Why would you believe that the radios are actually off when in airplane mode?
Generally speaking, because some regulatory agency or other would refuse or revoke certification of a device that has a "disable radio" feature that doesn't work. I wouldn't assume that a device is incapable of accumulating GPS tracking information in "airplane mode" and forwarding it when the radio is turned back on, however, or that intelligence and law enforcement agencies would never quietly disable "airplane mod…
There are also agencies which regulate privacy concerns, like the FCC. Why would one agency be more trustworthy than another?
The Touch ID is really exciting for accessibility as it enables visually impaired users to access their phone without having to fiddle around with a lock screen, which may reveal their password to those around them. http://www.accessibleresources.com/2013/09/10/apple-announce...
I assumed that visually impaired users eschewed touchscreen phones altogether for accessibility issues.
NFC is rather different from bluetooth and hence not really comparable for many use cases. Primarily, NFC is much lower power consumption than bluetooth, much smaller field, and much lower data/bandwidth. NFC is more in the category of RFID. Secondly, NFC tags are unpowered and rely on the reader for energy. They store several dozen bytes up to several thousand bytes and are useful for QR-style applications, like "Ta…
Bluetooth Low Energy, which the parent commenter was referring to, uses a minuscule amount of power compared to the old standard. BLE devices can run for months on a coin cell, it has negligible impact on the battery life of a smartphone. Using NFC, the act of reading uses very little power, and of course tags are unpowered, but the reader needs to constantly scan for nearby tags, and that can be a battery hog. There…
Yes, there's that Examiner article claiming 50% drainage. But look further and you'll learn that in Android, at least, NFC polling is off when screen is off or locked, and when screen is on and the NFC subsystem is active, it polls intermittently at a very low frequency of about 10 Hz to save power. Google I/O had a discussion of this (sorry I don't have the link) and they reported about a 0.5% power consumption hit when NFC was on. It definitely hits the battery but negligibly. I have NFC turned on all the time on my devices (GNex, N7, N4) and they run for 12 hours (about 30-50% usage rate).
At some point you'll be able to pick up your friend's phone or tablet, touch it, and without entering usernames, emails, or passwords, have access to all your "stuff", including the same homescreen / desktop as your own phone / laptop. There will be open source, open standard, secure authentication and identity systems chained together, kind of like an evolution of Persona or OpenID, and when you view a website on yo…
A setup like that relies on massive trust in cloud computing services and sanctity of the operating system, software, and hardware which I -- and probably many other curmudgeonly tech-savvy people like me -- are unwilling to give.
Can't believe they didn't make bigger screens. iPhones seem so tiny these days. Also, just 33 votes on HN atm - made me realize that probasbly people are already using HN votes as input for their stock trading aslgorithms :-)
I disagree. The iPhone 4 had (and still has) the perfect dimension of any phones for holding in to adult average human hand and carrying it around in average sized pant pockets or strapping it on arms while jogging/hiking. The iPhone 5 ruined it a bit in trying to copy competition and not knowing that it actually had it better. I see people using large android brick sized phones all the time uncomfortably carrying it…
HTC One is my daily carry. I miss the iPhone 4's smaller size... My hands always hurt from stretching to use the "back" button.
> they'll be back to talking about more qualitative aspects. The problem is that they hardly have qualitative aspects left that they can claim over the competition. They are engaged in a race to the bottom. When the highlight of the keynote is a feature that has been available on cheap Thinkpads for five years, you wonder if Apple will ever innovate again.
Motorola released an Android phone with fingerprint sensor in 2011. Check out the video. http://secureidnews.com/news-item/motorola-releases-fingerpr...
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…
The thing that mystifies me most about the whole NSA scare is: Did you honestly not suspect they were doing this all along? Why the concern just because some details have been leaked?
Of course most HN users suspected it, but nobody else would listen. Now that there's proof, those who keep beating the drum are doing so because the public might still be paying attention and it might actually do some good.
You're all assuming the finger is still attached to the rest of the body.
Every time fingerprint scanners are mentioned, people start talking about cutting off fingers. Guess what: the people making the scanners have considered this scenario. All of their clients have nagged them about it continously for decades . It's fun to talk about, but it won't work.
I don't have a problem with the fingerprint scanner, since people can choose to use it or not. The larger problem I see for the 5S is a marketing one: while the A7 processor and internal redesign are significant technical achievements, consumers won't understand that or care. They know that their existing iPhone 5's are relatively fast, and that will be enough for most people. They needed to add features - not necess…
This is typical of the previous 's' updates: 3gs, 4s. Both offered a better camera and faster speed, and not much else. The 4s had siri, which ended up being mostly just a gimmick IMO.
I use Siri to schedule reminders all the time. Sometimes to take notes and it's also useful for sending hands free texts via voice. Oh, and search... I just used it tonight when in an unfamiliar area to find the nearest gas station and get directions to it, all via voice so I can keep my eyes on the road.
About the ID fingerprints? Am I the only one so in constant fear and doubt that thinks this would be a great way of bulk collecting the fingerprints of ANYONE?
For anyone not a US citizen, the US is already doing that at the border. Welcome to our world.
Doesn't the DMV also scan your thumbprint when you get your driver's license (at least in some states)?