Now that IFA is officially over, the next big thing in tech announcements comes from Cupertino, CA.  The spotlight moves from several manufactures over to Apple - and its all about the iPhone for the most part.  As Apple preps to unveils the iPhone 6 in 2 sizes alongside their 1st wearable smartwatch (whatever it will be called).  We have already shared w/ you all of the notable rumors, leaked photos, as we'll throw in some newer stuff into the mix as well.  Here's everything in one central spot for your viewing pleasure.  Let's dive in, shall we?

The iPhone 6 is set to arrive in 2 sizes (a 4.7inch & 5.5inch).  The body will be super-thin measuring at 6mm and modeled after the most-recent iPod Touch on the design side of things.  So expect a more rounder unibody iPhone than we've seen in a while.  On hardware side of things it is said powered by a 64-bit A8 CPU alongside 1GB of RAM, new external antenna bands, the Power/Standby button gets moves from the top now to the right, and NFC will finally make it way to the iPhone (more on that later).  

iphone_6 4.7inch still A

The display will be made of sapphire crystal - which will give Gorilla Glass a run for its $$$.  It will be a lot harder to break, crack, or shatter than the iPhones of previous years.  In getting bigger, Apple will have to bump up the resolution as well.  Previous reports have it pegged at 1704 x 960 w/ a 416ppi on the 4.7inch size and a 356ppi on the 5.5inch one.  

Looks like the iPhone will enter 128GB storage size that we talked about it but I don't even want to think bout that pricing. 

 
The camera lens looks to protrude out a bit than being flush w/ the design.  Now the word on the Internet is that it will either have an 8MP rear shooter w/ even better image quality or a 13MP shooter, also w/ superb quality as well.  Also, the FaceTime camera could get bumped up to 3MP but there's not to go on in the FaceTime shooter though.  And in case you were wondering why you'd want the 5.5inch over the 4.7inch, the phablet size will have the joys of OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) on board.  
iOS 8 lead

Apple's new mobile software iOS 8 will be ready for consumption by all.  It will bring forth plenty of new features, some big and some small.  You now have a QuickType or predictive keyboard as well as support for 3rd-party ones as well, the Notification Center has a quick reply option for messages, do more within single + group messaging threads, Siri goes hands-free and adds Shazam integration, better in-house photo editing, and Time Lapse feature gets added to the Camera app to name a few of the new native features.   There is also talks of iOS 8 brings split-screen multitasking to the iPad as well.  Now onto the bigger stuff.

Healthkit is one of the bigger features on the software as it focuses on monitoring your health.  Helps you keep up w/ everything from glucose & alcohol levels, dietary intake, BMI, blood pressure, calories burned, sleep analysis, and so forth.  This will be a much more detailed version of what Samsung was trying to do w/ S Health.  

With NFC now on-board, Apple plans to unveil its own mobile payment system.  This will be built-into the PassBook app as it is said that Apple has already secured deals w/ American Express, MasterCard, & Visa to be widely supported at launch.  Touch ID would also be used to authenticate payments by a touch of a button.  

i6 rear
 
Apple's iWatch , iTime, or whatever it will be called is also set to be unveiled on Tuesday.  All though no actual photos have yet to surface, there is plenty of info out there on it.  Thus far we're talking about several screen sizes w/ a curved + flexible display and tons of biometric sensors to track everything to send to HealthKit.  It is said to work w/ NFC and support iOS 8.  Don't get too excited as it isn't due out until early 2015.  
The 4.7inch model is said to be priced at the standard $199 on contract for a 16GB storage while the 5.5inch size is said to enter 'phablet' pricing at $299 at 16GB.  Invites went out a while ago, the stage is set and all is left is to await for Tuesday to see what's true or not.  

 

Categories: Features