Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+

The 5.7-inch Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ isn't just a larger version of April's 5.1-inch Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge, but it's close. A tiny upgrade over the smaller model, the Edge+ -- whose screen also curves over on both sides -- adds a shortcut menu to the edge screen for quickly opening apps, in addition to the existing menu for contacting your favorite people.

Otherwise, the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ shares hardware guts with the Samsung Galaxy Note 5, including a strong 16-megapixel camera, 4GB of RAM and an octa-core processor of Samsung's own design (that means it has eight computing chips for completing tasks). Like its brethren, the Note 5, S6 and S6 Edge, the Edge+ shows off a snazzy metal-and-glass construction and loses the removable battery and microSD card slot for add-on data storage -- two points of pride for Samsung prior to its design turnabout in 2015.

The Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+'s presence in Samsung's smartphone quiver is significant because it capitalizes on demand for Samsung's smaller S6 Edge, this time in a larger footprint. Samsung is rapidly pulling ahead of LG in creating curved-screen phones that stand out among typical, blocky rectangular smart phone slabs. For Samsung, the Edge line represents its innovation in creating consumer choice. However, the Edge+ marks the fourth similarly appointed handset released in four months, which could confuse shoppers and dilute the sales of any single Samsung device -- a real problem Samsung faces amid an ongoing sales slide.

Besides its snazzier design, though, the Edge+ lacks the Note 5's signature stylus. That leaves potential buyers having to choose between the Edge+'s inviting curves or the Note 5's scribble-friendly practicality. Maybe next year Samsung can bring those two aspects together into one do-it-all design.

Nevertheless, the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ is a seriously cool-looking phone that belongs in the canon of top smartphones despite its staggering price (see below). Serious buyers who crave those waterfall sides will be rewarded with a large, bright screen unlike most others. For everyone else, there are plenty of other good, large-screen phones out there that you can buy for a lot less.

Design and build

• 5.7-inch display; 2,560x1,440 pixels (518 pixels per inch)
• Metal and glass construction
• 6.1 by 3 by 0.3 inches (154 by 76 by 6.9mm)
• 5.4 ounces (153 grams)

If you're familiar with the Galaxy S6 Edge's curved screen and thin edges, you already know this supersized Edge+'s shapely silhouette. The glass (and display technology underneath) wraps around the left and right edges and meet along the back of the spines.

What's more important than the interesting shape is the fact that the curved sides look beautiful, and seems to make this feel like an entirely different, far more sophisticated, phone than a straight-sided one. The screen seems more immersive than the Note 5's, the curvature pulling you into the action of what's on the display. Maybe it's still some of the novelty, maybe there's a deeper psychology at play. Strangely, the effect is more pronounced on the smaller Edge+, possibly because this phone is personally a little large for my hand.

At any rate, the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ feels slimmer than most at its narrowest part (the middle), but a little inherent sharpness along the sides makes it easy to grip. The comparatively thicker corners round out to help carry through the themes of curviness and physical dimension.

Despite the wraparound sides, the screen measures a full 5.7 inches, all of which is fully usable and viewable (unlike the original Note Edge, which had an always-visible strip of navigation screen that you couldn't turn off). Above the screen, you'll see the 5-megapixel front-facing camera and a cluster of sensors. Below it sits the physical home button and integrated fingerprint reader, with its two touch-sensitive sidekicks, the Recent and Back buttons. Press and hold the home button to launch Google Now.

Flip over the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ to find a smooth, reflective backing and 16-megapixel camera mount, flash and heart-rate reader. The camera module does slightly pucker out, but that's also because the rest of the phone is so thin and flat.

Buttons and ports dot the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+'s metal frame, starting with the power/lock key on the right, the micro-USB charging jack and headset jack down below, volume rocker on the left, and SIM card tray along the top. There's no removable backing (or battery), and no space for a microSD storage card.

What you can do with the edge+ screen

• Android 5.1 Lollipop
• New Apps shortcut
• Customizable position for "edge screen" tab

Those curved sides are fun to look at, but they aren't merely for show. Two previous designs -- 2014's Galaxy Note Edge and the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge from earlier this year -- gave Samsung the chance to experiment with things you can do on a narrow vertical display. It's forced functionality, but one that makes more sense this time than before.

First, let me reiterate that the special display hides from view until you pull it out, so most of the time, you don't see it. When you do want to summon the edge display (which you can now do from any screen, not just the home screen, as was the case with the original Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge), you grab a slim onscreen tab that tastefully lies low on whichever side you put it, and swipe to reveal the full menu.

There are now two revolving screens to swipe through by default. The first is a shortcut hub for five of your go-to contacts. You can see their missed calls and texts, and tap their names to reach them by phone, text or email. Swipe again and a different shortcuts menu appears, this time one you can customize for your favorite apps.

The settings menu also lets you turn on a newsfeed, so you can see various alerts and news headlines in the sidebar as well as through the customary notifications tray up top. The benefit here: the edge screen's longer window lets you see more text, without expanding the alert the way you would with the notifications shade.

Flexibility means you can place this edge display on either left or right sides of the screen, and can now also position its menu-opening tab anywhere along that strip. I put mine near the bottom of the screen to make it easier for my shorter thumbs to grab.

The Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ also keeps one of my favorite secondary features in this curvy family: the night clock that dimly glows from the strip to tell you the date and time.

Get to know the hardware inside

Samsung bestowed the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ and Note 5 with the same internal specs, all laid out below. For full details and camera test, read my Note 5 review.

• 16-megapixel camera
• 5-megapixel front-facing camera
• 4K video resolution
• Samsung Exynos 7 octa-core processor (2.1GHz quad-core, plus 1.5GHz quad-core chips)
• 32GB/64GB storage options
• 4GB of RAM
• 3,000mAh battery (nonremovable)
• No microSD expansion slot
• Wi-Fi: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
• Automated content-syncing to other screens

Do we need a bigger S6 Edge?

The Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge is expensive, and it's that curved screen you're paying for. That already limits buyers, and rightly so. The Edge display, while neat, doesn't offer anything novel or ultraconvenient that you can't live without.

Do we even need a larger S6 Edge version? Sure, why not? But I'm not sure we need it right now alongside the Note 5 and only a few months after releasing the S6 Edge and S6. I see this bigger Edge+ as Samsung's way of trying to turn around a period of slumping sales, especially since it couldn't keep up with Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge demand.

If you're intrigued by a curved-screen phone, the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ has all the hardware you need to take great photos and enjoy viewing videos, pictures and articles on that extra-sharp, clear screen. It's fast and that edge display does give you features you won't find on most phones.

However, if saving money is a priority, and if you couldn't care less about fancy design, skip the Edge+ and shop for something else instead.

There's no shortage of competition for handsets whose screens measure over 5.3 inches, and many are priced a lot better than the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+, creating fierce competition. In this landscape, the curved Edge+ is a novelty.

Apple's iPhone 6 Plus and LG's G4 -- both with 5.5-inch screens -- are the logical comparisons. The G4 shares the Edge+'s Android version and camera and battery specs, though it has a hexa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor (that's six cores, by the way). Unlike the Samsung phone, LG's big phone can boast a removable battery and a microSD card slot that can accommodate cards of up to a mammoth 2TB (terabytes) of data.

Samsung Galaxy Note 5

Samsung Galaxy Note 5 is the smoothest, sleekest stylus-equipped jumbo-screen smartphone that the company has ever made. And it could have been even better.

On the plus side, it's ablaze with slim, shiny, large-screened luster, a strong camera, a retooled stylus and killer battery life. But the Note 5 only incrementally improves upon last year's Note 4, while also sealing in the battery and doing away with the expandable storage slot (there is, however, free cloud storage). These last two omissions could hurt Samsung by opening the door to less expensive rivals, from the likes of LG, HTC and Motorola, which continue to equip devices with removable batteries and/or a storage slot for saving movies, games and apps.

The Note 5, while eye-catching, is also the least distinctive of the Note line. It's still Samsung's only phone for 2015 with a stylus (and a good one at that), but at a glance it looks pretty much the same as the Galaxy S6 Edge+ -- which features a dual curved-edge screen, but otherwise near identical specs. Meanwhile, both the Note 5 and S6 Edge+ are basically supersized versions of the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge models that Samsung debuted back in March.

In essence, the stylus (Samsung calls it the "S Pen") is just about the only thing that makes this device truly different. In contrast, 2014's Note 4 leap-frogged the Galaxy S5's hardware capabilities, even when you took away its S Pen.

This slowdown in the smartphone industry's release of evermore powerful hardware specs doesn't affect Samsung alone, but it does apply extra pressure on a company that's steadily losing ground to its biggest challengers: on the high end, Apple with the "Plus" model, and on the low end, much cheaper, slightly stepped-down "flagship" phone-makers like Motorola (Moto X Pure), Xiaomi (Mi Note Pro) and OnePlus (OnePlus 2).

Still, even if the Note 5 doesn't blow us away with newness, its flaws are few and its stylus makes it a more feature-packed phone than any other large-screen device. Just be prepared to pay.

Design and build

• 5.7-inch display; 2,560x1,440 pixels (518 pixels per inch)
• Metal and glass construction
• 6 by 3 by 0.3 inches (153 by 76 by 7.6mm)
• 6 ounces (171 grams)

Like the Galaxy S6, the Note 5 has straight sides and a flat face, but then it does something interesting. It adds the Edge+'s frontal curves to the back of this phone. From what I can tell holding them side-by-side, the curves look the same. Checking out its profile, these comfortable rear arcs cause the Note 5's top and bottom edges to flare out thicker than its middle. It'll still fill your hand -- this is a large device -- but the overall sensation is still of slimness, especially compared to the relatively bulky Note 4.

Although that AMOLED display still measures 5.7 inches, Samsung has shaved down the Note 5's dimensions, making the handset feel overall sleeker and slimmer than last year's Note 4. That's good news for one-handed phone jockeys, who get the same screen real estate in a more streamlined package. The 2,560x1,440-pixel resolution (515 pixels per inch) holds steady from last year, lending a lot of crisp detail to the screen, possibly even more than we strictly need.

Below the display, the usual two soft keys (recent apps and back) sandwich the physical home button, which also serves as the phone's fingerprint reader and Google Now call-up (press and hold for Google Now, the search giant's voice-command answer to Apple's Siri). You'll find the power/lock button on the right and volume rocker on the left. Along the bottom are the standard micro-USB charger (alas, not USB-C as we had hoped), headset jacks and S Pen holster, with the SIM card tray up top.

On the flipside, you'll see the 16-megapixel camera lens, flash and heart-rate reader. A unibody device, there's no removable backplate or battery and you won't find an expandable storage slot anywhere. Prepare for your smudgy fingerprints to bloom all over that mirrored surface, and keep a micro-fiber cloth nearby.

One last, infuriating thing I've noticed in all these years of testing: that power/lock button on the right likes to turn itself on in my purse's interior phone pocket, leaking battery willy-nilly. I keep hoping Samsung will work this out, but so far no dice.

All-new S Pen stylus

• Click-in holster
• Slightly recessed button
• Way smoother S Note app (with auto-save!)
• Dimensions: 4.4 by 0.2 by 0.1 inches (111 by 5.3 by 3.6mm)

The Note S Pen stylus, which is made of polycarbonate plastic, changes a little bit every year. This time around, the stylus audibly clicks into place inside the Note 5's chute like the crown of a retractable pen. It's kind of fun, but the fit is so snug, you have to really tease it out. The plastic pen has long, flat planes to keep it from rolling away on a tabletop. Its single button slightly recesses from the surface to tone down the mispresses, which I've found common in previous S Pen designs.

Important tip: That S Pen can only be inserted in the holder pointy end first. It is not meant to holster on the non-business end. If you try it, bad things will happen, as some users report when their S Pens got stuck with the square end wedged, possibly irretrievably, deep inside the phone.

The S Pen continues to act as a writing implement, pointer and navigational accomplice. You can use it to pull up a menu dialog box, or photo or video preview when you hover over it with the pen. It also works with those touch-sensitive menu buttons and the physical home button. Dragging and dropping text, and capturing the screen are two other tricks.

Samsung claims that its pen writes a lot better this time around, more fluidly, and with decreased latency times. I didn't notice that, even writing with the same pen and ink "weight" on the Note 5 and Note 4 side by side. I did notice that the 5's S Pen feels a touch lighter, which made for slightly cleaner, easier writing, compared to the Note 4's slightly heavier pen. My handwriting is still barely legible on both.

The S Note app itself is greatly simplified, with extra features tucked into the More menu. You can also download a ton more tools, like a chart helper and an extension pack that includes advanced tricks like a heartier toolbar and shape recognition, handwriting "transformation" and the ability to record sketches.

In the app itself, you can customize everything from the way you select color to the way you save favorite combinations of pen tips and ink thickness. As with previous versions, the pen stays sensitive along the corners of the page, and on-screen controls will momentarily disappear so you can continue to write and draw "below" them.

New features

Compared to 2014's Galaxy Note 4, the new Note 5 has some additional tricks up its sleeve:

Redesigned shortcuts wheel: Called Air Command, this floating icon hangs out on any screen and opens up to reveal a circular menu of most frequently used apps -- say, the S Note app, the browser or your photo gallery. It's always on by default, but you can turn that off in Settings. You can also customize this by adding up to three apps of your choice.

Air Command responds faster these days, which means that if you accidentally click the S Pen button, you can quickly click again to dismiss it without too much interruption. The floating icon doesn't get much in the way, because it only interacts if you tap or click with the S Pen, not your finger.

Instant memo: Called "screen off memo" in the settings, this feature lets you create an "action memo" (more like a sticky note) even when the screen is turned off. One caveat: it works only just after pulling out the S Pen, not if the pen has been out for a while. I like this feature -- it adds to the S Pen's ability to really quickly jot a note. You'll reed to dip into the settings to toggle it on.

PDF writing: Yep, you can now annotate PDFs by handwriting all over them, just as you can do with a screenshot.

Scrolling capture: Instead of taking several screenshots of a long piece of text, the Note 5 will prompt you to capture more of the whole screen. You'll be able to annotate right on the screenshot too, of course.

Android and apps

• Android 5.1 Lollipop
• Easy mode, Private mode
• Two power-saving modes
• Latest S Health app

The Galaxy Note 5 runs Android 5.1 Lollipop, bolstered by Samsung's own TouchWiz layer. That means the phone will be able to tie into Google's wide array of services, such as Google Now, turn-by-turn navigation and access to Google Drive files. But it can also tap into Samsung's own software, all of which customizes the display's look and feel -- like those quick-access toggles in the notifications shade and anything that has to do with the S Pen. Microsoft's One Drive cloud storage app is also onboard.

Alas, while Android 6.0 Marshmallow is just around the corner, its due date to these new Samsung phones is anyone's guess. With the exception of promised monthly security updates, more substantive software updates are on a notoriously slow boat.

In addition, Samsung's apps include Note mainstays like S Note and S Health, though the company has really pulled back on its preloaded apps. You'll find a cornucopia of optional add-ons tucked away in various spots throughout the phone, like Galaxy Gifts and Galaxy Essentials.

A quick skip through the settings menu turns up a whole bushel of extra modes and options, like a simplified home screen (Easy mode) and a vault for photos and files you don't want anyone else to see (Private mode). There are also two levels of battery-saver, several gestures and themes to freshen up the look and feel. You'll even find a user manual.

Likewise, pull down the notifications shade for quick access settings, including a flashlight. You can edit to reorder these. From the home page, swipe right to reveal Flipboard, which you can use to read headline news about your pet topics.

The camera situation

• 16-megapixel camera
• 5-megapixel front-facing camera
• Up to 4K video resolution
• Double-press home button to launch
• Live YouTube streaming

If you look at the megapixel count alone, not much has changed with the Note 5's camera. Samsung has adopted a wider aperture lens (f1.9 instead of the Note 4's f2.2), the same one that's used in the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge. Why is this "good"? A bigger aperture lets in more light, and more light leads to better photos, specifically low-light pictures. The image processing capabilities make a huge difference too, of course, but the bottom line is that the overall photo quality should incrementally improve from the Note 4, and is on par with the S6 and S6 Edge.

What you get with the camera app

The phone also gets a few more editing and shooting modes and guides -- little things, mostly, but these are always fun to discover.

As with the Galaxy S6 and many other phones, the Note 5 here has optical image stabilization (OIS), which will help keep shaking hands from blurring shots, and an array of modes and tools. There's auto-HDR right on the screen (this helps keep photos looking true to life) and panorama and selective focus as separate modes within.

Brand new is a live broadcasting feature that lets you record to YouTube. There's intentionally a 30-second delay between when you start recording and when the footage hits YouTube. This is essentially Samsung and YouTube's take on Twitter's Periscope tool. (The live broadcast feature is appearing first on the Note 5 and S6 Edge+, and is currently exclusive to those phones -- though how long that will last is anyone's guess.)

What else is new? Tap to focus and an exposure control appears that lets you slide to brighten or darken the scene. Take a photo in Pro mode, and you'll have the option to save it as a raw file, one that the phone hasn't automatically processed, say into a JPEG format, first. This option gives photographers much more post-processing control. You can record a collage of four 6-second videos, to which you can add background music and share, share away (the file saves as a 720p MP4). If you're hungry for more modes (like the rear-cam selfie shot), it's easy to download more from the camera app.

New in the features-packed editor is a way to create an animated GIF, which can be a fun way to make use of a series of shots, like a developing look of surprise or an action sequence. The Note 5 also lets you annotate photos by writing on them (not an option on the Edge+).

Image quality

So, how does the camera do? What I wanted were clearer, brighter, low-light photos and night shots in addition to all those juicy, saturated daytime images. That's mostly what I got, though the Note 5 still struggled with an automated night mode that robbed the downtown New York skyline of its high-contrast drama and turned it into low-contrast mush compared with real life. A few other indoor scenes also came out a little soft, while well-lit scenes stayed crisp.

And now for photos! Most were taken in automatic mode (which sometimes kicked on HDR or night mode), with the noted exception of a manually focused macro shot using Pro Mode (I miss the automatically focusing macros).

Apple iPhone 6s spec

Apple just announced the iPhone 6s and... it's pretty much exactly what we expected. Staying true to tradition, the iPhone 6s looks practically indistinguishable from last year's device (there's a new iPhone 6s Plus as well). It's built out of the same 7000 series aluminum as the Apple Watch Sport (which should allay bending fears), and it includes an even stronger glass display. The iPhone 6s also brings over the Watch's "Force Touch" feature, except now it's called "3D Touch." It allows you to press down on the screen to open up new options throughout iOS 9, and it offers a bit of tactile feedback as well thanks to a revamped "Taptic Engine."

In the Mail app, for example, you can hold down on a message for a quick preview, or you can peek at directions in Maps by holding down your finger. Third-party apps like Facebook and Dropbox are already taking advantage of 3D Touch, and we also caught a glimpse of it in an upcoming game called Freeblade. Basically, it's a feature that has the potential to fundamentally change how we interact with iPhones.

Under the hood, the iPhone 6s is powered by Apple's new A9 processor, which it says is 70 percent faster than the A8 at CPU tasks and 90 percent faster at graphics work. The new chip also has an upgraded M9 motion co-processor built right on (before it was a separate chip), and this time it's always on. There's also a second-gen Touch ID fingerprint sensor, which should be faster and more accurate than the last model.

Apple also upgraded the camera to a new 12-megapixel shooter, which marketing head Phil Schiller says packs in 50 percent more pixels than the last camera. All those pixels should make for far more detailed photos -- at least, judging from the shots Apple showed off. And yes, as we expected, the new camera can shoot 4K video (good luck shooting that on the entry model's piddly 16GB of storage). The iPhone 6s front-facing camera also got a few upgrades: It's now using a 5MP sensor, and it has a selfie-flash capability that lights up the phone's screen briefly.

3D Touch also makes its way into photos: A new "Live Photos" feature lets you hold down on pictures to play video clips. It looks like the phone is basically shooting a bit of video every time you take a shot, similar to the way HTC's Zoe feature worked. You can also set a Live Photo as your home screen on the Apple Watch. Third-party developers will be able to take advantage of the feature, too -- Apple says Facebook has a Live Photos-capable app coming later this year.

Pricing-wise, there aren't any surprises. The iPhone 6s starts at $199 on-contract for the 16GB model, with 64GB and 128GB options available for $299 and $399, respectively. Pre-orders begin this Saturday, September 12th, and it'll be available starting on September 25th. The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, meanwhile, get discounted by $100. It's a shame to see Apple stick with a 16GB entry model when Android phone makers have been squeezing in 32GB of storage for a while now. Basically, it just makes many people upgrade to the 64GB model, which means better margins for Apple, but a worse user experience for people stuck with only 16GB.

Apple also announced a new iPhone Upgrade Program, which allows you to get an unlocked iPhone every year starting at about $32 a month. That price also includes Apple Care, which might make it a better deal than signing another contract or paying monthly installment fees to your carrier.

As with all of the "S" iPhone models, the 6s is more about refinement than massive design leaps. It's not exactly a device meant to entice existing iPhone 6 owners; instead it's meant more for people stuck with older iPhones, or those whose cellphone contracts didn't allow them to upgrade over the past year. And for those who've waited, it looks to be worth it.

The New iPhone 6S

SAN FRANCISCO — As it nears a size and scope never before approached by a technology company, Apple is doing things its executives said it never would.

Apple’s co-founder, Steven P. Jobs, once announced that using a stylus with a computing device was passé. But guess what? The company is now offering a stylus, called Apple Pencil, for $100.

And in a move sure to make Apple old-timers squirm, the newest version of the iPad, which has an optional keyboard that attaches to the tablet, is even imitating some of the features of Microsoft’s competing product, called the Surface.

Together, the tablet, stylus and keyboard make for a combination computing device that Apple executives had long said that they wouldn’t create, perhaps indicating the people running the company today are willing to forget about the past as they try to cater to shifting consumer tastes.

But the center of this ever-expanding Silicon Valley giant is still the iPhone, which accounts for 56 percent of Apple’s profits. And in a presentation that lasted more than two hours on Wednesday at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium here, Apple executives emphasized several new iPhone features that — despite other announcements, ranging from an improved version of the company’s television controller to chic watchbands — are still the key to Apple’s success.

“Investors have been rewarded by assuming Apple can continually push the envelope on what a phone and the company can do,” said Michael A. Sansoterra, the chief investment officer at Silvant Capital Management, which owns Apple stock.

Because of the first iteration of the larger-screen iPhone 6 introduced last year, Apple’s fourth quarter of fiscal 2014, when the company had an $18 billion profit, was the most profitable quarter ever for a publicly traded company.

But meeting expectations is becoming a bigger challenge. In its most recent quarter, Apple posted quarterly revenue of $49.6 billion and a $10.7 billion profit; iPhone revenue was up 59 percent from the previous year. But those results still fell short of Wall Street estimates, and Apple’s share price tumbled 4 percent in the following day of trading.

Apple will hit this holiday shopping season with the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, which include an upgraded, 12-megapixel camera and a new capability called 3D Touch. It can sense how hard a user is pressing a button, allowing for easier access to different menus and information. It also gives users tactile feedback when they touch their screens. Pressure-sensitive touch screens are already available on the Apple Watch and in the trackpad of the new MacBook.

The new iPhones will also come in a rose-gold finish, with a new glass that the company describes as the strongest in the industry.

The phone’s touch ID sensor has been upgraded, and the phone will feature iOS 9, the newest version of Apple’s mobile operating system.

The new iPhone 6S will cost $200, and the iPhone 6S Plus will cost $300 with a phone contract. Prices for previous versions of the iPhone will drop by $100.

Apple introduced its own payment plan. Starting at $32 a month, customers can upgrade their phones every year if they buy them through Apple. The new phones will be available in 12 countries, including the United States, on Sept. 25. They will be available to order starting Sept. 12.

But as was clear in the presentation on Wednesday, Apple is aggressively courting customers with other product lines as it competes with competitors like Microsoft, Samsung and Google to become the centerpiece of Internet-connected home entertainment systems.

“Apple gets a lot of credit for being innovators, but it’s about how they execute and improve on what already exists,” said Tuong Huy Nguyen, a Gartner analyst. “Everyone uses the same ingredients, but a great chef can use them to make a better meal.”

The makeover of the iPad is reminiscent of Apple’s decision last year to introduce the larger-screen phones, a move that many also had said the company would never make.

Timothy D. Cook, Apple’s chief executive, called the new iPad Pro “the most capable” tablet the company has ever created. With a larger screen and optional keyboard, it becomes a device that is meant to be useful for both the creation and consumption of content.

“It makes sense for Apple to reveal a new keyboard along with new, larger-screen iPads with faster processors,” said Toni Sacconaghi, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein. “The message being that Apple is trying to push the iPad to be more of a PC replacement, a converged device of a tablet notebook that has broader computing powers.”

But starting at $800 (not including the optional $170 keyboard and the $100 stylus), it is much more expensive than earlier iPads.

Mr. Sacconaghi added that Apple had long rejected the idea that it would create such a device, but now some of the pieces are in place. The new iPad runs Microsoft Office software and has a faster processor so it can handle more complex computing tasks.

Mr. Cook also presented a new, enhanced Apple TV, which represents the company’s most ambitious effort yet to become the focal point of home entertainment systems. Apple TV already streams videos and music. Now it is set to offer video games, shopping and travel tools through an expanded array of apps.

“Our vision for TV is simple,” Mr. Cook said. “We believe the future of television is apps.”

The new version of Apple TV also includes a remote control that could be used as a video game controller. The product now comes with a higher price tag that starts at $150, up from $70, indicating that the company is betting that consumers will think all of the new features are worth the higher price.

Jeff Williams, Apple’s senior vice president of operations, also talked about improvements to the Apple Watch, including a number of new apps like Facebook Messenger and AirStrip, a health care app that lets doctors coordinate patient care and monitor health data.

Drawing all of these devices together is Apple’s voice assistant technology, called Siri, with improved search capabilities that were prominently displayed throughout the event, especially on the new Apple TV.

“The market will decide whether it’s a good idea for Apple to do things that it has said it wouldn’t or that people don’t think it should,” said Mr. Nguyen. “So far the market has liked it.”


Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/10/technology/apple-tv-iphone-6s.html

Apple Watch: Everything you need to know

The Apple Watch is well and truly with us, with a staggering 7 million units reportedly sold or ordered already.

The Apple Watch represents the first new product category from the Cupertino company in over four years and, with watchOS 2 already announced, is clearly one Apple wants to evolve quickly.

The definitive round up: The best Apple Watch apps

We've rounded up all the aspects of this landmark device, diving deep into every feature and everything you need to know about ordering and buying Apple's smartwatch.


Unlike every other Apple product launch in recent history, queuing outside the store will get you no-where...for now, at least

You can go and try one on in store, by booking an appointment using the Concierge service. It's worth doing, because the Watch is a lot smaller in real life than the pictures, and with so many combinations of bands, it's well worth taking the time to look in-store.

Apple has revealed, however, that by late-June you should be able to go in the store and buy one and that anyone who pre-ordered in May should be getting their smartwatch delivered anytime soon.

There are two sizes

The most fancied smartwatches of late have been those with round faces but the Apple Watch is square with rounded corners. You can get it in two sizes - 38mm or 42mm from the top of the face to the bottom - and, although it's not been mentioned specifically, it's basically a case of one for men and one for women.

The resolutions of the two Apple Watch models was confirmed with the company stating the pixel counts with the release of the new WatchKit software.

For the the larger 42mm version it's 390 x 312 pixels and for the smaller Apple Watch, the 38mm one, you're looking at a 340 x 272 resolution.

Those 38 and 42mm sizes are not the diagonal of the display area; they refer to the height size of the cases (as confirmed by Apple here) so calculating the pixel density of the Watch's Retina display isn't straightforward. Just trust us that it's 302ppi for the bigger one and 290ppi for the smaller one.

Hardware specifics

As usual, Apple's kept the lid on much of its Watch's specs, which means we're frustrated by lack of solid information about the innards of Apple's latest must-have device.

However, we do know that the Apple Watch will run a totally new chip, which the company is calling the S1. Apple uses Samsung built ARM-based chips for the iPhone range, and its Korean rival is said to behind the RAM and NAND flash storage, and the assembly itself, for the Apple Watch's System in Package (SiP). Reports have suggested the processor is similar to the A5 silicone used in the iPhone 4S.

Wearables are all about sensors, and the Apple Watch has a gyroscope and accelerometer to track your movements, for the health tracking.

We've also recently found out that the Watch has 8GB of storage with 2GB set aside for music.

There's apps galore

Devs have been working on Apple Watch apps since November 2014 thanks to the WatchKit API.

Standalone apps weren't available for developers at launch though - it's simply iPhone extensions for the time being. However, there are over 3,000 apps already, with some estimates saying that could rise to 100,000 very quickly.

Apple Watch everything you need to know

At WWDC 2015, Apple revealed that native apps will be arriving on the Apple Watch with watchOS 2.

CEO Tim Cook described the move as "a giant moment" for the company and stated developers now have the means to "create new applications to change people's lives".

The new platform moves the App Logic directly to the Watch. This means standalone apps that work independently of iOS devices.

These apps can operate on their own, tapping into known Wi-Fi networks and developers have access to the likes of HealthKit, hardware like the accelerometer and controls like Digital Crown.

Don't forget Siri

Every manufacturer loves a little voice recognition in its smartwatch, even if if the public remains unconvinced, and Apple is no exception. You can use the concierge service to dictate messages, find places on a map and check your calendar too.

When the big software update arrives later this year you'll be able to use Siri to reply to emails with smart replies, emojis - like Android Wear - and voice dictation. As an aside, Siri will also be able to pull up Glances.

Apple Watch models in details

At the heart of Apple Watch, standard edition, is a stainless steel case either finished in a polished metal look or a space black. There are three different leather bands, a link bracelet and a woven metal strap called a Milanese loop plus one made from high-performance fluoroelastomer.

The leather straps are from a French tannery called the Modern Buckle, a ribbed design called the Leather Loop or the Classic Buckle. Each come with a small set of colour options.

As for that rather high-tech sounding variant, that's the Sport Band which is designed to be durable but soft and light. It's bright white or black. For fastening, you're either looking at a standard buckle or a magnetic clasp.

Prices for this edition are from $549, right up to $1,000+ .

Apple Watch Sport

The Sport version is characterised by a lightweight, anodized aluminium in either silver or space gray finish. Instead of the sapphire crystal front, though, it's strengthened by Ion-X glass. What you end up with is an Apple Watch that's 30% lighter than the stainless steel models.

In keeping with that ideal, the straps are made of fluoroelastomer and come in either white, blue, green, pink and black with a pin mechanism to keep them closed.

This is the cheapest Apple Watch with $349 getting you the 38mm model. It's $399 for the bigger ones.

Apple Watch Edition

As the name suggests, the Watch Edition is the luxury end of things. If you want one of these, expect to pay top whack. There are six to choose from with each based around an 18-karat gold case that the company claims is twice as hard as standard gold. We're also back to the polished sapphire crystal on the top.

There's a yellow gold with bright red strap in the 38mm size, a rose gold with white sport band in both sizes, a rose gold with rose grey strap in 38mm, a yellow gold with black sport band in 42mm and a yellow gold with midnight blue strap in 42mm. If you want a better idea of what all that looks like, then take a look at our dedicated Apple Watch styles piece.

At $10,000 a pop, this isn't going to be the biggest selling category.

It can do phone notifications...

You'll get all the notifications you'd expect with SMS, email, phone calls, Twitter and Facebook all featured.

With messaging, you can reply using several template responses, rather than accessing some kind of keyboard, but the system is smart/nosey enough to analyse your SMS and include any custom reply options that it thinks you might need. Another choice is to dictate a message back which can either be sent as an audio file or transcribed by the watch. Finally on messages, there's also some serious graphical intrigue with the use of customisable emojis and pictorial hand-gestures as communications that you can send back to your mates.

Phone calls can be full voice using the watch's waterproof speaker and email can either be opened direct on your phone or flagged for reply at a later date. Again, no on-screen keyboard to fiddle with. Wi-Fi takes over instead of Bluetooth for taking calls at home, which is a nice touch.

...read your heart rate...

Optical heart rate monitors are just the ticket for wearables that intend to be used for sports. Apple's stuck one into the back of its watch and it uses infrared and standard LEDs to measure your capillary blood flow and detect your pulse. That's the good news.

But it doesn't have GPS

And that's the bad news. Apple says that Watch uses the Wi-Fi and GPS information from your phone. On the one hand, that saves on battery life and bulk. On the other, you're going to have to go running with your mobile on you if you want to get proper metrics. That's not the future.

Digital Touch is the new Facetime

One of the most novel features of Watch is the Digital Touch idea. It's a person to person way of communicating to other Apple wearable wearers. You can sketch images, use it like a voice walkie-talkie, send a simple tap to let people know you're thinking of them or even make them feel your actual heartbeat vibrating on their wrist.

It might sound a little strange but these things can take off. Don't knock it 'til you've tried it.

But it's still all about fitness

Fitness tracking is obviously an enormous part of the Apple Watch proposition and the company has split the offering into two main areas. The first is the Activity App. It's about health, movement, wellness and your daily routine rather than sports features, and there are three main areas within that. Each of them is based around filling up a coloured ring graphic throughout the course of each 24 hours. Complete the circle and you've hit your target.

The Move ring show how many calories you've burned and it'll suggest a new goal based on your history. Exercise fills up when you do any kind of activity at about the level of a brisk walk or beyond. About 30 minutes of that each day will see you right. Finally, there's Stand. If you're getting slothful, Watch tells you to get up. If you can manage one minute's standing in 12 different hours of your day, then you win.

Apple Workout app

Running, cycling and walking are what the Workout App tracks with, sadly, no mention of swimming or anything else for the time being. It plugs the GPS information from your mobile into data from the on-board accelerometer and heart-rate sensors to give you all the time, distance and pacing metrics you'll need. It will recommend goals for the day, words of encouragement during your sessions and detailed stats on milestones and achievements.

All of that, plus the data from the Activity App, is then collated on your iPhone using the Health app. Everything in there can then be joined up with whatever your favourite fitness plan of choice is.

While all of this looks amazing graphically, we suspect that current sports watch users will need a lot more to make them want to convert.

...and paying for stuff

Apple Pay is an NFC contactless payment system introduced with the iPhone 6. It leverages all those loyalty, credit and debit card numbers that Apple users have been keeping tucked away in the Passbook app to process cash transfer just by waving your device in front of a reader in one of hundreds of thousands of locations in the US.

Apple Pay is set to work just the same with Apple Watch. You'll need to double click the button on the side, wave your wrist and then you get a buzz to confirm that it's all gone through.

Apple Pay is coming to the UK in July and it's also getting some new features later this year. Loyalty cards and store-issued credit and debit cards are stored in the renamed Wallet, and there's also a new security feature called Activation Lock which lets you add your Apple ID as an extra security measure.

It charges with another proprietary cable

The battery life mystery was finally solved at the 9 March Apple Watch event - the Apple wearable will require a daily charge with Tim Cook revealing an "all day" battery life of around 18 hours.

The charging cable is a MagSafe one and, although we bemoan the lack of a regular Micro USB, Apple isn't unique in offering a proprietary charging solution for a smartwatch.

The battery size has been confirmed as just 205mAh, which is underwhelming to say the least.

You don't need a brand new iPhone

While you do need an iPhone to use Apple Watch, it doesn't have to be the iPhone 6 or 6 Plus. In fact, it doesn't even have to be the generation before either. Anything from the iPhone 5 onwards will do the trick. So, that's the 5, 5c, 5s, 6 and 6 Plus. That could have been a lot worse. The advantage, of course, to Apple is that there's already over 200 million potential customers out there.

watchOS 2 is coming later this year

As well as detailing the new native apps for Apple Watch, Apple also revealed that watchOS 2 adds a wealth of new users including Photo face, Photo Album face and TimeLapse face; all of which allow you to customise your smartwatch's watch face with your own images.

Complications have also been revamped, adding extra widgets to the Watch's face and a new function, called TimeTravel, lets you rotate through your day with the Digital Crown – seeing things like the temperature and appointments change as the day goes on.

Another neat new feature is the Nightstand mode, for when the Watch is charging. With a landscape display, it looks a lot like an alarm clock. The Apple Watch's physical buttons even act as snooze and off buttons.

The platform is available in developer beta now and will launch across all Apple Watch devices properly in the fall.

Full Specification of Apple Watch 2015:

Processor          Apple S1 (System in Package)
OS               Watch OS (As we called iOS for iPhone, iPad and iPod)
Display Property     Retina 326 dpi,
                272 x 340 pixels, 21.2 x 26.5
                312 x 390 Pixels, 24.3 x 30.5
Sound             High tech Speaker (Best sound quality)
Apple Watch Dimension 1.50 x 1.28 x 0.50 in
Charging functions    Charger port on MagSafe technology powered by Apple inc
Connectivity        Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1 and NFC
Compatible devices iPhone 5, iPhone 5C, iPhone 5S and iPhone 6 and 6 plus                   running on iOS 8
Used by Sensor       Barometer, Hart rate sensor, Accelerometer

Navigation

• Capacitive touch (tap, swipe)
• Force touch (press)
• Digital crown (scroll, zoom, home, time, accessibility, Siri)
• Button (Friends, Apple Pay, power)

Sensors

• Ambient light
• Accelerometer
• Gyroscope
• Heart rate

Battery life

• 18 hours
• 3 hours talk time
• 6.5 hours audio playback
• 6.5 hours workout use
• 48 hours time check
• 72 hours power reserve (time only)

Inductive charging time

• 1.5 hours to 80%
• 2.5 hours to 100%

Processors

• Apple S1 computer-on-a-chip

Storage

• 8 GB total
• 2 GB for music
• 75 MB for photos

Collections

• Apple Watch Sport (7000 Series aluminum or anodized aluminum with ion-x glass)
• Apple Watch (316L stainless steel or diamond-like carbon coated stainless steel with sapphire crystal)
• Apple Watch Edition (18 karat yellow or rose gold with sapphire crystal)

Samsung Galaxy S5

Samsung had launched its new smartphone Galaxy S5 at MWC Barcelona. It is unknown for Samsung Galaxy S5 actual release date yet, however it is expected to be April. Galaxy S5 price still kept in secret yet.

SAMSUNG GALAXY S5 SCREEN SIZE AND RESOLUTION

SAMSUNG GALAXY S5 is a 5.1in screen with a Full HD (1,920x1,080) resolution. SAMSUNG GALAXY S5 is a little larger than on the Samsung Galaxy S4, which had a 4.99in display, both the resolution are same.

Despite the slightly larger screen, Samsung only increase the size of the Galaxy S5 slightly and it measures 142x72.5x8.1mm and weighs 145g compares to the Galaxy S4, which measures 136.6x69.8x7.9mm and weighs 130g.

SAMSUNG GALAXY S5 DESIGN

Samsung Galaxy S5 doesn't look a big different to its predecessor Galaxy S4. Its core material still plastic, with a ridged metal-effect band running round the side. The rear has a dimpled back.

SAMSUNG GALAXY S5 FINGERPRINT SENSOR

Samsung Galaxy S5 has fingerprint sensor built into the Home Button as predicted, rival with the TouchID scanner in the Apple iPhone 5S. As standard usage and expectation, Samsung's fingerfrint scanner can be used to unlock the phone with a finger swipe.The fingerprint reader can also be used to secure and unlock private storage on the phone, so you can lock down images you wish to keep especially private. 

Online payment processor, Paypal is supported and can be used to authenticate by Galaxy S5 fingerprint sensor.

SAMSUNG GALAXY S5 PROCESSOR

2.5GHz quad-core processor is used for the Galaxy S5.The S5 completed the Sunspider JavaScript benchmark in just 408ms, which makes the S5 not only by far the fastest Android phone we've seen, but the fastest phone of any type.

SAMSUNG GALAXY S5 CAMERA

As market predicted, Samsung has upped the camera sensor from the 13 megapixel in the Galaxy S4 to a 16 megapixel for the Galaxy S5. Samsung has worked on improving the user camera experience.

For starters, Samsung is claiming that the Galaxy S5's camera has the world's fastest autofocus speed of up to 0.3 seconds. For anyone that's tried to take a quick photo from a smartphone only to have the focus hunt for a lock, this could be a real boon. Next thing is Selective Focus mode, which lets you focus on a specific area of the frame, blurring everything else out. It should allow for some neat depth-of-field effects.

In video mode the camera can shoot Ultra HD 4K (3,840x2,160) video at 30fps. That's really impressive for a camera, although you're going to need a large memory card to shoot a lot of video. Fortunately, there's a microSD card slot, which can take cards up to 128GB in size.

SAMSUNG GALAXY S5 BATTERY

Samsung has upped the battery in the Galaxy S5 from the 2,600mAh model in the Galaxy S4 to a 2,800mAh. It is expected the battery life to be the same as Galaxy S4, given that the larger size of Galaxy S5. However, Samsung has a new power-saving mode. This switches the phone's screen to black and white mode, shutting down all unnecessary features to minimize battery consumption

SAMSUNG GALAXY S5 4G LTE AND WI-FI

Samsung has upgraded the wireless connectivity technology for Galaxy S5. With the category 4 LTE, Galaxy S5 will be compatible with more networks. When 4G network become more common, this could be very useful. Wi-Fi has been upgraded to 80.11ac with 2x2 MIMO. 

SAMSUNG GALAXY S5 FITNESS

Fitness was going to be a big part of the Samsung Galaxy S5. With the new version of Samsung's fitness tracking app, S Health 3.0, the phone now has a built-in heart rate monitor.

Microsoft Buy Over Nokia

Microsoft will buy Nokia handset business for 5.44 billion euro . Nokia once the handset market dominator decides to exit handset business. It is the chance for Microsoft the maker of Windows moves into hardware to boost growth.

Microsoft will pay 3.79 billion euros for the devices unit and 1.65 billion euros for its patents under the deal, the Finnish company said in a statement. It is a win-win situation for both companies 's employees, shareholders and consumers, said Microsoft CEO in a statement.

The acquisition news push up the Nokia shares by 38 % higher in early trading.  Nokia investors are welcome the deal and its price. Nokia is dealing with cash flow challenge causing by weaker demand. Nokia is losing its battle with its competitor Apple and Samsung. Its handset market share is keep dropping over the past few years and lost more than 5 billion euros in 9 quarters.

Microsoft has try to stay relevant to consumers market as consumers shift their behavior from using its Windows personal computers to mobile devices.  Global mobile devices demand is doubling every years and its demands still keep going up while personal computer sales drop year over year. With the ease of Internet, communication and multiple choices of applications in the mobile devices like smartphones, tablet and phablet is gradually replacing personal computer either laptop or desktop.