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...

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 ...

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 a pivotal year for smartphones.Phones finally started to look the way they were shown in futuristic movies from decades ago. Sleek edges no bezels and big beautiful displays. It safe to say that not one company has held back from the bezel-less trend. From the likes of Vivo to Oppo and of course Samsung and Apple. So one would expect that with all these gorgeous great phones around, the classic iPhone 6 styled smartphone wouldn't stand a chance. Well think again. The 8 Is King According to CounterPoint  research, the iPhone 8 has beaten out its much flashier Android competition, Mainly the S9 and the S9+. Which might be explained by the abysmally low sales that the S9 family has been pulling in.The 8 even beat out its big brother the 8+ and the iPhone X. But moreover it shows a shift in consumer tastes that if Apple can tap, could lead...

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...

Siri, Ah the dunce of the AI class, the butt of many a joke. Siri, over the past few years has got the reputation of being the dumbest smart assistants around. Sure Siri was the first to the game but over the years Siri has ceded ground to the Google assistant and Alexa. Since that day we've been begging for a massive Siri overhaul and so far we haven't gotten it...or have we? Don't Bite Off More Than You Can Chew With each WWDC we hope that Apple will work its magic and bring Siri back into the forefront but lo and behold that never happened. Apple here is playing catch-up, but they're playing it carefully. Sure they could put out this massive update that promises to fix Siri, but it could just as easily break it. When tech companies try to do too much at one go the end result is usually a dumpster fire. Remember iOS 11 , The Windows Phone or the  Android Tablet? All...

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....

With our phones heading for that inevitable 100% screen to body ratio, our phones are undoubtedly more attractive but there has been unintentional fallout.All our phones are starting to look the same, admittedly a big reason as to why most of the phones today look the same is that they're trying to rip off the iPhone X. But eventually when the true full screen phone hits the metaphorical shelves, you won't be able to tell one flag ship from another. You can already see this starting to happen, in attempt to differentiate phone manufacturers have started experimenting with the backs of phones to make them more noticeable. You have Xiaomi with its fake internal circuit board look on the Mi8, Huawei with its new tangy colours on the P20 Pro and of-course  the Google Pixel line up with their semi glass back. But making the backs of phones really unique doesn't mean that you'll stick out. After all you s...

As long as there have been computers there have been computer games, That trend still holds true today despite the drastic change in the way we compute. From Pinball and Minesweeper that came with the windows installations decades ago, to the handheld Gameboys that most of us spent entire evenings on computer games have always stuck around. Since the advent of the smartphone game developers have done the sensible thing and ported games over to the mobile operating systems, Namely Android and iOS(Sorry Windows). Of late we've seen a trend towards ultra powerful phones marketed as gaming phones and I fail to see how that makes sense!. Lets Take A Trip Down Memory Lane Historically gaming has occupied two main platform, The Gaming PC market and the Console Market. Each makes sense in their own individual market. When looking at the PC market you have to look at what kind of PCs are on the market. You have underpowered min...

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...

Recently popular Youtube superstar MKBHD uploaded his impressions on the first under the glass finger print scanner, you can watch the video here . Watching that video I kind of got the impression that he expects Apple to implement tech like this into iPhones of the future and I'm sure theres a larger portion of you that have been hoping for the return of Touch ID. But unfortunately (Or Not) that won't be happening. Touch ID is dead. FaceID Works With the launch of the iPhone X we were all expecting massive blowback over the removal of Touch ID. For better or for worse FaceID hasn't faced as much as criticism I was expecting it to get. From what I've heard FaceID does work it does what its advertised to do and that is authenticate you as the owner of the device. Sure in a vacuum FaceID might be slightly slower than TouchID but in the real world you're highly unlikely to notice that difference all the time. If you're anything like me you'll have a ...

We're barely into 2018 and iOS 11 has been a dumspter-fire , But we're already hearing rumours about iOS 12 and the rumours say that iOS 12 will have a primary focus on quality and not new features. Which brings us to the iPhone 5s. iPhone 5s Backstory The iPhone 5s came out all the way back in 2013 and at the time it was considered to be the phone of the future and it truly was the 5s was the first phone with a 64 bit processor and at first apps couldn't fully utilise it's power this was or should I say is one powerful phone. But the mark of time and the advancement of software has left it's mark on the iPhone 5s, but nowhere is it near obsolete the hardware is surprisingly snappy and usable for a phone that came out in 2013. You can by all means still use the 5s as your daily driver to this day if you so chose. Calls and texting are fine it doesn't break a sweat even with some light multitasking, the camera is usable. Very impressive for a 5 year old p...