Apple earlier today unveiled a major redesign for the Music app as part of iOS 10. We reported earlier this year on many of the changes, but now we’ve had the chance to get our hands on the redesign in all of its glory. The Music app in iOS 10 brings a host of changes, many of them visual, but also a few new features as well.
Apple and its retail chief Angela Ahrendts today previewed the company’s brand new San Francisco retail store at Union Square ahead of an official grand opening this weekend.
“Fifteen years ago today Apple opened its first two stores and we’re thrilled to mark the occasion with the opening of Apple Union Square in San Francisco,” said Angela Ahrendts, Apple’s senior vice president of Retail and Online Stores. “We are not just evolving our store design, but its purpose and greater role in the community as we educate and entertain visitors and serve our network of local entrepreneurs.”
The images above and below were shared online today by @harrymcracken, @panzer and others attending the preview event for press. The new store features a number of new design elements, including changes to the layout for its Genius Bar that will be known as “Genius Grove” at the new store, and a number of new specialized areas throughout.
Apple’s iPhone 6c, set to be the first iPhone ever released in the Spring, has got the die-hard 4-inch iPhone fans excited for a return to the smaller form factor smartphone. From what we’ve heard, the iPhone 6c may have new colors that resemble an iPod Touch as much as it’s said to resemble the current crop of iPhones in terms of the physical design. This mockup imagines what the iPhone 6c would look like with iPod and iPhone colors, rounded edges and iPhone 6/s design.
A recent report from KGI anticipates an A9 processor, 16GB of storage, NFC, Touch ID, and 2GB of RAM internally, which will make it extremely fast, especially with the fewer amount of pixels to push compared to Apple’s larger iPhones. Many, including China Times, expected the iPhone 6C to be released last year, but KGI also was the first to suggest a H1 2016 launch.
A series of Chinese reports noted that a larger 1,642mAh battery is in the cards for the 6C– an upgrade from the battery in the 5s– but support for 3D Touch is likely not. That’s a feature Apple will likely want to reserve as a highlight feature of its flagship handsets for some time. And the reports again suggested that the 6c will get Touch ID and an NFC chip to support Apple Pay.
Our Mark Gurman exclusively reported that Apple would be having a March 2015 event where Apple Watch 2 would be revealed and an iPhone 6c would be a likely second billing.
We don’t expect the iPhone 6c to have an OLED display, though it seems like Apple is moving in that direction on its flagships.
(Head below for the full gallery put together built by our friend Ferry Passchier)
iPad Pro officially launched last week to the public after initially being announced back in September. The device launched in Apple’s standard trio of color choices, as well: silver, gold, and Space Gray. As with all Apple products, the Touch ID ring found on the Space Gray model is black, while the ring is gold on the gold model and silver on the silver model, just like you’d expect. At least one user, however, has received an iPad Pro with a different color combination…
There has been a lot of opinions floating around about the new iPhone 6s camera, its upgraded 12 megapixel sensor, 4K video capability, and the other software side improvements with iOS 9. Our own photographer Ben Lovejoy put the device to the test in his ongoing diary series. But this latest photo gallery from the people behind the Camera+ app gives us a look at how the camera has improved not just over last generation, but also over all other previous generations of iPhones in a side by side comparison.
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While the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus aren’t supposed to start arriving to pre-order customers until this Friday, at least one lucky AT&T customer got a surprise today. A Twitter user by the name of @MoonshineDesign based in San Diego today received her iPhone 6s in the new Rose Gold color variant. According to her tweets, she ordered the device through AT&T.
How does the upgraded camera on the iPhone 6s Plus perform under real-world conditions? Today we get our best look yet thanks to a photo gallery of a recent MLB game shot by photographer Brad Mangin for Sports Illustrated.
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It was announced last week that Apple CEO Tim Cook would appear on CBS’s The Late Show and now the Apple executive has arrived in New York City for the show. As seen in a variety of images shared on Twitter, Cook today made an appearance at the Fifth Avenue Apple Store. While at the store, Cook mingled and took selfies with customers, essentially causing chaos in the packed retail store. Apple executive Eddy Cue also was at the store today.
Photos shot by a 9to5Mac reader show the most recent look at Apple’s new Campus 2 headquarters from the ground level. While we’ve seen a plethora of drone and ariel videos and pictures, images from the ground have been a bit more scarce. Back in February, Apple provided us with a “sneak peek” at Campus 2, but obviously a lot has changed since then…
Recently, we discovered that Apple was in the process of revamping its third-party accessory packaging within retail stores. As reported by our own Mark Gurman, Apple has been working on this co-designed packaging with accessory makers for the past six months and now it’s finally hitting store shelves…
Apple earlier today pushed iOS 9 beta 3 to developers, and this build includes the company’s new News app. The app was unveiled back at WWDC last month, but was not included in the first two beta builds of iOS 9. News is designed with a Flipboard-like magazine interface with large images and minimalistic appearance.
During its WWDC keynote this morning, Apple announced new “Slide Over” and side-by-side features that allow users to run two iPad apps in a single window. The features, which we originally reported on more than a year ago, are similar to a feature also available in the latest Mac operating system, OS X El Capitan.
As the Apple Watch slowly starts arriving to customers, the folks at iFixit have gotten their hands on the device and have started the teardown process. As usual, the site has shared detailed images of the teardown process and anecdotes along the way.
Although the US will not receive their watches for a few more hours yet due to timezone discrepancies, some international customers have already taken delivery of their Apple Watch orders. For instance, some customers in Australia are now receiving their Watches, such as the one pictured above.
The image also clearly shows the packaging for the Apple Watch Sport finally. Unlike the gold Edition and stainless Watch models, the Sport is shipped in an elongated skinny rectangle with the Watch laid flat across the box.
More photos after the break …
With the release of the first developer beta of iOS 8.4 this evening, Apple gave us the first look at the oft-rumored redesign of the Music app. With the expected announcement of Apple’s streaming music service happening in June, the Music app redesign has been expected for several months now. The newly introduced Music app offers a handful of new features in the first beta of iOS 8.4, as well as a redesigned interface that’s similar to iTunes on the Mac. Let’s take a brief look…
First launched on iPhone earlier this year, Dropbox announced today that it’s launching its Carousel photo and video gallery app for iPad users. The company is also bringing the experience to the web at carousel.dropbox.com.
Part of making the best home for your photos is giving you a fast, simple, beautiful way to engage with your pictures, however and wherever you want. Today, we’re excited to announce big steps towards that goal: Carousel for web, iPad, and Android tablet.
In addition, the iOS apps add the ability to share to Instagram and WhatsApp with today’s update.
The Carousel app offers easy sharing of one or multiple photos to contacts or email addresses and allows users to get around many of the upload limitations usually associated with sharing photos. With everything backed up in full resolution directly to Dropbox, the app is essentially a standalone experience for managing to photos and videos stored in Dropbox.
A look at the Carousel UI for web is below:
The Carousel for iPad app is available on the App Store now for free.
What’s New in Version 1.7
We’ve updated Carousel with one of your most requested features: support for iPad! Now, view your photos and continue conversations on a bigger screen.
Plus, we’ve added support for posting to Instagram and WhatsApp!
Google this afternoon announced Inbox for Gmail, its all-new emailing solution that is intended to coexist with the regular Gmail platform (Think Paper for Facebook?). Inbox for Gmail is available on an invite only basis for Android, iOS and Chrome. I am fortunate enough to have received an invite to Inbox for Gmail, and I have been giving the iPhone app a rundown to see how it works. For the most part, Inbox is everything that you know and love about Gmail in a sleeker package.
The makers of camera app Camera+ have put together a great comparison of the new iPhone 6 camera vs almost all previous generation iPhones including the first iPhone, the iPhone 3G, 3GS, 4, 4S, 5, and 5S.
Skin tones look brighter and more true to life with the iPhone 6 in this portrait series. Although the iPhone 6 photo has a higher level of detail, I’m finding it slightly pixelated and blotchy-looking. Apple altered their local tone-mapping algorithm for better exposure and contrast using the new A8 processor, but it looks like it might be causing some issues with the skin tones in these shots. Additionally, their new noise reduction algorithm seems a bit heavy handed causing pixelation.
The full comparison on the company’s site lets you view full-sized shots for a number of different shooting scenarios including daylight, backlit, macro, lowlight, and portrait shots. Here’s an example from the portrait comparison (click below for full size):
Earlier today we published our own review of the iPhone 6 camera’s improved video shooting capabilities, which now includes the ability to shoot 1080p video at 30/60 frames per second and Slo-Mo video in 720p up to 240 frames per second.
Earlier today, Apple released iTunes 12 to developers with a new design to fit in with OS X Yosemite. We’ve taken a look at the new player and below is a gallery of what end-users can expect to see come fall:
Live from the WWDC keynote presentation, Apple just unveiled the next version of of the Mac OS X and with it introduced some big changes for the operating system including a significantly redesigned user interface. The new release is called OS X Yosemite.
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Dropbox is introducing its latest product today, a photo and video management app called Carousel that integrates many of the features from the photo storage service Snapjoy acquired by Dropbox back in 2012.
The company unveiled the app at an event today in San Francisco as a gallery to store and share all of your photos and videos. The app is built for quick and easy sharing of one or multiple photos to phone contacts or email addresses (even if the recipient doesn’t have a Dropbox account), allowing you to get around the upload limitations usually associated with sharing photos. With everything backed up in full resolution directly to Dropbox, it essentially becomes a standalone app to manage just photos and videos that you want to store in Dropbox.
With Dropbox, we built a home for your photos and videos but never gave you a great way to experience them. We’d like you to meet Carousel, the newest member of the Dropbox family. It’s a gallery that houses your entire life’s memories. Even more, Carousel lets you share and relive these memories in private conversations with friends and family.
Carousel is now available as a free download on the App Store for iOS and the Play Store for Android.
[tweet https://twitter.com/carouselapp/status/453949761830154240]
The company also made some other product announcements today including news regarding versions of its Mailbox app for Android and Mac OS X.
Render: Nikola Cirkovic
The iPhone 6 concepts of course started appearing even before the iPhone 5s was launched, but now that the new handsets are old news, the concept bandwagon is gathering speed.
Apple is known to be testing a variety of handset sizes, but has always said a phone should be usable with one hand, which rules out any of the more tablet-like sizes out there. An obvious way to increase the screen size without greatly increasing the external dimensions of the phone is work on reducing the size of the bezel.
Apple already did this with the iPad Air (though in that case to reduce the dimensions while retaining the screen size). That’s the approach we see in what I consider to be one of the most realistic concepts out there …
Last month we reported that Apple’s Senior Vice President of Design Jony Ive had teamed up with designer & friend Marc Newson to create one of a kind pieces for Bono’s (Product) RED charity auction scheduled for November 23 at Sotheby’s New York. Those pieces included one-of-a-kind 18k sold rose gold Apple EarPods, and Steinway & Sons piano, and other unique items designed by the pair. Today we get a look at another beautifully designed product set to go up for auction next month.
In the gallery below we get a look at the gorgeous aluminum Leica M for (RED) designed by Ive and Newson that features “a laser machined aluminum body and an anodized aluminum outer shell.” The one of a kind camera took 85 days to create with the team going through 561 models and nearly 1000 prototype parts:
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In light of the upcoming launch of iOS 7, designer Stu Crew and other designers have imagined what a version of the OS X operating system with iOS 7 design principles could look like. Crew’s design matches iOS 7 by removing the heavy, metaphoric textures from OS X. The image above showcases a look at a desktop with many of the apps, and you can see how Finder, Calculator, Contacts, and iTunes received inspiration from iOS 7.
With iOS 5, iOS 6 and OS X Lion, OS X Mountain Lion, Apple moved to unify both the feature-sets and user-interfaces of its mobile and desktop operating systems. This fall, due to a leadership change at Apple, iOS and OS X will see different design philosophies. iOS 7 is “flat,” lacks heavy textures, while OS X retains its long-existing silver/metal design, keeps the green felt in Game Center, but drops the leather in Calendar and Contacts.
With integrated experiences and uniformity embedded into Apple’s DNA, it would not be surprising to see OS X look like iOS again in coming years. Below is a full gallery from Crew (in addition to some more mockups from other designers) of what an iOS 7-inspired OS X could look like.
