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Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

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Re: Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

#121

Post by mikeash »

Cookingboy wrote: post #74
mikeash wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple laughs at numbers-based ads when they are behind, and play up the numbers when they are ahead. Remember the Pentium snail ads? There's nothing surprising here. They have a spec advantage right now and they're playing it up. If and when they drop behind again, they'll be back to talking about more qualitative aspects.

Isn't that what EVERY company does when it comes to marketing? I have never taken a single marketing class but I'd think putting emphasis on your strong points and gloss over your weak ones is common sense?

Yep, of course. Which is why I don't understand when people act like this is something weird. Talk up your strengths, talk down your weaknesses. If a point that was a weakness last year has become a strength this year, you emphasize it even though you de-emphasized it last year. That's just how it works.

Re: Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

#122

Post by ginko »

Aren't swipe sensors considered more secure than press-on ones? There's all kinds of very simple recipes out there to trick those.

A swipe sensor would have needed less space to boot.

Re: Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

#123

Post by SEMW »

janlukacs wrote: post #44
kaolinite wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The plastic they're using (hard-coated polycarbonate) is, I believe, the same plastic used on many of the Nokia Lumia phones which a lot of people say feel much higher quality than other, regular plastic phones. That said, the 5C is the cheaper option and it isn't going to feel as good as the aluminium of the 5S. I don't however think it will be anywhere near as cheap-feeling as other phones (e.g. the Samsung Galaxy…

and that's why Nokia posted this: https://twitter.com/nokia_uk/status/377483408043036672/photo...

Not sure I agree with Nokia's formulation of the saying. I prefer "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery", which makes a lot more sense. Imitation isn't the best form of flattery - it's actually quite an irritating form of it - but it is the sincerest form (since, unlike verbal flattery, it's rarely feigned: you imitate because a thing is worth imitating, not to flatter the imitatee).

Re: Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

#125

Post by martin-adams »

pilif wrote: post #109
gfodor wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Serious question -- what is the big deal if someone gets your fingerprints? I can't think of the last time my fingerprint was used as some infallible method of identification, if ever. If the spooks want it, they already have it. I'd rather someone get their hands on my fingerprint than my passport, driver's license, and credit cards, and it seems much more difficult to steal than those things. I think the fingerprin…

The problem is that I can't change my fingerprint. If it gets out by some third-party abusing the secret backdoor (or just abusing whatever other place you have your fingerprint stored), then they can potentially forge your fingerprint when committing a crime or when otherwise attempting to access resources you have access to. When a third-party loses your password, you change it and life goes on (you are not reusing…

The problem I see is that if they have a copy of your fingerprint, and then their computer says that matches a crime of sorts, what do you do then? You have to consider the false positives.

Re: Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

#126

Post by wisty »

bedhead wrote: post #45
alxbrun wrote: post #3

When I see Apple putting forward as a key feature the number of bits in their processor in a general public announcement... I'm really feeling the "new" product is not really new. In the past Apple was always laughing at the PC ads boasting processor speed and memory capacity.

Smartphone hardware is in the 9th inning. These devices have mostly hit the natural limits of what's achievable for now. Bad for Apple since this effectively levels the playing field.

Can you plug your iPhone into a couple of 30" monitors, and use it as a workstation?

Re: Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

#127

Post by marknow »

rodedwards wrote: post #53

Better photos, TouchID, snappier performance -- a traditional incremental Apple upgrade befitting the "S" moniker. I've long been wondering when/if Apple would take on NFC and things like payments more aggressively. I get the feeling that they're going to skip NFC entirely, and that TouchID is going to be a large part of processing transactions without the need for any physical device interaction (swipe/tap/bump). Ri…

How odd, I feel the opposite, re: vision... Google is leading the way with progressive developments in many varied fields.

Expecting more today from Tim Cook, the Apple announcement left me flat. Understand, that while I'm a long time Apple user, my Android phone(s) have offered features to which Apple is still playing catch-up. Apple is the reactionary these days; they may have introduced the iPhone as a ground-breaking product back-in-the-day, but Android is outpacing the iPhone with each new release.

Aside from the MBP I use for work, I won't be purchasing another Apple product anytime soon, FWIW.

Re: Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

#128

Post by jonhohle »

yapcguy wrote: post #101
cwilson wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple specifically stated that your fingerprint is stored and encrypted only on the A7 chip, and not iCloud or anywhere else. It's mentioned in the video as well: http://www.apple.com/iphone-5s/videos/#video-touch

What they didn't mention is that it's stored in the L2 cache ;-)

In this case, the L2 cache is part of the A7, so that would be fair. I would guess this means it's also only stored in NVRAM local to the SOC and not persisted to the general flash filesystem.

Re: Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

#130

Post by cocoflunchy »

nknighthb wrote: post #114
cocoflunchy wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you've ever left the country, they already have your fingerprints anyway...

I acquired a passport in 2010, and left the country that year, and the year after, and was never asked for my fingerprints. You may be thinking of a program that applies only to non-citizens.

Yes, you're right. Don't they ask for your fingerprints when you make a passport though? They do in France.
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