Top Bananas | Tag Archives: innovation

The Amazing iPhone Camera

Posted on September 22, 2017 by admin Posted in Hardware Leave a comment

What it is: Apple improved the camera in the latest iPhone that captures even sharper pictures than ever before.

Kodak invented digital photography but clung to film because film was how they made their money. Kodak not only processed film, but they also sold film. Of course back in those early days of digital photography, film offered far superior results than digital photography. By the time Kodak realized that digital photography had equalled film, the world no longer needed film. Kodak’s entire infrastructure based on film quickly collapsed and that was essentially the end of Kodak’s reign as the top photography company in the world.

Digital cameras eventually surpassed film, but the best digital cameras were always dedicated ones. The simple cameras in smartphones simply weren’t good enough to compare to dedicated digital cameras. That will always be the case because dedicated digital cameras have far more room for lenses, but the difference in quality has been shrinking rapidly. Already, many professional photographers rely on the iPhone camera to capture images. Not only is the iPhone camera equal to dedicated digital cameras of the past, but the iPhone camera is far simpler and easier to use.

The physical cost of lugging a dedicated digital camera around is rarely worth the hassle compared to carrying an iPhone around. The best part about an iPhone camera is that it’s almost always with you. After all, you can’t take a picture if you don’t have your camera with you, and you can’t take a picture if you need to take time to pull a dedicated digital camera out of a bag, set it up, and aim when you can just shoot a picture with an iPhone almost instantly.

The camera in the iPhone will never equal dedicated digital cameras, but it can equal (and surpass) the dedicated digital cameras of the past. Since professional photographers relied on dedicated digital cameras years ago, using an iPhone camera is like using a dedicated digital camera from a few years back, except with greater convenience. Today’s dedicated digital camera will eventually be equal to (or surpassed by) tomorrow’s iPhone camera.

The iPhone camera will only continue to get better but it will never equal today’s dedicated digital cameras, but it doesn’t have to. It simply needs to equal yesterday’s dedicated digital cameras because today’s dedicated digital cameras will always be better. The big difference is that the gap between today’s iPhone camera and today’s dedicated digital cameras is shrinking with each new generation.

The iPhone camera is rapidly approaching the point where it’s good enough for professional photographers to use on a regular basis. That means the world of dedicated digital cameras will shrink to a niche for those professional photographers who absolutely need superior technology. For the rest of us, the iPhone camera isn’t just good enough, it’s the best there is.

Apple Pay Cash Coming Soon

Posted on September 18, 2017 by admin Posted in Software, User Interface Leave a comment

What it is: Apple Pay Cash will be a way to send money to others through an Apple Pay account.

If you want to see the future, look overseas. That’s because other countries are often far more advanced in certain areas than others. For years, Japanese people used mobile phones to store and pay for items. In Kenya, people don’t have access to banks so they rely on a peer-to-peer payment system called M-Pesa, which lets people send money to the mobile phone users without relying on carrying actual cash.

Kenyans had a choice of carrying large amounts of cash with them (which could be stolen) or using M-Pesa to make secure, simple, and fast transactions using a mobile phone. Third world countries like Kenya adopted mobile phones far faster than so-called advanced countries because Kenya lacked the infrastructure to create landlines. So most of the Third world basically skipped landlines and jumped straight to mobile phones, adopting them at a rate far faster than the Western world that had a landline infrastructure already in place. That’s why Kenya is the world leader in mobile phone money transfers.

So Apple Pay Cash is simply a way for the rest of the world to catch up to Kenya. By using Apple Pay Cash, you can send money directly to others. This avoids carrying cash and lets you send money instantly without mailing a check or wiring funds through a bank. Apple Pay Cash will be coming to iOS 11 and watchOS 4, which means you’ll be able to ask for cash and receive it through an iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch.

Apple Pay Cash likely won’t change the world but it will help make Apple Pay more popular. Once more people get an Apple Pay account, they’ll be more likely to purchase items using Apple Pay. Then Apple will make money on each purchase. Eventually, Apple Pay will earn Apple a sizable chunk of revenue every quarter and help fund Apple’s other projects.

That’s the difference between Apple and rivals. Most Android device makers can offer Android Pay, but they make nothing off each purchase. That’s why Samsung developed Samsung Pay, but they’ll never dominate the Android market because not every Android device will be made by Samsung. Samsung Pay will never be as widespread as Apple Pay because Apple Pay works on the Macintosh, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. Samsung Pay can work on Android smartphones and tablets, but not on PCs. Most likely Samsung will want to get Samsung Pay to work on Android Wear as well, but Android Wear’s share of the wearable computer market is far less than Apple’s share with the Apple Watch. That means Samsung Pay can never hope to equal Apple Pay.

With most rivals shut out from the revenue generated by Android Pay, they won’t have the steady revenue stream to allow them to pursue additional research to make better products. While Apple developed faster, more efficient processors, Android device makers are stuck using third-party components. The only Android device maker that can make their own processors is Samsung, which means rival Android device makers will simply fall further and further behind. Eventually, Samsung will be the dominant Android device maker, but that puts them in an uneasy alliance with Google. That’s why Samsung tried to make their own Tizen operating system to free themselves from Android, but that will likely never work because most developers won’t create Tizen apps and most consumers own’t buy a Tizen smartphone until there are enough apps for it.

Apple Pay Cash is the future that follows M-Pesa in the mobile payment market. Paying by mobile phone will soon be common whether you’re buying something at a store or sending money to each other. Cash is simply disappearing. Cash is great for anonymity but for convenience, mobile payments are far simpler and easier.

Apple’s Growing Processor Expertise

Posted on September 17, 2017 by admin Posted in Hardware Leave a comment

What it is: Apple released the new A11 processor along with their own graphics processing unit.

Apple recently broke off collaboration with Imagination Technologies, which was creating graphics processing units for mobile devices like the iPhone and iPad. During the recent announcement of the latest iPhone, Apple quietly introduced their own graphics processing unit, which means Apple has long been working on a graphics processor for years and finally felt that their own efforts surpassed anything Imagination Technologies could offer.

One huge problem with relying on third-party products is that those products are generic. Anyone can buy and use them too so Apple doesn’t want the iPhone to contain the exact same components as rival Android smartphones and tablets. More importantly, Apple wants to optimize their graphics processor so it runs faster and more efficiently than anything rivals can offer. That puts rival products at a severe disadvantage because they must use less efficient, slower components. This is partly the reason why Android smartphones tend to offer more RAM and faster processors, yet still run slower than the iPhone. When you dump third-party components together, it’s difficult to optimize them to work together.

The fact that Apple is now designing their own processors simply means that Apple will continue focusing on its own hardware to make it better than any rivals could offer. This makes the typical laundry list of technical specifications meaningless because if you compare to smartphones and one has more RAM than another, it seems like the one with more RAM should be superior. But in actual practice if the one with more RAM runs slower, then it’s actually inferior. The fact that some Android devices need twice as much RAM to run slower than an iPhone with half as much RAM clearly highlights the inefficiency of relying on third-party products.

Other than Samsung, who else can make their own hardware? LG, HTC, Huawei, and others cannot. That relegates them to the relying on third-party products and selling their products for the lowest possible price to gain customers.

The choice is clear. You can pay more to get more with an iPhone, or you can pay less and get less with most rival Android devices. You can even pay just as much for an iPhone and still get an Android device that’s not as good as the iPhone, which makes no sense at all.

As Apple continues to improve its processors and as rivals continue relying on the same components that aren’t as good, the gap in hardware quality will continue to grow. Do you want an optimized device or do you want a less optimized device? The less optimized device is fine if you’re willing to pay a lower price, but makes no sense if you pay just as much as an iPhone. Toss in the optimization Apple can do with iOS to work with specific hardware and how Google cannot optimize Android to work with any particular hardware and the optimization between the iPhone and Android devices grows even larger.

Android gets the job done and if that’s all you want, it will work just fine. However, if you want the best, then the choice is clear. You want an iPhone.

Apple’s Faster Processors

Posted on September 15, 2017 by admin Posted in Hardware Leave a comment

What it is: Apple released the A11 Bionic ARM-based processor that matches some Intel processors.

In the early days of computers, mainframe and minicomputer users dismissed PCs as toys because the Intel processors used inside PCs weren’t as powerful as the processors used in mainframes and minicomputers. Gradually Intel processors increased in power until PCs are commonplace while mainframe and minicomputers are not. PCs were useful even when they were less powerful than mainframe and minicomputers because they could be used in places that couldn’t afford a mainframe or minicomputer. That same process is now repeating itself with the world of mobile computing.

Mobile computers like smartphones and tablets use ARM-based processors in comparison to Intel processors used in PCs. That’s because ARM processors use far less power since mobile devices rely on batteries. For the longest time, ARM processors were far less powerful than Intel processors, but that’s now changed.

Apple’s latest A11 Bionic ARM processor is just as fast as some modern Intel processors used in the MacBook Pro. As ARM processors continue improving in power while maintaining their advantage in lower power consumption, it’s only a matter of time before ARM processors become the standard computing processor. After all, why settle for a less powerful, less energy-efficient processor (Intel) when you could have a more powerful, more energy-efficient processor (ARM).

Apple’s A11 Bionic ARM processor represents a milestone in ARM processor development. Expect each new generation of Apple’s A-series ARM processors to get even faster. When there’s a clear performance advantage for ARM processors, expect the world to start shifting to ARM processors.

Mobile computing is the future. Small, lightweight computers will be far more useful than bulky desktop PCs that are tied to a specific location due to their size and weight. Just as few businesses use mainframe or minicomputers any more, expect the world of PCs to slowly disappear as mobile computing takes over, led by ARM-based processors such as Apple’s A-series chips. The future is clear and it’s not Intel any more.

Say Good-Bye to Touch ID

Posted on September 14, 2017 by admin Posted in Hardware, User Interface Leave a comment

What it is: Apple’s iPhone X eliminated the Home button and Touch ID fingerprint recognition.

When Samsung released the Galaxy S8, they put the fingerprint scanner on the back. They reportedly tried to put the fingerprint scanner on the front but technical difficulties prevented them from doing that. So when Apple released the iPhone X, people wondered that if the Home button was going away, how would Apple deal with the fingerprint recognition sensor?

There answer is simple. They got rid of it and replaced it with something better: Face ID. According to Apple, Touch ID had a 1 in 50,000 chance of being fooled but Face ID has a 1 in a million chance of being fooled. So rather than place the fingerprint recognition sensor on the back like Samsung did, or deal with trying to get it to work on the front of the screen, Apple just got rid of it and put Face ID in its place.

That means Touch ID, which was just introduced four years ago, will be on its way out with Face ID replacing it on the iPhone. Touch ID may linger longer on the iPad but expect Face ID to move to the iPad as well.

The reason for switching to Face ID from Touch ID is to improve security. Now that Apple has shifted to facial recognition, Android rivals will likely follow suit. Initially, Android device makers had trouble getting an accurate fingerprint sensor so now it’s time to see how well they can create an accurate facial recognition sensor.

Apple pointed out that they tested Face ID security by trying to spoof it using photographic and even three-dimensional masks of someone’s face. Face ID is superior to Touch ID so it’s time to say good-bye to fingerprint recognition for good.

Touch ID was good but Apple has no problems moving forward and abandoning good enough technology for great technology. At one time, Apple tried to use the scroll wheel interface for the iPhone since so many people were familiar with it throughout the iPod. However, once Apple perfected the touch screen interface, there was no need for the scroll wheel interface any more. Today, many people have completely forgotten that the scroll wheel interface ever existed.

Touch ID is following the scroll wheel interface into obscurity. One day people will laugh at the idea of using fingerprints to authenticate a user when Face ID is so much faster and more secure. Then when Apple moves beyond Face ID, the whole cycle of change will start all over again.

To read more about Face ID, click here.

The Apple Watch is the Future

Posted on September 13, 2017 by admin Posted in Hardware, Medical Leave a comment

What it is: Apple is conducting studies to detect heart abnormalities with the Apple Watch.

Most people look at Apple and only think of the iPhone. That’s only natural since the iPhone brings in well over half off the revenue for Apple every year. The Macintosh brings in far less than the iPhone and the iPad has never seriously threatened sales of the iPhone. Probably the only part of Apple that is growing fast is Apple’s services such as iTunes, Apple Music, Apple Pay, and iBookstore. For the moment, the iPhone is the major revenue generator for Apple.

Yet that won’t always be the case because the Apple Watch is poised to take over. While sales of the Apple Watch haven’t come close to matching sales of the iPhone, they will eventually. That’s because Apple is pushing the Apple Watch as a real-time health monitor and everyone wants to stay alive as long as possible. Apple’s recent work includes detecting heart abnormalities using the Apple Watch. The goal is to detect hearth problems as early indicators of possible problems to address early.

By detecting health problems as early as possible, the Apple Watch can keep people healthier. Not everyone needs an iPhone but everyone needs their health. Some people can get by with cheaper Android smartphones but nobody will want to use an alternative to the Apple Watch if those alternatives don’t offer real-time health monitoring like the Apple Watch can do. The Microsoft Band is dead and Android Wear is limping along with few innovations for wearable computers coming from the Android camp.

That pretty much leaves the Apple Watch as the best and only alternative to real-time health monitoring. As more people discover the health benefits of the Apple Watch, they’ll improve their health and stay alive longer, living more productive lives with less pain. For people who refuse to use an Apple Watch, they can look forward to not detecting early health problems so they can get sick from preventable causes. Is that really worth the price to avoid using an Apple Watch?

Because real-time health monitoring will be so important, you can be certain the Apple Watch will become a necessary accessory for everyone, especially the elderly. One day, sales of the Apple Watch will surpass sales of the iPhone. Now that the Apple Watch can make phone calls without tethering to a nearby iPhone, the Apple Watch can be perfect for senior citizens who will always have a way to call for help strapped to their wrists every day.

The Apple Watch is already changing the lives of people and will only continue to do so far into the future. The revolutionary product of tomorrow isn’t the iPhone but the Apple Watch.