Apple blogger Steve Sande discusses new iPhones with ksl.com


Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

SALT LAKE CITY — As Apple fans get ready for Friday’s release of the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c, there are a lot of questions floating around about what to expect, which iPhone is right for you, and how to take advantage of the new features being packaged with the latest Apple hardware.

To help, ksl.com caught up with Steve Sande, features editor for The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW.com) and author of multiple books on Apple tech, including “Talking to Siri: Learning the Language of Apple’s Intelligent Assistant” and a soon-to-be-released book on iOS7.

“The 5s is truly the next level, the next leap,” Sande said of Apple’s premium iPhone model.

While the iPhone 5c is basically a colorful redesign of the earlier iPhone 5, the 5s will be the first 64-bit smartphone in the world and one capable of implementing a significant advancement in fingerprint touch ID. Sande explained that while these upgrades are attractive, there are additional hardware upgrades he can’t wait to try out as well.

Related:

“One of the things people love smartphones for is photography. What Apple’s done with this new device coming out on Friday, is just amazing. They have a new feature called true tone flash, and it’s the first flash on any smartphone camera — I don’t even know if they have this on the Canon or Nikon point-and-shoots — but it actually adjusts for the ambient light color to make skin-tones look accurate. So now, if you’re taking pictures of a person under fluorescent lights, and you’re getting that blueish color, it’s going to know it needs to add a bit more yellow or pink into the flash to make the skin tones look correct. That’s absolutely amazing.”

Another new feature, while not unique to iPhones, also caught Sande’s attention:

“iPhone 5s also has this 120 frames per second slow motion video format. Having a device that can take 120 fps video (720P) is absolutely amazing. There aren’t many professional cameras that can do that, but now you have a pocket device that can capture this wonderful slow-motion video. “

Several early reviews for the phone have repeatedly mentioned that its strength lies in its potential. Few apps are ready to take on the phone’s 64-bit potential, and one of the most significant upgrades, the M7 motion sensing coprocessor, is really waiting for the software to support its capabilities.


This is the first smartphone with a motion coprocessor built in which can not only determine where the phone is, but how fast it's moving and how it's oriented. We're hearing from some software vendors saying they'll write in exercise tracking capabilities and make things like the Nike fuel band obsolete because you already carry your phone with you — why do you need to buy another device?

–Steve Sande


“This is the first smartphone with a motion coprocessor built in which can not only determine where the phone is, but how fast it’s moving and how it’s oriented,” said Sande. “We’re hearing from some software vendors saying they’ll write in exercise tracking capabilities and make things like the Nike fuel band obsolete because you already carry your phone with you — why do you need to buy another device?”

Sande pointed out that the new 5s tech definitely isn’t for everyone, and if you’re someone who doesn’t need fingerprint scanners, fancy cameras or a device that knows exactly what angle you’re positioned at, the 5c is an excellent and colorful choice.

“The real difference between the 5c and the 5s is the 5c really has a good entry price. If you look at a 2-year contract with most carriers in the U.S., you’re looking at $99 for a 16-gigabyte phone.”

If you’re not interested in upgrading new hardware at all, but use an iPhone later than the 4s, there are still a slew of new, free software features ready to be explored this weekend.

With the release of iOS7, which can be accessed through the latest release of iTunes (11.1) or through the software update option on your iPhone, a beautifully redesigned interface awaits you with iTunes radio, AirDrop, and a much smarter personal assistant in both the new male and female versions of Siri.

“I used Siri the other day for my mom’s birthday," said Sande. "We were going to go to Shanahan’s Steakhouse for dinner and I just told Siri, ‘Make reservations at Shanahan’s for 5 people at 4 p.m. on Sunday’ and it just came up and I made the reservations."


Travis has been covering movie news and film reviews for Deseret News and KSL.com since 2010, and continues to contribute coverage for film festivals and other live events in Utah. You can contact Travis at tspoppleton@gmail.com.

Related stories

Most recent Science stories

Related topics

Science
Travis Poppleton

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast