Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

#281

Post by twistedpair » Tue, Sep 10, 2013, 7:52 PM UTC

mmanfrin wrote: post #240

In most previous Apple iterations, when they release a cheaper/multi-colored version of a flagship product, they also release a new (more premium) product line. This time they didn't. This is disappointing to Americans (hence the drop in share price) but also shows Tim's direction: China. His expertise in the company under Jobs was in supply chains and Asia, and now he is orienting (pun not intended) the company towa…

"Gold" has much more of an appeal to many Asian populations than the US given that Asia has been the cause of exploding actual gold demand. In the US I know few people with garish gold widgets. However, in Asia where the Apple product is a status symbol, the gold iPhone 5S (not the lump of coal 5C) will certainly bolster the image of the premium version.

Re: Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

#282

Post by mcintyre1994 » Tue, Sep 10, 2013, 7:52 PM UTC

seiji wrote: post #99

Cookingboy wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Not on Hacker News. On Hacker News your press conference should alternate new feature paragraphs with apologies. "We have a new fingerprint sensor! But, you probably don't want to use it because privacy crazies online think Apple is a front for the NSA." "We're moving to a 64-bit architecture! But, geeks with low reading comprehension think it's not that useful because we have tiny RAM, so you should just ignore this…

I'll bite. Explaining to a "geek with low reading comprehension", what is the actual benefit to the iPhone being 64-bit?

Re: Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

#283

Post by superuser2 » Tue, Sep 10, 2013, 7:52 PM UTC

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.

Going to 64-bit is a lot bigger deal than adding a few hundred MHz in terms of what it enables for the platform.

Re: Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

#284

Post by hershel » Tue, Sep 10, 2013, 7:53 PM UTC

sliverstorm wrote: post #231

pilif wrote: post #73

Now that we have to consider the iPhones to be backdoored by the NSA, I wonder whether I really want to give them my fingerprint together with the rest of my data. I'm also not so sure whether a fingerprint can't still be easily faked (like it was possible on that Mythbusters episode for example). Personally, I think I'd rather stay with my passcode. Did you btw know that you can turn off "simple passcode" and then u…

If the NSA has compromised everything, what's the point of all this paranoia? If you can't trust your software, your compiler, your operating system, your microprocessor, your network adapter, your router, or your ISP- you're hosed. It's over. You lost. So can we at least stop banging the war-drums? There's either absolutely nothing you can do about it, or it's not as bad as you think and you are being wildly over fe…

I don't think they compromised everything. From reading the last exposures it seems that they can wiretap Blackberry emails on a targeted basis, not on a dragnet basic(please tell if i'm wrong here).

But since we don't know if they compromised apple(an american company), and the benefits of fingerprint ID is not that big, maybe we need to think about not using it?

Re: Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

#285

Post by pavel_lishin » Tue, Sep 10, 2013, 7:54 PM UTC

dev_jim wrote: post #166

pilif wrote: post #73

Now that we have to consider the iPhones to be backdoored by the NSA, I wonder whether I really want to give them my fingerprint together with the rest of my data. I'm also not so sure whether a fingerprint can't still be easily faked (like it was possible on that Mythbusters episode for example). Personally, I think I'd rather stay with my passcode. Did you btw know that you can turn off "simple passcode" and then u…

Urgh. When do we get to the point where I can read HN without a snarky NSA comment being voted to the top?

To quote yet another snarky saying, "It's only paranoia if they're not out to get you."

Re: Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

#286

Post by superuser2 » Tue, Sep 10, 2013, 7:54 PM UTC

yapcguy wrote: post #47

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.

Apple are hoping that journalists are lazy or rushing to meet a deadline, so they get headlines line "New iPhone is 40x faster than old iPhone!". They could have put "2x faster than iPhone 5" in their slides, but they deliberately chose to put 40x (referring to the original iPhone) and leave it slightly ambiguous.

2x was the number in the slides when the A7 was introduced, at least from TechCrunch's photos.

Re: Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

#287

Post by drivers99 » Tue, Sep 10, 2013, 7:54 PM UTC

rdl wrote: post #58

danabramov wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tim Carmody's tweet suggests you can still use the numeric code: https://twitter.com/tcarmody/status/377495998727483392

That's even worse. I want to be able to set, at my option: 1) PIN-only 2) FPR + PIN (where you must use iCloud to get in if your FPR doesn't read) 3) for morons, FPR only. I currently use a much stronger than 4 digit numeric PIN, but it is honestly a pain. If I could set both the FPR and PIN as required to get in, I could use a shorter PIN. If I'm allowed to bypass the FPR entirely, the PIN has to remain as strong as…

I'm curious why you say FPR only is for morons. I feel like I'm missing something.

Re: Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

#288

Post by cheald » Tue, Sep 10, 2013, 7:54 PM UTC

melling wrote: post #272

cheald wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably when the NSA stops illegally spying on the citizens it is supposed to serve.

I guess if you want to constantly complain about the NSA spying on you, you are entitled. However, some of us have had enough of the complaining. After all, you're probably going to be doing it for the rest of your life. I'd rather not spend mine listening to it. So, can we clearly tag a thread as NSA rant, so those of us who don't want to hear it ad nauseam, we can skip the rehash.

This is the exact sort of attitude that has permitted us to get to the point where we even have to have a conversation about the government being engaged in massively intrusive spying programs. "I don't want to hear your whining about it" is a means of condoning these actions through silence. You are a part of the problem.

If you can comprehend what is going on here, you should be loud and obnoxious about it. Get people talking. Make it the focus and refuse to give up that focus. The only way this is going to change is to get so many people angry about it that it becomes more politically advantageous to oppose than support it. If you get angry about hearing about it, then I'll take that - you now have an incentive to help get it changed so people will shut up about it.

Re: Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

#289

Post by onedev » Tue, Sep 10, 2013, 7:54 PM UTC

Wow not a single intelligent comment in this post. What is it about Apple announcements that lowers everyone's ability to have a decent conversation about it without being snarky or overly eager?

All I see is multiple reddit-level circlejerk comments like "Lol NSA will have fingerprints now" or "Wow fingerprint reader AND NSA chip, look at me I'm so witty, I made an NSA joke".

Seriously, are we not going to have a conversation about what the fingerprint reader means for the enterprise crowd? Or what effect the lower end iPhone 5C will have on the bottom end of the phone market currently being dominated by cheap and often shitty Android phones? Or even anything about the improvements made to the camera or processors?

Really? No intelligent conversation is going to go on here? Ok I guess I'll see myself out then...this was supposed to be my last safe haven for intelligent discourse about this.

Re: Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

#290

Post by icelancer » Tue, Sep 10, 2013, 7:54 PM UTC

melling wrote: post #272

cheald wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably when the NSA stops illegally spying on the citizens it is supposed to serve.

I guess if you want to constantly complain about the NSA spying on you, you are entitled. However, some of us have had enough of the complaining. After all, you're probably going to be doing it for the rest of your life. I'd rather not spend mine listening to it. So, can we clearly tag a thread as NSA rant, so those of us who don't want to hear it ad nauseam, we can skip the rehash.

Clearly other people feel the same way, since it is being upvoted. And if you don't care for reading NSA-related comments, either moderate his posts (outside of your jurisdiction, I'm guessing) or I suppose you'll have to deal with it by collapsing his threads with any number of HN plugins that exist.