This week’s edition of the Tech Dump will cover the highly anticipated Apple iPhone 6S unveiling event as well as feature a review on Samsung’s new Galaxy Tab S2 tablet. I am warning you now, this is a long post. If you are here for the Galaxy Tab S2 review, skip down to the photo of the tablet. If you are interested in everything else, read on.
Apple Event
Apple’s event just wrapped up Wednesday night and the amount of newly announced products is astonishing. I will break down what was announced in the order they were announced. While I will be detailing what was said, I will be offering a bit of speculation about what we saw today.
Apple Watch
There were two main things that were announced for the Watch today. First of all there are many different options to choose from now. Apple released photos of more colors for bands, including a (RED) band for the Sport. Along with the new watch colors, they are offering gold finishes for the Sport model, which begs the question, why would you buy an Edition if the Watch comes in the same color for $349.
The bigger announcement is that watchOS 2 is coming out Sept. 16, less than a week away. The new OS will give the watch many new features, including native app support. That means the accessory will no longer depend on an iPhone to pull data, one of the biggest complaints of the watch thus far.
Source: Engadget
iPad Pro
One of the bigger announcements at today’s event was the unveiling of the brand new iPad Pro. The Pro is a 12.9 inch tablet built for productivity. Apple made sure to also flaunt the four speakers on the device that are supposed to balance the audio depending on how you hold your device.
Apple also announced a keyboard case and stylus (as Steve Jobs rolled over in his grave) in order to push the productivity aspects of the new device. The new Apple Pencil will retail for $99 and will be sold separately from the device. The keyboard case will retail for $179 and will also be sold separately.
The Apple Pencil is the iPad’s answer to the Microsoft Surface Pen; in fact, the entire iPad Pro is Apple’s entry into the Surface’s market. The stylus will have a unique identity and the stylus connects to the iPad by being plugged into the Lightning port. Steve Jobs went on record saying how much he hated styluses and Apple’s move to release one shows more evidence Steve’s company is moving in a new direction.
The keyboard case needs to prove it is worth the money. The keys are woven fabric, which leaves me questioning how it actually feels to use. I have used some pretty bad keyboard cases in the past and hopefully Apple’s is worth the hefty price tag.
The iPad Pro starts at $799 for 32GB of storage which is low considering the way the company is aiming for the device to be a device to drive productivity. The tablet maxes out at $1,079 for 128GB.
Overall the iPad Pro is an interesting device with an identity problem. The device is in the same price range as the Macbook Air. Most people that want a device for getting work done will most likely go with the laptop that runs a full operating system. There will also be more RAM in the computer which allows consumers to use more powerful apps, such as Photoshop. It will be interesting to see how the battle between two Apple devices plays out.
Source: The Verge
Apple TV
The Apple TV has received a much needed facelift in this year’s new revision. The last time Apple altered the Apple TV was way back in 2012.
The update this time around brings a brand new remote and more power in the box all around. The new remote has voice search options which are going to be a great feature for those who want to watch something specific. At the event, Apple demonstrated by asking Siri to “Find the James Bond movies, but only with Sean Connery.” Siri narrowed down the list to those films, and it worked well.
The stranger part of the demonstration came when Apple showed off the video game/app side of the new Apple TV. The new remote has a touch pad toward the top of the device that will be used for touch inputs. At the event, “Crossy Roads” was demonstrated. The game looked nice on the big screen, but the remote seemed clunky and worse than playing on a screen in your pocket. Apple also allows the TV to connect to iPhones and iPod Touches to add more controllers to the game.
This is purely speculation, but Apple’s appearance in the home console video game world is late. Had they capitalized on the surge of apps way back in 2010, the box would be in competition to change gaming. Now that Microsoft and Sony have incorporated indie games and cheaper games into their business models, Apple’s arrival seems a bit late.
That said, the Apple TV is finally joining the ranks of other content boxes. The voice search is a welcome addition, and if it works as well as it did when Apple demonstrated it, it should be a big selling point.
Source: The Verge
iPhone 6S and 6S Plus
The final announcement, which personally I thought was the least interesting of the entire event, was the iPhone 6Ses.
First, Apple announced a rose gold variation of the phone that is extremely pink looking.
After saying that everything on the inside is completely different, Apple showed off a couple of new features that could be game changing if they are implemented correctly.
The new vibration motor in the new iPhone is the same new “Taptic Engine” present in the Apple Watch and new MacBook trackpads. The way the motor is designed is very interesting and it is made in mind with saving space.
The biggest addition to the iPhone, which could potentially change the way we interact with phones, is 3D Touch. The iPhone’s screen now has pressure sensors that can pick up how hard you press the screen. This was formerly known as Force Touch on the Apple Watch, but has moved its way to the iPhone. Rumor has it that this feature could spell the end for the iPhone’s signature home button. That remains to be seen next year with the iPhone 7.
The feature has potential to be one of the biggest changes in the iPhone’s history. The 3D Touch adds a new level of interaction between the user and the phone. Consider it the “right click” of the iPhone. The feature has different uses for different apps, and developer support will make or break the feature. Instagram already has a use for it: you can hard press on photos to get a preview of them instead of opening each individual photo.
If you hard press over the phone app it brings up a list of favorite contacts. There are a million uses for the new feature and I am interested to see where the new interaction takes the phone in the future.
To finish off the event, OneRepublic showed up to play everyone out.
Overall, the event was jam-packed with three major announcement in a little under two hours. I have many questions about how the new Apple TV will gain traction with its new ways of searching content, and I am curious to see if people will buy MacBooks or the new iPad Pro as they are in the same price range. Apple has been known to cannibalize products and this could potentially be another case of that. The iPhone was exactly what everyone was expecting, right down to the terrible 16GB of storage as the entry model.
With today’s event Apple is laying the groundwork for some major changes to their business and product lines. The Apple TV could also lead to a new way to consume television content by making everything content first over individual services. The new iPad may also spell the end for the Macbook Air.
Source: Samsung
Galaxy Tab S2 Review
The brand new Galaxy Tab S2 comes in both 8 inch and 9.7 inch screen sizes in order to directly compete with the iPad Mini and iPad Air. Rather than making two different product lines, Samsung offers the tablet under the same name with two different sizes.
The model I have to review is the 9.7 inch, AT&T LTE enabled model. I do not have the 8 inch tablet, but as they are available under the same product line and use the same internals (minus the battery) I would bet that they perform relatively the same. The model that I have is $599 at retail. While that may seem like a hefty chunk of change, the tablet is $20 dollars more than the 32GB iPad Air that it is competing with. The tablet is aiming for the mid to upper tier premium tablet market, and from my experience with the device, it fits perfectly in that range.
Build Quality
The build quality for the Tab S2 is nice, but compared to the iPad’s metal back, some might be turned off from the device. The S2 features a metal band around the edges, a glass screen and a rubberized back. While metal is always a nicer material to hold and use the device with, the rubber provides an incredible amount of grip to the device. Because of the grip, I can use the device comfortably in one hand, something I never thought I would be able to say about a 9.7 inch tablet.
Along with the grip on the back, the device is light and thin. The device’s thickness is one of the selling points that Samsung is touting harder than anything. They say the device is the thinnest tablet ever made, and that makes the device easy to hold. I normally do not mention device weight, but being that Samsung is screaming about the weight from every rooftop, I believe it would be helpful to mention. The 9.7 inch tablet weighs in at 0.86 pounds, an impressive number for the tablet’s size.
With every claim of thin size, an elephant in the room always remains: a thin battery. In my testing, the device easily made it through a day or a day and half depending on what I was using it for. Using an external keyboard for notes for 6 straight hours, the battery dropped to 50 percent. That seems good, but in 2015, I do not want to have to charge my tablet every single day.
Where the build redeems itself is the one feature that I have missed from Samsung’s devices in the past few months: expandable storage! If you are not happy with your 32GBs that come with the base model or the 64GBs that come with the higher tier version, you can expand the storage with a microSD card up to 128GB. The feature has been absent in Samsung’s past few devices. Being that the tablet can be used anywhere from entertainment to productivity, the expandable storage is a welcome addition, as anyone can load up all the content they want on the device and be ready to go.
There are two speakers present on the bottom. They are good, but as always, could be better. The only flaw in them is the tendency I had to cover one of them by accident while holding the tablet in landscape mode. It is a small problem, but one I noticed on more than one occasion.
Besides the rubberized back, the glass screen and the metal edges, not much else can be said about the design. There are a couple of dimples on the back that are supposed to be used to connect to Samsung’s official keyboard case. I bought a third-party case and it works just fine. I would have rathered they left the dimples off the back to make it look like a uniform back. Besides that small qualm, I really like the design. It may not feel “Apple premium,” but in some ways I prefer it.
Software
The version of Android that the Tab S2 runs is a TouchWiz skinned version of Android 5.1.1 Lollipop. The device ships with 5.0, but the update is available as soon as you take it out of the box. The extra features that Samsung includes, such as split screen apps, really adds to the productivity. I have used the split screen feature to type notes while looking up information. The sole problem with the feature is that developers have to code the function into their apps, something that few have actually done. I hope that Samsung figures out a way to implement the feature without relying on developers. Until then, I wait with bated breath. The software that Samsung bundles in works on the tablet much better than it does on their phones. All of the features that use screen space in different ways with different apps finally has a use as there is nearly 10 inches of space to split up apps should you need to do that.
Performance
The performs beautifully, as it should. The internals sport an octacore processor and 3GB of RAM, a downgrade from the Note 5 and S6 Edge +. That said, the tablet packs more RAM than the iPads it is competing against. The RAM and processing powers shows strongly when playing graphically intensive games such as Monument Valley.
The screen is a Super amoled display that is 2048 inches by 1536 inches. The screen is sharp, but it is not the QuadHD display that we have seen in this year’s Samsung phones. Normal users most likely will not notice a difference, but being the snob I am, the difference is just noticeable. It is still a gorgeous display, however, and users will not be disappointed in it.
There are two cameras, one on the front and back. The rear holds an 8 megapixel camera, and the front holds a 2.1 megapixel camera. I am not a photographer, but the camera is decent. But you should not be taking photos with a tablet anyway so I cannot knock the cameras as being a downside.
Overall, the tablet performs great. Nothing I tried slowed it down for even a second, and that is exactly what I want in a tablet. I have been looking for a long time for a tablet that would replace my 8-year-old laptop and its ailing battery, and the Galaxy Tab S2 is the tablet I am using to finally retire my laptop. The tablet is fun when I need it to be, but productive when I need it in class to type out my notes. The onscreen keyboard leaves much to be desired for long typing sessions, but what software keyboard doesn’t?
I have finally found the tablet that replaces my laptop, something I started to give up hope for. The mix of fun and productivity that Samsung provides with the Tab S2 makes it the tablet I have been looking for.
Final Score: 8.75/10
