Hi this is Gary with MacMost Now.
On today's episode let's take a look at today's Apple announcements.
So today's announcement (9/10/2013) was all about the iPhone and iOS 7.
Let's start with iOS 7.
iOS 7, which has been in testing for a long time so you probably heard a lot about it,
will come out on September 18th.
It is going to be a free upgrade.
It will be for anybody using an iPad 2 or newer or an iPhone 4 or newer, or an iPod
Touch 5th generation or newer.
On the 18th you will be able to upgrade for free to iOS 7.
There a lot of new features in iOS 7 of course.
The biggest one is going to be the redesign.
Things look a lot different.
There is a lot of flat design that affects a lot of apps like Mail, Safari, Clock, Calendar,
and Contacts.
In addition there is new control centers and notification centers that you will be able
to access that overlay the screen.
So a lot of changes and we'll be covering that in detail after iOS 7 comes out on September
18th.
Apple CEO Tim Cook also talked about five major iOS apps.
They are Pages, Keynote, Numbers, iMovie, and iPhoto.
Now these apps all cost a little something in the App Store.
Apple is now going to make them free when you buy a new device.
So if you are buying a new device from now on whether an iPhone, iPod Touch, or an iPad,
you will be able to get these for free when you set up the new device.
So let's look at the new iPhone, or the new iPhones, because there are going to be two
models now.
There is the iPhone 5C and the iPhone 5S.
The iPhone 5C is the cheaper version.
It is made with a plastic case and it comes in a whole set of colors.
In addition it basically has the same specs as the existing iPhone 5.
As a matter of fact the iPhone 5 is going away.
Previously Apple has kept the old iPhone around as a cheaper version, sometimes for free.
Apple is still keeping around the iPhone 4S for that purpose.
You can get an 8 mgb 4S for free with a lot of plans from carriers.
But there will be no more iPhone 5.
Instead the iPhone 5C replaces it with pretty much the same specifications.
The same processor, screen size, camera specs pretty much the same as the iPhone 5 but the
price does come down.
It is going to be $99 for the basic 16 GB model and a $199 for a 32 GB model.
So this price assumes that you are getting a plan from a major US carrier.
Now the iPhone 5S is a true upgrade to the iPhone because things like the processor have
been upgraded.
There is a new processor.
The A7 processor should be much faster.
In addition there are lots of new things like a better camera with support for all sorts
of cool features.
The new camera, for instance, is going to support up to 120 frames per second video
so you can do slow motion and there is going to be burst photography so you can take up
ten photos in a second.
There is going to be a lot built into iOS 7 to support this.
For instance when you do the burst photography it will try and pick out the best photo from
there but it will allow you to browse through the photos and select which one is the best
or save several of them.
For slow mo you should be able to go through the video you just took and then pick which
parts you want to be at regular speed and which parts you want to be in slow motion.
So you can create some interesting videos with the new camera.
The biggest new feature of the iPhone 5S will be the fingerprint sensor.
They are calling this touch ID.
Basically it changes the home button into something that can sense your fingerprint.
This is going to be used in two ways.
One, it will allow you to unlock your phone without entering a passcode.
It will detect your fingerprint when you touch it.
The second way will be to authenticate things like for instance when you are making a purchase.
Instead of having to enter in your Apple ID you should be able to actually touch it and
it knows that you are you.
Now the iPhone 5S is going to be a little more expensive but comparable to what we are
paying now for the iPhone 5.
It is going to be $199, $299, and $399 for the 16, 32, and 64GB versions.
It is also going to come in three colors.
It will come in a black, they are calling it space grey, a gold, and a silver color.
Apple also announced today cases for these iPhones.
So Apple is really getting into the case business again like they did with the bumpers.
These are going to be more normal looking full size cases.
There are ones for the 5C that cost $29 and ones for the 5S that cost $39.
The 5C has got interesting looking ones because there is holes in them.
It kind of has a pattern on the back where you can see the color of your phone through
the case but you can actually get a case that is a different color.
So you can mix and match colors, create a somewhat unique look to your phone.
So the new iPhones are going to be available on September 20th.
But you can also preorder the iPhone 5C on September 13th.
It doesn't appear that you can preorder the iPhone 5S.
You will just have to wait until the 20th to order one.
What was not mentioned today was anything about new iPads.
iPads should get iOS 7 on September 18th but there is no talk of a fifth generation iPad
or a 2nd generation iPad Mini.
So perhaps there will be a future announcement in the coming weeks for that.
There is also no talk about OS10 or new Mac models.
It is likely if there are new Mac models we will just see them appear in the Apple store
and perhaps there will be a press release but there should be some talk or some announcement
of the release of Mavericks in the coming weeks as well.
We just have to wait for those.
Hope you found this useful.
Until next time this
is Gary with MacMost Now.