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iOS 7 - All the new features

9/21/2013

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iOS 7 was released on Wednesday, September 18, 2013 at 10 a.m. Pacific time. With great anticipation, Apple customers rushed to get the new updates, virtually crashing Apple's servers. Of course, there was a lot to be excited about. Apple, for the first time, redesigned the entire operating system, moving away from skeuomorphism in favor of a more flatter and translucent design. In the rush to download the software, you may have missed the detailed explanation of all the new features, so, for your convenience, I listed them below.

New design
Redesigned interface updates the entire system and every built-in app
Subtle motion and animation; layers and translucency provide depth
Elegant new color palette and refined typography
Updated system sounds and ringtones

Control Center
Quick access to commonly used controls and apps with a swipe up from the bottom of the screen
Turn on & off Airplane Mode, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Do Not Disturb; adjust screen brightness; access media controls; turn on AirPlay and AirDrop
Quickly access flashlight, timer, calculator, camera, and music controls.

Notification Center improvements
New Today view gives you an overview of your day, including weather, calendar, and stocks
Notifications dismissed on one device dismisses across all your devices

Multitasking improvements
Preview screens of open apps when you switch between them
Permits any app to keep content up to date in the background

Camera improvements
Swipe through different camera modes - video, still photo, square aspect, and panorama
Real-time photo filters with iPhone 4S or later, and iPod Touch (5th generation)

Photos Improvement
Automatically organizes your photos and video based on time and location into Moments
iCloud Photo Sharing supports multiple contributors and videos, plus a new Activity view
Add photo filter effects
Flickr and Vimeo support


AirDrop
Quickly and easily share content with people nearby
Securely encrypted transfers with no network or setup required
Supported on iPhone 5, iPad 4th generation, iPad Mini, and iPod Touch (5th generation) and requires an iCloud account

Safari improvements
New iPhone tab view that lets you easily switch between open web pages
Unified smart search field for both search terms and web addresses
Shared links show web pages shared by people you follow on Twitter

iTunes Radio
Streaming radio service
Pick from over 250 featured and genre-focused stations
Start our own station from your favorite artist or song

Siri Improvements
New more natural sounding male and female voices for US English, French and German
Integrated Wikipedia, Twitter search, and Bing web search results
Change settings including WiFi, Bluetooth, and brightness
Supported on iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPad with Retina Display, iPad Mini, iPod Touch (5th generation)

App Store Improvements
See apps relevant to your current location with Popular Near Me
Discover age appropriate apps in the kids category
Keep your apps up to date automatically

Find My iPhone Activation Lock
Turning off my iPhone, erasing your device, 
reactivation, and signing out of iCloud requires our Apple I.D. password
A custom message can be displayed on your device even after a remote erase

iTunes Store Improvements
Preview and buy songs you’ve heard on iTunes Radio while inside the iTunes Store
Add to, and shop from, your iTunes Wish List
Scan code with camera to redeem iTunes gift cards

Music Improvements
Play music purchases from iCloud
Rotate your iPhone or iPod Touch to browse your music with the album wall

Video Improvements
Play movie and TV show purchases from iCloud
View similar movies and TV shows fro Related (this also includes music videos)

Maps Improvements
Turn-by-turn walking directions
Automatic night mode
Bookmarks shared across devices via iCloud

Mail Improvements
New Smart Mailboxes, including Unread, Attachments, All Drafts and To or CC
Improved search
View PDF annotations

FaceTime Audio Calling

Block unwanted Phone, Messages, and FaceTime callers

Support for sending long MMS messages

Pull down on any Home Screen to reveal Spotlight Search

Scan to acquire passbook passes

New ringtones, alarms, alerts and system sounds

Definitions of a selected word for additional languages: Italian, Korean, and Dutch

Inclinometer in the Compass app

WiFi hotspot 2.0 support

Accessibility Features
Individuals with limited physical motor skills can now control their device using Switch Control
Customize closed caption style
Handwriting input support in VoiceOver
Select from multiple premium voices for speak selection and VoiceOver
Support for Made for iPhone Hearing Aids and stereo audio for iPhone 5 and iPod Touch 5th Generation

Enterprise Features
Manage which apps and accounts are used to open documents and attachments
Per App VPN
App Store License Management
Enterprise Single Sign on
Remote configuration of managed apps
Automatic data protection for third-party apps
Exchange Notes Syncing
Install custom fonts
New management queries and restrictions

Education Features
Mobile Device management for Apple TV
Request AirPlay mirroring from a student device to an Apple TV
Preconfigure AirPlay destinations and AirPrint printers
Streamlined MDM enrollment
Ability to restrict changes to accounts
Web content filtering
Authorized apps and can initiate single app mode
Configure accessibly settings for single app mode

Features for China
Tencent Weibo integration
Chinese-English integration
Improved handwriting input with improved accuracy, stroke order independence and support for simultaneous multiple character input

Some features may not be available for all countries or all areas.







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Apple - New Products, Added Excitement

9/14/2013

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If you spend time reading reviews from the tech blogosphere, you would think Apple was a company comprised of amateurs and antiquated thinkers. This plethora of misinformation is unfortunate for the consumer who truly deserves to be better informed about what Apple has to offer.

The most important thing to understand about Apple, Inc is the vast amount of hardware and software that comprises the Apple ecosystem. The company can take pride in a wide range select features associated with individual products like the iPhone, but the most valuable commodity is the collective output from Apple and how the network of services it offers help to greatly enhance the overall user experience. Critics, for example, poke fun at individual features like the color of the new iPhones, or megapixels in a camera, but this retards and distorts how each feature compliments other features within a given product; how each product is enhanced by other products; how the combined network of products are complimented by an entire operating system; and how the entire operating system is tied to an ecosystem for maintaining and sustaining a superb and holistic user experience.

Critics of Apple, including companies like Microsoft, and bloggers who left Apple to join the Android train (who ironically host shows about Apple products), do a grave injustice to Apple. For those of us who use Macs, iPads, and iPhones, let's talk about everything there is to celebrate.

New iPhones

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At the September 10th announcement, Apple introduced the long-rumored iPhone 5C and iPhone 5S. Both phones offer some revolutionary new features not available before. The iPhone no longer exists as a solitary phone. You can now order a range of phones with a range of colors and features. From a consumer standpoint that is significant for a company like Apple. Apple has the legacy of the iPod which was likewise marketed to consumers in a very similar way. 

iPhone 5C
With the new iPhone 5c, Apple introduced a set of new iPhones to expand its consumer base. The company expanded upon the single design model to include phones with various colors. The iPhone 5C is made of a single, hard-coated polycarbonate body with a steel reinforced frame for a solid, sturdy feel. The steel frame holds the internal components and also doubles as the iPhone 5c’s multiband antenna. 

Color is central to this product announcement, which all the critics seem to miss or spend too much time poking fun at to understand. Apple's main slogan is "Color Through and Though." That says it right there. Color is about self-expression. When a consumer buys a product on the market, they are equally drawn to color, as they are to megapixels, but Apple never sacrifices design and aesthetics for quality (As a major Apple consumer, I still have an iPhone 4s, and the 5C has better specs than my current phone). The cheaper iPhone 5C contains the same specs as the iPhone 5. Since Apple devotes equal time to software, the new iPhones also come with the entirely new redesign of the operating system, iOS 7, which is significant for the new user interface, and, yes, color. This color will permeate every iPhone and iPad, establishing an interconnecting link between products.

The hard plastic shell also makes the iPhone less fragile, especially for younger audiences. Since younger audiences are still in the process of self discovery, the decision to market the phones in many colors is very important. Adults are more stable in their evolutionary concept of self and tend to prefer the black or steel gray, but younger audiences long for color. The phones also come with cases designed with the same colors. This was an excellent decision by Apple. This latest development should also be seen in light of other initiatives, such as, the vast penetration in the K-12 education arena, specially regarding the huge contract Apple has with the Los Angeles County school district that will introduce iPads to every student. It is important that Apple continues to remain relevant to younger audiences and as the inventor of the iPod, this is a no brainer.

The iPhone 5S
Consistent with its yearly upgrades, Apple introduced the iPhone 5S with new features that are very exciting for those who are looking to upgrade from their previous models. Since the iPhone is still America's favorite phone camera, Apple introduced bigger pixels (as opposed to many pixels) and a bigger sensor to improve the quality of your photos. Video can now be shot with 120 frames per second (a significant improvement) with the ability to shoot slow motion video. The camera also has a tripartite structure for taking photos, panorama shots, and shooting video, along with filters built-in. And while iOS 7 seems to hover quietly in the background, it's role in the overall reception of the new phones cannot be overemphasized. As a matter of fact, it is central to the new iPhone releases. And yes, even for more mature audiences, we now have gold as a new color. Critics of course have joked about gold, including Microsoft who made reference to gold merely as a color rather something generally associated with value (Microsoft removed the videos after people found them offensive). What's going to be so laughable is that Apple will probably sell the gold phones like hotcakes. At least, that is my prediction.

The iPhone 5S comes with a Touch ID finger sensor with 360 degree readability and made of sapphire crystals. The phone also comes with an A7 chip with a graphic performance that is twice as fast as the previous chip. The chip is built specifically for the new 64 bit processor uniquely designed to enhance the performance of the A7 chip. Of course, we are told by critics that the 64 bit processor will not yield any advantages any time soon without at least 4 GB of ram, so why emphasize the new technology. (As you may recall, the public was not ready for the iPhone or the iPad, so I guess we are not ready for the processor either). The iPhone also includes the M7 processor, which Apple calls the sidekick of the A7, mainly to help measure motion data. (Don't be surprised if this new technology is incorporated into the iWatch, if and when Apple releases it.) In addition to the lager sensor, pixels, and aperture that come with the new iSight camera, Apple also introduced image stabilization, true tone flash, continuous burst mode, and video zoom.  

In spite of  these new exciting product announcements, Apple didn't even mention the iPad, the Mac or the new Mac Pro, iWatch, or Apple TV. Yet, for those of us who know very well that Apple offers more than just a phone with different colors, we will quietly wait in anticipation of all the great things to come. 
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    Timothy Brown

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