The iPhone 6S and the 6S Plus are here!

Just a few hours ago, Apple announced it’s new generation of iPhones; the 6S and the 6S Plus. The new phones have seem to have brought some very interesting features to the table.

3D Touch

The new iPhone were exactly what they were rumored to be. The new iPhone have “3D Touch” – a fancy name for force touch. 3D Touch on the new iPhones is a combination between the right click menu and the preview feature on the Mac.

For Example: You can force tap on an iMessage Conversation and a preview of the conversation will pop up. You can also interact more with the action by pressing harder on the screen.

Developers can also integrate 3D Touch into their own apps, One of the apps that has already been updated is Instagram. In Instagram you can 3D Touch on the thumbnail of an image and a preview of the image will pop-up!

Camera

Photos

The Camera on the new iPhones have a extremely improved! For the past year Apple has stuck with an 8 MP camera while other manufacturers have had 12-16 MP cameras. Apple has been backing off on adding more megapixels because if you put more pixels in the same senor size the color accuracy, low light performance tend to be quite poor. Apple has found a few ways with help with the problem. This year they have gone with a 12 MP camera and if the color accuracy and the low light performance are as good or better then the current phones then this will easily be the best camera on a smartphone.

The front selfie camera have also been upgrade with a 5 MP senor. This time you also have a “simulated” flash with will use the sensors on the phone to match the light temperature around you to flash the the screen itself for a “ok” lit selfie.

Live Photos

Live Photos is features that takes a sequence of photos with audio (not video, apparently) 1.5 second before and after the photos has been taken. So when you 3D Touch on the photo in the gallery I will play the sequence showing the moment that led upto the picture. You can set these “Live Photos” as your wallpaper or as a watch face on your Apple Watch.

Video

Since Apple decide to upgrade to a 12 MP camera. You will be able to take 4K Video at 30 fps on the phone. Since 4K videos take so much space, you will be able to choose what quality you record your video at in the settings.

Technology

Processor

The new iPhone have the Apple A9; Which is Apple’s own 3rd Generation 64-bit processor. The new A9 CPU is up to 80% faster then the A8’s CPU. The GPU on the A9 is up to 90% faster. Apple is claiming the CPU power to be “Desktop class” and the GPU to be “Console class”.

Data Connection

The Wifi and LTE performance has been improved just a little bit; The new phones support up to 23 LTE bands with a maximum of 300 Mbps through-put. Wifi hasn’t been changed a lot with speeds up to 866 Mbps. Of cource your’re not going to get these speeds just because you have the phone. These speeds are the maximum throughput for the phones.

Price

You will be able to buy the new phones at the same price as the current ones so; 16GB models for the 6S start at $199 w/ 2-year carrier contact and $299 for the 6S Plus w/ a 2-carrier contact.

If you don’t want to lock-in with a contact with your carrier then you can finnance the phones with Apple for $32.45 /month for iPhone 6S (24-month) and/or $37.45 for the iPhone 6S Plus (24-month).

Apple also has a new program this year called “iPhone Upgrade Program” which will give you a new phone every year! You can learn more about it here!

Moto G 2015, 3rd Generation – Price, Specs, Features

This morning Motorola had an event where they announced their new flagship lineup of smartphone.. Including a new Moto G.

This is the 3rd Moto G since it’s launch 3 years ago and there are minor but, very interesting and useful features that have been added to this “new” phone.

Specs:

Software

Operating System AndroidTM Lollipop 5.1.1

Hardware

CPU Qualcomm® SnapdragonTM 410 quad-core

CPU Clock Speed

1.4 Ghz
GPU Adreno 306

GPU Clock Speed

400 MHz
RAM 1GB (8GB Variant) 2GB (16GB Variant)
Screen 5″

Screen Resolution

1280×720
Glass Corning® Gorilla® Glass
Water Proof Rating IPX7 Water Resistant up-to 1 meter, 30 minutes.
Battery 2470 mAh

Battery Life

*”All Day” – Motorola Claimed*

Camera

Rear – Photos 13 MP

Other Specs.

f/2.0
Auto focus
4X digital zoom
Slow motion video
Burst mode
Auto HDR
Panorama
Video iHDR
Manual focus and exposure controls
Timer
Active viewfinder
Rear – Video  1080p HD video, 30 fps (MPEG4, H.264)
Front 5MP

Other Specs.

f/2.2
Field of view (FOV) 72 degrees
Display flash
Fixed focus
4X digital zoom
Slow motion video
Burst mode
Auto HDR
Front – Video *Unknown*
Audio Speakers, 3.5mm Headphone Jack
Microphone 2-mics
Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n (2.4 GHz)
NFC
Location Services GPS, AGPS, GLONASS, BeiDou
Additional Sensors Accelerometer (2), Ambient Light Sensor, Proximity, Sensor Hub

Variants

8GB $179
16GB $219
Base Color Black, White
Back Color Customizable
Accent Color Customizable

Models

XT1540, XT1548

Network

XT1540 LTE (2, 4, 5, 7, 12, 17)
UMTS/HSPA+ (850, 1700/AWS, 1900, 2100 MHz)
GSM/GPRS/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
XT1548 LTE (2, 4, 5, 12, 17, 25, 26)
UMTS/HSPA+ (850, 1700, 1900 MHz)
CDMA (800, 850, 1900 MHz)
TD-LTE (41 TD2500)
GSM/GPRS/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
SIM CARD Micro

That has gotten a much better deign with a wide verity of removable backs and accent strips. Which can be customized when you buy the phone using Moto maker or get them later.

There are two models of the new Moto G. The XT1540 version which is the one you get if you buy it from a GSM carrier or from the Motorola website. The XT1540 version only supports GSM carriers but, the XT1548 model can support both CDMA and GSM carriers. This model of the phone is only sold through Sprint Prepaid, US Cellular and Virgin Mobile. As far as the LTE network go – The Moto G will support Tri-Band LTE for most of the giant US Carriers.

The new Moto G also comes pre-loaded with Android 5.1.1. This is also one of the big features of the Moto G because unlike other budget phone where is OS is filled with bloatware which intend slows it down a lot but, with the Moto G line the android OS had always been really clean giving it speed boost and longer battery life – Motorola claims a full day of normal usage.

The Moto G 2015 is the way to go if you are in the market for a budget smartphone with it’s average specs to a very clean UI. It’s only $179 for the 8GB (1GB RAM) and $216 for the 16GB (2GB RAM) version.