The Apple Sheep

Around this time last year I wrote the  iOS 12 wish list , And to my surprise most of my prayers were answered, and iOS 12 has been wonderful for the last 5 months or so. But now we're coming up on another WWDC, Yes its still 5 months away but that hasn't stopped the rumour mill from speculating what the next version of iOS will be.Here are a few features that I'd like to see on the next version of iOS. A New Look For iOS 13 Ever since iOS 7 iOS has looked the same more or less, With its flat icons and punchy colours. I feel that the time for a refresh is long overdue. Don't get me wrong it looks great but, Its stale and I fresh new coat of paint can go wonders in making iOS 13 feel radically different. Apple has their work cut out for them if they do decide to go down this route. Finding a new design aesthetic isn't the most easiest thing in the world. Wh...

Its no secret that Apple has had a hard past few months, With iPhone sales on stagnating and a handful of lawsuits, Its safe to say that Apple has seen better days. Apple in it's defence has tried to boost iPhone sales over the past few months, from offering  heavy discounts to for the iPhone XR. But the era of yearly smartphone upgrades are over. No more can you expect customers to pony up egregious amounts of money on a yearly basis. The smartphone in general has become a tool, Most people need it to do maybe 5-6 basic tasks and if a phone does that well they're happy with it. Compounding the problem Apple makes really good products, Their phones last a long time, The iPhone 6 or 6s can still be your daily driver in 2019 no issues, Like I said they do the job that most people want them to do. So its no surprise that people are holding onto their phones for a much longer time  tha...

iOS has long been guilty of being terrible with files, You had third party file managers that promised to give you a great files experience. But most of them fell pitifully short, some did almost come close to being good but none came close to the flexibility and power that a file explorer on Android, Windows or MacOS could ever hope to give you.That all changed with the introduction of the files app on iOS 11. Why Bother With A Files App? Apple has been talking about  replacing the PC with an iPad for quite a while now and to truly replace a PC you need a few desktop features on iOS which is primarily a mobile OS. Ask anyone and they'll tell you that the ability to manipulate files is one of the most basic things that you'd expect a computer to do. After all one of the first GUI apps was a file explorer. So it makes sense to bring over the file explorer to iOS. But you just can't port finder over...

It's that time of the year the new iPhones have dropped and our subscription boxes have been filled with reviews, camera comparisons and a whole host of other tech related videos. One of the genres of tech videos that I enjoy the most is the real world speed test in which two of the hottest new phones are pitted against each other. With them having to blaze through the same set of apps that you might expect the average Joe to sue over the course of his day. After all seeing how a phone handles the apps that you use almost daily would be a great way of telling how fast and responsive it is? Thats the intuitive answer it feels right but unfortunately thats not the case. Speed Tests Are Inherently Flawed   The problems with the so called "Real World" test beings with the very moniker itself. How do you define the phrase "Real World Test"? There is ...

When it comes to iOS 12 the promised performance improvements has been one of the biggest reasons for people to upgrade from iOS 11. With the mess that  iOS 11 was for some users, iOS 12 has been a breath of fresh air. But there has been one feature that more or less flew under the radar but has proven itself to be immensely useful. Siri Shortcuts On  iOS 12 Now if you don't know what Siri Shortcuts are then you'd find yourself much more at home here . Now that you're in the know lets get on with the show. The first aspect of Siri Shortcuts that I am fascinated by is how polished it is for a generation one product. Remember this is like the 2011 Siri or the 2016 version of portrait mode. Back when they both came out they were more gimmicky than of actual value. But with time they have grown into the useful products that they are today(Yes even you Siri). The app i...

Its September and like every year like clockwork Apple has come out with new iPhones and would it be an iPhone launch without some controversy. The iPhone X had the notch and the iPhone 7 didn't have a headphone jack . In true Apple fashion this year's iPhones have stirred up controversy, Well one of them. Apple released the iPhone XS , the XS Max and the iPhone XR. With the two S models being the premium pricey phones that we've come to expect. The real wild card was the iPhone XR but in my personal opinion it is the best possible phone that we could have expected. Why I'm Okay With The Display Most in the tech industry upon knowing about the pixel density of the iPhone XR instantly compared it to the iPhone 4 from 2010. Yes on paper they both have the exact same specs. But paper rarely tells the whole story. While the pixels per inch have stayed the same the underlying ...

One of the great joys of owning an iPhone are the software updates. They can give your ageing phone new skills, they make your phone more secure and it just looks a lot more different than what it used to in most cases. Software for the most part is great but often times it often requires third party developers putting in massive amounts of time to redesign their apps for the new OS. When iOS 11 dropped Apple made it mandatory for all app developers to support the new iPhone X display on their apps. The same thing happened when the iPhone 5 debuted, Developers had to redesign their apps to run on a 4 inch display. This has often been time consuming, In fact the success of most of what Apple does depends on how much third parties have adopted it. Just imagine what the touchbar could have been had third parties actively redesigned their apps to support it. More oft...

If you've heard anything about the Google Pixel over the past 2 years, It's that the Google Pixel has one of the best smartphone cameras out there period. Ever since the original Pixel back in 2016 people have been raving about how good the pictures are, one the Pixel line up. Admittedly it is impressive how much Google has been able to accomplish with the single camera on their phones.The thing to remember is that the hardware isn't that special, I imagine the sensors used in the Google Pixel are your run of the mill flagship grade image sensors. Where Google sprinkles some pixie dust on your images is in the software. Google works wonders on your image with it's amazing software and lets be real here its Google were talking about so its probably some form of AI. Google's amazing software and it's own Visual Core  chips have produced some amazing shots. Looks like Apple just decided to steal...

These days it seems like it's almost every other day when a new company gets into the melee that is the video streaming industry. The giants who once disrupted the existing hierarchy are in danger of now being disrupted themselves. With the addition of ' ads ' to Netflix, Netflix has become the thing it sought to destroy like some macabre tale of old. Don't get me wrong Netflix is hugely successful in what they do. They pull in billions of dollars each year. Now Apple wants a slice of that pie. Why Services? If you've been paying attention to Apple's earnings call over the past few years. You'd be surprised to see that Apple's services sector has been it's services sector. Now services includes everything from the App Store to Apple Music and it has been bringing in serious cash. At a time when Spotify and Deezer are both  losing money Apple's services sector looks to be going strong. Now i...

We rarely talk about politics here and frankly why would we? Politics is messy divisive and just pits us against each other. Tech brings us closer together in the sense that it lets you talk to your family thousands of miles away and in the sense that the release of a new phone or a graphics card is cause for celebration for millions of people. But recently Donald Trump's tirade against Google got me thinking. How much regulation is too much. For the uninformed here's the long and short of it. Donald Trump Accused Google of bias as most of the news reports that pop up when you search for Donald Trump were negative. Now there are technical and other reasons for the so called "bias" The Atlantic goes in depth on that issue . After all Google does feature articles and sites that the general public is interested in and trusts higher on their search results. But this brings up a more existential question as far...

Before one can tackle the question of if Apples working on a brand-new cheaper iPhone that isn't the 6.1 inch LCD iPhone , We must ask why? Over the past year Apple has been in uncharted territory when it comes to pricing their iPhones. With maxed out versions blowing past the $1000 mark Apple's sales show no sign of slowing down, Infact investors are so confident in Apple that the company just passed $1 trillion in market valuations . So why would a company enjoying such success even try to make a budget or cheaper iPhone. This is even more perplexing when you consider the fact that were talking about Apple, A company that most of the public views as a company that's looking for the next cash grab. Yes Apple has been having stellar sales. Thanks in no small part to the insatiable smartphone demand in the North American and Chinese markets. Well 10 years after the first ...

3D Touch was the highlight of the iPhone 6s. An iterative phone with a unique feature. Since then 3D Touch has always been with us on every iPhone released except for the iPhone SE. Although 3D Touch never saw much fanfare again after the hype of its release, Apple over the past 3 years has evolved 3D Touch into a legitimately useful feature that many people love to use. I've seen multiple people lament about the lack of 3D Touch when they downgrade from a modern iPhone to an older iPhone like the 5c. So why would Apple kill off such a useful feature on it's iPhones that is unique and exclusive to the iPhone? They're not let me explain. Apple Has Worked Too Hard On 3D Touch Back In 2017 before the iPhone X launched the rumour mill was hard at work on what the new iPhone would be like. We'd get a new leak almost every day and one of the leaks sai...

2017 was all about killing bezels on smartphones and as a consequence most smartphones on both sides of the fence had to kill the headphone jack . Now as per the rumour mill the new iPads might do away with the trusty old headphone jack as well. Why would an iPad with so much internal space kill something like the headphone jack. Why Kill The Headphone Jack At All?   Nowadays our phones are jam-packed with tech, No literally they're jam packed with components. Just look at 2012 when the iPhone 5 opted for a Nano SIM card instead of a Mini sim card. The difference between them is minuscule, on a physical scale but they were so strapped for space that they did benefit from that. Move over from the iPhone 5 days todays smartphones are way more complex, and much more functional and having a 100 year old port that takes up half an inc really does throw a proverbial, spa...

For most of last year we were flip flopping over the issue of whether or not the iPhone X would have a finger print scanner or not(Spoiler: It doesn't). Amid much fanfare the iPhone X was released and lo and behold it didn't have a fingerprint scanner and it opted to go for the facial recognition route. With the demo of FaceID failing people had their reservations about facial recognition and up until the release of the iPhone X it was seen more as a gimmick rather than a legitimate way to unlock your device.But after the iPhone X hit shelves and FaceID was exonerated for its unreliable reputation. So that begs the question. Which is better? FaceID Vs TouchID With the removal of TouchID debates sprung up everywhere, with supporters in both camps. Sure FaceID works in certain situations when TouchID doesn't and vice versa. But keep in mind FaceID is a first generat...

Back in the days, When computers burst onto the scene they looked like this. they filled up a large room, used enough energy to power a small house and they broke down... a lot. For all their size and cost they were quite incapable by todays standards. This handy graphic shows you how much we've come in terms of processing power. Its quite mind boggling to think that the tech in our pockets is more powerful than the supercomputers from just 25 years ago. The notion that your smartphone is more powerful than the computers that NASA used to send men to the moon is totally true and intact your Instagram machine blows those 1960s era computers out of the water. So how did machines that are capable of modelling nuclear detonations end up being literally child's play? Moore's Law     Moore's Law isn't really a law like Newton's laws of motion. It was just an observation by Gordon Moore which eventually came to be known as Moore's law....

So WWDC has come and gone ( Not really WWDC runs from the 4th of June all the way to the 8th). But the one mega-keynote we were all excited for is over! Trust me I am excited about iOS 12 and MacOS Mojave, which I will talk about all in good time but I think its time we took a good hard look at Apple's AI game. The Apple Photos App For the past few years Google and Facebook have been running circles around Apple when it comes to AI. Sure pick your favourite reason as to why Apple's AI has sucked for so long, from the internal power struggles to Apples own stance on privacy. But the winds of change are upon us! Sure Siri probably still cant tell you how much a chipmunk weighs, but Apple has made some headway in certain areas of AI. As I was watching the keynote, It struck me that the new Apple photos app felt really familiar. It groups faces you know and it has sharing suggestions, asking you if you want to share the photos you took with someone in the picture that ...

One of Apple's core offerings is iMessage, its the glue that keeps some iPhone user's glued to their iPhones. iMessage as we all know is that familiar blue bubble which lets us send texts to other Apple users. iMessage was introduced in 2011 and has since then exploded in popularity with iMessage handling about 40 billion messages in a day in 2014  up from about 2 billion in January of 2013 Now thats an interesting statistic. Why Do I Like iMessage So Much? Back in the pre iOS 10 days I loved iMessage for its simplicity, it was reliable clean and it wasn't clunky  like the Facebook messenger app. Another reason why I loved I message was cause of how minimalist it was, it was like a classier Kik counterpart. You see my main gripe with apps like Facebook messenger and WhatsApp  is that they show that you're online when you open the app. Sure some of you might like that and might even consider that as a feature but I just see it as a nuisance. As of late WhatsApp...

You probably read that title and just went, What? and then proceeded to re-read the title. Apple? Cheap products? Yeah right. Most people might scoff at the idea of Apple being a budget company, I mean who can blame poor average Joe who thinks that? Apple came out with a phone that literally costs a thousand dollars. So Apple wouldn't be high up on your list of affordable tech companies. But yet we see a growing list of products from Apple that doesn't break the bank. Why is this? What Are These Cheap Products? A few years ago you'd be hard pressed to find a few good Apple products.But over the last few years Apple has diversified it's lineup. Starting with the iPhone SE, A relatively upto date iPhone with great storage starting at $349. More over Apple is rumoured to bring out a new iPhone SE with upgraded internals and art the same price point.  Apple didn't stop at that they went further they surprised everyone in 2017 with a $330 iPad that was at it'...

In any iOS vs Android debate the point that iOS is restrictive will be brought up. It is a certainty, People will argue that iOS's restrictiveness is a negative and that it is whats holding iOS back. But why is iOS so restrictive why is iOS the way it is. Would we be better off with an iOS that lets us customise to our hearts content? Apple Is A Control Freak Apple is quite insistent on having absolute control over all the facets of its product starting with the software all the way down tot he hardware. This is both good and bad as you've probably guessed this doesn't leave a lot of room for customisation. But on the positive side this does allow for much better software support and an overall better experience. Let me put it this way a few weeks back me and my classmates were working on a deep learning algorithm ( real deep stuff) and I was rocking a MacBook Air while others were rocking similarly speced windows/ ubuntu laptops. Albeit with newer i5 processors. Much...

With the iPhone X out of the way we're now starting to focus on the iPhone X+ or whatever it will be called. With the iPhone X they couldn't really afford to come out with two new phones in 2017 as components such as FaceID and the whole manufacturing process was very constrained as it was a brand new design. But a year later Apple seems to have got a handle on things and seeing the great sales of the iPhone X, Apple seems to be ready to spread their wings into the + market. Why Differentiate At All? The iPhone X has been selling really well despite the rumours that state the contrary. A 6.5 inch plus model iPhone can really go a long way in keeping the lineup fresh and exciting. Just look at the Galaxy S8 and S9. Though great phones they lacked they didn't bring anything new and fresh to the table. Apple is in a unique advantageous position to bring something new to the table with the rumoured iPhone X+ .  Since the iPhone 7 people have flocked to the larger v...