL!
- New chip, faster in every way! 90% faster graphics handling.... And that has NEVER been bad on any iPhone!
- Quicker touch ID sensor (which has also never been bad on any iPhone I've used)
- New "iSight camera"
- faster more accurate focusing
- 4K HD video (which Samsung has had on devices for over a year now, so this isn't groundbreaking, but it's nice to be in the same ring and I'm sure it's executed better.)
- iMovie editing ON the phone.... I don't know what to say.... This sealed the deal for me.
- "live photos" which you need to Google NOW! To much to explain, but it's a jaw dropper!
- This is also in devlopment for use in 3rd party apps, they mentioned Facebook by name
- Improved LTE, more bands so faster (in theory anyway)
- Improved WiFi ability
The funniest thing was when they announced an app.... An ANDROID app... called "move to iOS." It's to help the migration easier. Dick move? Maybe. Funny? YES? Useful...? Prob not, but it's still probably worth a download!
And finally, probably the BEST news, prices of the new premium devices will remain the same as the current ones! The current 6 and 6+ will be reduced. I'll be getting my 6s+ and making the migration soon!! Thanks for reading (if you made it this far!)
TL;DR: The new iPhone is awesome, get it! Yes it's worth ditching Android. The new iPad is pricey but nice, get it if you can! The rest is take it or leave it for me, but I'm sure you won't be disappointed.
