When Apple announced their new iPhones at the company’s recent September 10th event, a number of innovations were introduced into the new 5s line, led by the “Touch ID” fingerprint scanner. Afterward, Touch ID received some uncertain feedback from podcasters, bloggers and tech fanatics, many of whom questioned its overall security. Of course, Apple wouldn’t (shouldn’t) release it unless they know it works most of the time and is safe (or they just have a good lawyer).
The Setup Success Screen
One concern was that thieves, for some crazy reason, would want to get into your iPhone so bad they would cut off your finger to get the fingerprint. This concern spread about, prompting Apple to address it: “The technology is built in a way that the (fingerprint) image has to be taken from a live finger,” says Sebastien Taveau, chief technology officer at Validity Sensors. “No one in biometrics wants to talk about cut fingers and dead bodies, but at the end of the day we are still asked to remove the fears of consumer and make sure that they understand that (a severed finger) will not work.” The way it does that is by using radio frequencies to detect “sub-epidermal” layers in your skin which only work if you are alive. So, if you were worried that someone would cut off your finger to look at your worthless emails and wickedly change your Facebook status, you’re thankfully wrong. In other words, it appears Touch ID is safe after all. Then again, who knows how easily someone could hack into it, but let’s not worry about that right now.
Recently, Apple had a conference to announce the well-awaited iOS 7 and the iPhone 5s and 5c. Most was as expected, such as the plastic 5c, champagne 5s, and almost everything about previously-announced iOS 7. Though, as always, Apple surprised us with a few design tweaks to go along with iOS 7 and the 5c’s style. Also, iOS 7 has been changed slightly to go along with the style of the specific phones.
iPhone 5c
The iPhone 5c is pretty much as we expected. In case you didn’t know, the “c” stands for color. It comes in white, red/pink, green, yellow and blue. Like a iPod, except with the internal and capabilities of a iPhone. Technically, it has the internals of the discontinued iPhone 5. The plastic case has reverted back to the 3G’s rounded edges, making it better to hold than the slick sides of the 5S. It has the new iSight camera, which has many different features. First of all, it’s better than the last one. Obviously. But, it also has 2 new features, and they are sort of alike. The first one is that you can take very slow-mo pictures, which some real cameras can’t do, and pick your favorite. The second one is that you can take a video, then choose a portion of the video you want to play in 4th speed, for action shots. Also, they added a flash for low-light shots. To complement the 5c, Apple made slick-yet-debated colored cased, with holes in the bottom to complement the starting color. Overall, I think the iPhone 5c will be a big success, because of the shape the color, and the price.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyarolYre3M
iPhone 5s
The iPhone 5s is pretty much what you would think the next high-end iPhone would look like. Like the past iPhones, it has a sleek, reflective covering the middle of the back. They will come in 3 new colors only, Space Grey, which is like black with light black, the well-anticipated champagne gold, and a new silver. Like the 5c, the 5s has the new camera and flash, but has the next-generation chip and motion compressor, which allows it to run 2 times faster than the iPhone 5c or 5. The biggest and best addition to the 5s is Touch ID. If you looked close enough, you could have seen that Apple changed the home button on the 5c. The square in the middle is no more. Instead, it has a ring around it. They did that because when you turn on your phone, you can unlock it by using your fingerprint. It is supposedly pretty good, like faster than typing in a password. Also, you can pay for apps and music using your “super-safe” code. If Apple were going to make that big of a jump, I think they would have a decent security on it to avoid being sued. It’s all going to make a great phone for someone who is either bland and wants the slick look, or someone who is obsessed with technology and wants Touch ID. Either way, it’s definitely going to sell, but probably not as much as the 5c.
Both these iPhones look completely capable of surviving on the market. Both are high-tech, one more so than the other, but not some big peice of junky machinery. Apple’s specialty is perfectly designing the details. The iPhone 5c shows that. Paired along with the completely redesigned iOS 7, Apple is sure to rack in some cash. The iPhone 5s is $199 for 16gb, $299 for 32gb and so on. The 5c, on the other hand is $99 for 16gb and $199 for 32gb. But don’t be mistaken, without a plan, it’s $550 and $650. Both these phones, and iOS 7, will be coming out on September 20th, so stay posted!
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