Buster Hein - page 235

When the original iPod nano was introduced on September 7, 2005, it was one of Apple’s greatest design achievements. In a bold move, Apple decided to replace their iPod Mini with the unbelievably small iPod nano, even though the 2nd-gen Mini had only been on the market for eight months and was the popular iPod.

Over the last eight years, the iPod Nano has experienced more design changes than any other Apple product. It’s gone from metal to plastic, tall to fat, and click-wheel to touch, with more color changes than a chameleon. 

The parts for the iPhone 5 only cost Apple $167.50, according to new estimates. The estimate makes puts the iPhone 5 parts price tag about $36 more than iPhone 4S parts were.

UBM Techinsights released their estimates on how much each iPhone 5 part costs this morning and as usual, it’s shockingly cheap. The $36 cost difference between the iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S is attributed to the larger Retina screen, 4G LTE chip, new A6 chip, and the new sensors and mics.

Here’s a chart with the full price breakdown of each component:

If you didn’t sell your iPhone 4/4S before the announcement of the iPhone 5, you’d better do it soon before its value drops considerably. Reports have already come in that iPhone trade-in prices have started to drop on most major iPhone trade-in sites.

In the two days since Apple announced the iPhone 5, values on used iPhones have already dropped as much as 8%. Once the iPhone 5 hits shelves next week, values are expected to drop even faster.

If you’re down in the dumps about not being able to buy the iPhone 5 right now, we have the most amazing solution you’ve ever seen. It’s the Magical iPhone 4 Life Extension sticker. Basically it’s just a sticker that makes your iPhone 4/4S look like the two-toned back plate of an iPhone 5.

Place the sticker on the back of your iPhone 4, and then hold it a little higher in your hand and everyone will think you’re totally cool and have the new iPhone 5.

Source: Reddit

You probably already know whether or not you’re going to buy the iPhone 5 by now, but how are you going to buy it? John Brownlee published his excellent guide on how to pre-order the iPhone 5 the right way, but is pre-ordering the best way to go? Yes, it’s the surest bet. If you pre-order early, you’re guaranteed to get your iPhone 5 on September 21st.

Here’s my dilemma though; my FedEx guy never shows up till 6pm, and during the iPad 3 launch there weren’t any lines at the Apple Store after 11am, so I just walked in and bought the new iPad and was out of the store in five minutes. I’m thinking that might be the case this year with the iPhone 5 too, but demand for the iPhone 5 is going to be higher than it was for the iPad 3. Do you think the lines at stores are going to be lower this year because everyone will pre-order? Which would you choose?

Click here to go to the Cult of Mac Forums and tell us whether you think it’s better to buy from the Apple Store or pre-order.

Why is it that all Apple Store burglars have to have the intellectual capacity of a six year-old hyped up on Mountain Dew? Our latest Apple thief, Equonne R. Howard, decided it’d be a great idea to ram his BMW X-5 through the front glass of the Temecula Apple Store and steal a bunch of Apple products.

What Howard didn’t count on happening, was getting two flat tires in the process, and the drop gate for the store closing. He reversed full speed into the drop gate a couple times and eventually got out, but the dummy’s license plate fell off and he got caught when he went back later to retrieve it. Brilliant! Watch the video below to see his car crashing through the glass:

For a brief moment during yesterday’s keynote, Apple mentioned that along with some new LTE and battery wizardry, they were able to add support for “wideband audio” phone calls. Some tech people are calling it HD Voice, because it’s really just higher quality voicecalls.

The iPhone 5 supports HD Voice, but you’re never going to be able to use it in the U.S. right now, and you probably never will. Why? Well, there are a lot of messy technical details behind it, but here’s the simplest explanation.

We’ve been waiting to hear official word from Apple about when pre-orders for the iPhone 5 will begin, so we can set our alarms for tomorrow morning. Even though Cupertino has been silent on the matter so far, both Sprint and Verizon have confirmed that they will start taking pre-orders for the iPhone 5 at 12:01AM PST.

Apple’s new EarPods have been in development for three years as Apple tried to create the best earphones that fit everyone’s ear. Not only are they supposed to fit everyone’s ear better, but they’re also engineered to have better sound performance than any earphones Apple’s ever made.

The first thing you notice when you see the new EarPods is that they have a very unique shape, along with three little holes poked in them. Why are those holes there? Well, it has everything to do with speaker diaphragm movement and an airtight seal created with your ear canal.

If hand people an iPhone 4S but tell them that it’s the amazing new iPhone 5, will the believe you? Apparently the answer is yes, and they’ll even wax poetic about how its screen is bigger,  has faster performance, and is lighter, even though it’s really not.

It’s the emperor’s iPhone 5 and people absolutely can’t wait to get their hands on it even though there’s nothing different or new about it.

Source: YouTube

Apple didn’t release any side-by-side comparisons of the iPhone 5’s image quality next to the iPhone 4S, and we won’t see direct comparisons until reviews hit the web closer to the iPhone 5 launch date. However, Scott Everett noticed that Apple used a picture of Big Sur in their iPhone 5 photos gallery that was nearly identical to one he took recently with his iPhone 4S, giving us our first direct comparison of image quality.

The teeny-tiny iPod Nano was announced back in September 2010, and its larger screen successor was just announced today. The new iPod Nano is still small and thin, but it also kind of looks like the Nokia Lumia 800 that debuted in October 2011, don’t you think?

Here is a higher-res picture.

Source: Twitter

Oh, Apple. Wasn’t it enough that you subjected us to John Mayer and Coldplay for years? I mean, yeah sure, I guess both of those artists were kind of cool for about 15 minutes, but they weren’t “cool” or “hip” when they played at an Apple keynote, and now instead of making progress with keynote live performances you give us the Foo Fighters?

Don’t get me wrong, I love Dave Grohl. The feisty Nirvana Dave Grohl, who talked shit to Axl Rose and had a wild and unruly nature about him. He was awesome back then. Apple-esque even, in that rebellious sort of way that, even though they’re the biggest tech company in the world, Apple still likes to cast themselves as the rebel going against the mainstream. But having the Foo Fighters play at an Apple event now seems contradictory to Apple’s entire hip and cool image that makes people lust after iPhones and iPads.

You’re probably frothing at the mouth waiting for Apple to upload the video of today’s keynote, right? No? Good. Sitting through two hours of Apple talk is a pretty big commitment when you could do something better, like go outside, or play with a puppy, or eat.

Here’s Apple entire iPhone 5 keynote in pictures so you can still feel like you saw it all:

Cast your votes!

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Apple’s keynote today was long and packed with new products and software. There was a lot of stuff to love, and even somethings that were completely boring. What product are you most excited about that Apple announced today, other than the iPhone 5?

The new iPod Nanos look great, and the iPod Touch is just another reason why digicams are toast. And oh hey, there was that lanyard thing that comes with the iPod Touch that looks really dorky, but I’m sure people might really like it. What are you stoked for? Come chat with us in the forums about all the new stuff you’re excited to play with.

Click here to tell us what you’re most excited about from today’s keynote, over in the Cult of Mac Forums

We figured that Apple was going to charge a stupid amount of money for the Lightning to 30-pin Adapter. We were thinking somewhere between $15-$20, but turns out Apple is going to charge 30 bucks just so your iPhone 5 can have fun with all your old accessories.

It feels like extortion, but maybe the production cost of the adapter is pretty high. Maybe Apple’s charging so much because they don’t want you to buy it so you’ll buy new accessories and cables instead so they’ll make even more money. Maybe we’re overreacting. Who knows?