It's been a busy few weeks for Apple! The new iPhone 4 units were sold through in a matter of hours, it seems, and that wasn't enough excitement for them...so they rolled out the Mac mini refresh, Safari 5 and the latest version of Snow Leopard. Oh, and a little app called "The Apple Store." Read on for links, facts and thoughts on the best releases of the summer and check out the whole family with Mactribe's in-depth Apple Product Guide.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/apple-store
OS X Version 10.6.4
First up, of course, is the new look; iPhone 4 is encased front and back in aluminosilicate glass with the now-standard oleophobic coating and bordered by a band of engineered steel five times tougher than the normal stainless variety. Not only does it hold everything together, its rigidity means a slimmer, sleeker iPhone in your pocket. It also functions as both antennas.
The second most visible change on the iPhone...the display. iPhone 4 has a resolution of 326 pixels per inch, and the pixels themselves are so small human eyes can't distinguish them. So color, contrast and crispness are better than ever and images look truly stunning. Not visible but incredible, the addition of the A4 chip means iPhone users can finally multi-task, and without running out of juice. The new chip is smaller and more energy efficient than its predecessor and made room for a bigger battery.
A 5 megapixel sensor , LED flash and backside illumination sensor make the most of the light you've got and contribute to iPhone's newest role as both capable camera and HD video shooting machine. Video is recorded in 720p from the back camera but uses VGA quality on the front and an iMovie app is coming soon. Video calls using FaceTime will be strictly iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 over Wi-Fi connections for now, but Apple plans on making the software open so more platforms and handsets can use it. Equally cool is the brand new gyroscope: it's a full three axis sensor to make your gaming more sensitive, responsive and realistic than anything we've ever seen.
Mac mini
It's arrived, and in full on aluminum glory to boot...looking very similar to the Apple TV console, we might add! It's gotten more than just a makeover, though, and in addition to a now necessary HDMI port the smallest desktop in the Apple family received an NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics processor and the capability to upgrade to 8GB of RAM via a newly designed access point. Sound like a dream? Well, at this point, you're awake, so go grab the 2.4GHz Mac mini with 320GB of storage for $699 or try out the Mac mini server with 2.66GHz and dual 500GB HD for $999.
Apple Store App
Also overnight, the Apple Store became available in the App Store. We know, it looks confusing. But now you can indulge all of your impulse buys in one easy click, and we're sure going to be poorer for the access. Inital reviews say it's so much easier to use than going to the Apple Store website and that the app is designed incrediby well...any surprises there? Also, it's free. (Of course!)
Since selling out of the most anticipated handset since the original iPhone just didn't seem like a full enough day, Apple decided to roll out the newest version of Snow Leopard. The update includes fixes for Aperture 3 and external devices as well as general fixes and updates. (All 10.6 users are recommended to download and install the update.)
If you're thinking about splurging on a new Mac mini this update will hold a special thrill for you: improved graphics performance and better compatibility with certain SDXC memory cards, so you can take advantage of the new SD slot included in Tuesday's update. The Server version has been updated as well and both refreshes include important security updates...get it here or through Software Update.
iPhone 4
The latest and greatest in Apple's legendary iPhone lineup is, in their words, "the biggest thing to happen to iPhone since iPhone."
Safari 5
Extensions, new options to customise your browser experience and an even faster Nitro engine make this Safari the best browser period...though we admit, as ever to a teensy bias. Safari Reader is probably our favorite addition to this version, since we do find ourselves--on occasion--disctracted by ads, pretty pictures and the like. If you suffer the same, with one click of the reader button in the address bar you can banish all the distractions and focus on one pretty, clean, white page of crisp text. You can email and print from this view as well, so you'll never waste ink on sidebar ads ever again. HTML 5 support and improved Domain Name System prefetching maximize your time and web experience and the built in Bing search comes with a heavy helping of subtext. Microsoft? And Apple? This could be the most interesting addition to Safari in years...
Home Page images by Kelly Davidson. All product images courtesy of Apple
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SquareTrade Saves your iPhone
AT&T and Apple's iPhone warranties are expensive and they don't cover drops and spills. Fail, right? So SquareTrade saw the need for some good insurance, as it were, and stepped in to the void. Just in time for today's announcement, you can protect your iPhone from almost anything--except theft--for $99 up front for a two year coverage with a $50 deductible every time you ruin your iPhone. We've seen some painfully cracked screens and painfully embarrassed iPhone owners in our day, so if you even think you'll need it, we recommend picking it up! Here's the total breakdown:
Apple iPhone 3GS:
One device failure (drop, breakage etc) in two years:
AT&T - $535
SquareTrade - $149
Difference = $386
Two device failures in two years:
AT&T - $734
SquareTrade - $199
Difference = $535
We Did It!
Apple finally did it. It is now more valuable than Microsoft. To stubborn old realists this seems wrong, but to an army of Apple fans and the veteran legions of Apple believers this seems very right.
It may just be the case that the recent stock market correction, which has seen the market "fall out of bed", is the cause of this victory. Apple just hasn't fallen as far as Microsoft in the stock market rout.
Apple's Risen
However nothing takes away from the fact that, long left for dead, Apple has risen and crawled hand over hand from the edge of going out of business to becoming the second largest company listed on Wall Street.
This promotion to number two position of most valued company on Wall Street is remarkable and kind of historic. I promised myself to short Apple when this happened but I will hold off because the market will rally for a week or two and shorting anything will be a bad idea.
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