Apple Holds Conference to Announce that It is Out of Ideas

[Dinner]

How did you come up with $117? I think you took the $17 figure from the christian science monitor article and added a hundred by mistake.

That was a typo, $17 not $117. Sticky key and me not paying attention.

[Dinner]

Why did the standby time for the 4S drop to 200 hours from the 4's 300 hours? Is the new processor really that much of a hog? The screen is the exact same and the only thing which might use more power (besides the processor) is the newer camera so what gives?

Edit: Wait, could it because the 4S is world band instead of just GSM?

[Dinner]

Yeah, it seems the only way the 4S beats the new Androids is in resolution but the Androids have 1/3rd larger screens (and sometimes more) so you really don't need the slight bump in resolution. In every other category the Androids beat the 4S and you can't even buy a 4S yet so it is more or less out of date before it has even been released. Apple is slipping.

[MikeH]

Apple requires such revolutions to stay afloat. Otherwise it will just fade away as competitors continue make cheaper and superior versions of its breakthroughs.

People who are Apple Fanboys will buy a new iPhone every time it comes out, assuming it's sufficiently different to the last one, this one isn't. All the Apple Fanboy's I've seen on the various Social Media are giving this announcement a serious "Meh". Whilst the iPhone 4 announcement had them spunking in their pants in anticipation at their new phone.

[Jon Miller]

The only one there that is obviously better than the 4s is the Galaxy S2, and even it is worse on points (namely screen).

Personally the world phone is a big bonus to me compared to the 4.

JM

[MikeH]

Yeah, but there are a few more in the works which also trump it and rumoured quad cores in the new year. I'm comparing with those, but yes, the S2 trumps it on most criteria (I'd say the screen was some wins for iPhone, some for Samsung) but also has the advantage that it has already been out for ages.

[Asher]

Yeah, but there are a few more in the works which also trump it and rumoured quad cores in the new year. I'm comparing with those, but yes, the S2 trumps it on most criteria (I'd say the screen was some wins for iPhone, some for Samsung) but also has the advantage that it has already been out for ages.

The iPhone has a slightly higher res screen, but the quality of the S2's screen is generally accepted to be higher. It's OLED with far better colours and contrast.

The Nexus Prime is supposed to be 720p (1280x720, vs 960x640 in the iPhone and 800x480 in the Galaxy S 2), and that's coming probably next week...

[MikeH]

iPhone seems better in bright light to me, less glare/reflection

[MikeH]

I saw a (video of) the Samsung Galaxy Note the other day, the screen on that looks incredible. It looks like an awesome modern PDA.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMWXquFI6kg

[MikeH]

(and my Galaxy S with the normal Super AMOLED screen, not the Plus version on the SII is already pretty close to/arguably better than the iPhone 4 screen)

[Jon Miller]

My problem with the others is that the iPhone is already starting to be too big, and the others are even bigger. This is for a worse resolution.

That and the App Store is probably the biggest advantages the 4S has over the S2.

JM

[Imran Siddiqui]

You need to see a Super AMOLED Plus screen, Jon. Because of what Samsung does with the subpixels it is far brighter than anything out there and looks better than higher res phones.

And I have a 4.3' HTC Thunderbolt. The screen is perfect size, IMO.

[Dinner]

The only one there that is obviously better than the 4s is the Galaxy S2, and even it is worse on points (namely screen).

Personally the world phone is a big bonus to me compared to the 4.

JM

Objectively the 4S screen is a wash against its competitors. The only thing higher resolution does is make a smaller screen the same as a larger screen. Most of the competitors have a 4.5" screen vs a 3.5" screen so even though their resolution is slightly less they have better all around performance because their screen is larger. In every other category the Androids literally clean the 4S's clock. This is pre-release and Apple will only fall further behind.

[MikeH]

iPhone apps vs Android is really interesting.

App developers are seeing that whilst Android users don't pay for apps, and there's no micropayment systems, increasingly they can have the same development costs as iPhone, but the higher useage on Android can lead to equal (or greater) revenues with the iPhone, despite revenue per user being lower.

There was one game developer saying that they earnt 10 times as much per user on iPhone due to people paying for the app and micropayments, but their overall revenue on iPhone and Android was about the same due to 10x the number of activations on Android.

http://www.gamesbrief.com/2011/02/how-much-money-can-an-ad-funded-game-make-on-iphone-how-about-4-00-per-user-per-month/

App developers are starting to see that they can make serious money out of Android, even if they give the apps away and their App store was already catching up fast.

This also, of course, means it costs you much less being an Android user, you just have to see some ads, unless you choose to buy an ad free version.

Also it's nice that as of iOS5 Apple users get some of the features we are used to:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/229611/five_ways_apple_ripsoff_android_with_ios_5.html

Next up, widgets?

[Asher]

We're seeing what we've always seen with Apple. Groundbreaking ideas, pioneering products, then a slow fade as they can't keep up as the market matures. They're not going anywhere, but they're not going to be the dominant force they were.