Jimmy Kimmel First Look: iPhone 5 [Video]
by Justin Horn on Sep 13th, 2012 @ 4:37 pmThis is pretty awesome! It’s interesting how the brain works. If you think something is better then that becomes reality. Similar to a 20/20 or Dateline I watched where they put a $5 box wine against an expensive bottle. They put the box wine in a fancy looking bottle and expensive wine in a store brand looking bottle. Guess which one people liked better?
Follow me on Twitter @justin_horn
AT&T changes iPhone 5 upgrade eligibility policy
by Justin Horn on Sep 13th, 2012 @ 2:33 pmA little over 3 years ago I wrote an article describing how your AT&T upgrade eligibility date was formulated. Your date for full upgrade could range from as little as 12 months out of your 24 month contract or as many as 20. They also sometimes offered early upgrades giving you a $200 discount instead of the full $400 discount.
This has been consistent till I went to check my upgrade for the iPhone 5. First I noticed that my main line billing over $100 a month which used to be upgrade eligible every 12 months was now 19 months (May 2013). This is the same date as the second line billing only $40 a month. Second I noticed that the price for the early upgrade has changed. Instead of getting a $200 discount, they are now only giving $150 discount.
UPDATE Fun fact: Based on that early upgrade discount of only $150 off, it would actually be cheaper to pay the $225 early termination fee and then get a new contract the full discount price. $299 + $250 early upgrade fee vs $299 + $225 early termination fee. Way to go AT&T!
UPDATE 2 From what I’m reading, Verizon doesn’t offer upgrades until your full 24 months is up and no early upgrade discounts. So I guess AT&T isn’t as bad as I thought. $150 is better than nothing.
Apparently they are moving all phones, regardless of price to 19 month upgrade policy.
Here’s a portion of my ATT chat:
Justin Horn: But that’s besides the point, can you tell me why I’m not eligible before 5/15/2013? My account has always been eligible after 12 months, not 19. So my date should be 10/15/2012, not 5/15/2013.
Linda Ramirez: I apologize. Upgrades are now done every 19 months.
Justin Horn: Since when?
Linda Ramirez: Since 6/25/12.
How times have changed. Here’s my article on how the iPhone 3GS upgrades went:
At&t just posted “an update for our customers”which explains the upgrade process for iPhone 3G oweners and the new policy:
We’re now pleased to offer our iPhone 3G customers who are upgrade eligible in July, August or September 2009 our best upgrade pricing, beginning Thursday, June 18.
So just a few years ago AT&T was moving up the full upgrade eligibility date by as much as 3 months. Even for the iPhone 4 they bumped it up a bit.
Now back to present day and they move my upgrade back by 7 months! I understand for a lot of people (with non family plans), this doesn’t matter as you never billed enough to make it to a 12 month upgrade. So at worst you are being moved back from 17 to 19 months, but I would hope the extra $50 for the early upgrades would piss you off. I mean they are already raised the bull shit “activation” fee to $36 bucks, which was bull shit when it was like $24.
One day I will finally make the move to Verizon because AT&T’s list of things that piss me off just keeps getting longer.
Here’s a few highlights:
AT&T and FaceTime
AT&T changes data plans again: more GB, more money
Will iMessage really affect AT&T’s SMS cash cow?
Follow me on Twitter @justin_horn
iPhone 5: What size should I get? 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB?
by Justin Horn on Sep 13th, 2012 @ 11:01 amTrying to decide what size you need? Well last year I ran the numbers for photos and video size on the iPhone 4S and those still apply to the iPhone 5. Take a look:
With the iPhone 4S (and iPhone 5) improved camera and 1080p HD video, should I go 32GB or 64GB?
That obviously isn’t the only consideration. If you use a lot of big apps, like TomTom for example, that can add up. Lots of music and you don’t have the bandwidth for iTunes Match? That will add up.
So it may not be the only concern, it is one of the big ones to consider.
Follow me on Twitter @justin_horn
Multitouch improved on iOS 6
by Justin Horn on Sep 11th, 2012 @ 1:22 pmUPDATE 2 Looks like we now have the biggest reason for this change, the iPad mini.
I noticed recently that multitiouch on iOS 6 beta seems to have improved, it now recognizes a second finger touch. On iOS 5 a touch with a second finger while the first finger was still on the screen would ignore all input from the second finger. After noticing this improvement, I double checked I wasn’t crazy by testing this on my girlfriend’s iPhone 4 with iOS 5 (don’t feel too bad, I’m getting her an iPhone 5 soon) and it worked as I remembered. I haven’t tested on a 4S with iOS 5 since noticing this, but I’m pretty confident this is a software related, not hardware.
Hoping that this is the first step to bringing multitouch gestures to the iPhone.
UPDATE Just to clarify a little more, this is different than the previously usable multitouch gestures, like pinch to zoom. This is basically recognizing two simultaneous inputs doing non-gestures. Like in my demo video below, just a regular swipe up and down. You can also see when I bring the two fingers towards each other the slide up and down cancels out.
Here’s a short video demonstrating what I mean by multiple touch inputs.
Follow me on Twitter @justin_horn
Apple, Samsung, and Nokia taking an exam
by Justin Horn on Sep 11th, 2012 @ 1:17 pm
Friend texted this to me, had to post.
Follow me on Twitter @justin_horn
Comments Off
Apple vs ?
American Airlines to use iPad in all phases of flight
by Justin Horn on Sep 10th, 2012 @ 6:11 pmFurthering its efforts to advance airspace modernization, American Airlines today announced it is expanding its iPad Electronic Flight Bag program after becoming the first commercial carrier to receive FAA approval to use the Apple iPad in the cockpit during all phases of flight.
This is the next step in becoming fully electronic.
As part of the Electronic Flight Bag program, American’s pilots will use mobile software and data from Jeppesen, a unit of Boeing Flight Services. The FAA-approved Jeppesen application, which is allowed for gate-to-gate use throughout all phases of flight, will replace bulky paper operating manuals with real-time, up-to-date electronic information that is easier to access. “Jeppesen mobile solutions will deliver our industry-leading flight information through the thousands of iPads that will be integrated by American Airlines in its operations,” said Thomas Wede, Jeppesen Senior Vice President and General Manager, Aviation. “We fully support American in this process and our mobile data software solution will work to increase operational efficiency, enhance situational awareness and reduce airline costs.”
Maybe one day we’ll be allowed to use iPads in all phases of flight as well?
Follow me on Twitter @justin_horn
Comments Off
American Airlines, iPad
