WWDC dates leaked by venue

Apples World Wide Developer conference dates have been leaked by the hosting venues own calendar booking system! The Moscone West Convention centre in San Francisco has the dates between the 13th and 17th of June booked out, which falls inline with Apples previous WWDCs. 

There’s no official news from apple regarding the event as of yet. Generally the date is kept secret until the invites land on the doormats of the media and VIPs. 

The event is expected to be the launch platform for iOS 10 and OS X 10.12.. With potentially also the unveiling of new iterations of WatchOS and tvOS.

There are also rumours suggesting the Apple Music streaming service will receive an extra tier, a tier dedicated to higher resolution music. However there’s no indication of where this price point will fit. Or if this will actually be ready for WWDC 2016. 

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The impending death of the 3.5mm jack

 3.5mm jack Lots of people are asking if I think the iPhone 7 will be the first iPhone not to feature the 3.5mm headphone jack.. Personally I don’t think this would make good business sense, sure Apple could (and probably will in the future) by selling a 3.5mm to lightning connector.. They may even bundle one in with the phone! 

However, it would make much more sense to enable audio output via the Lightning connector, and allow for an ecosystem of lightning headphones from the worlds leading manufacturers first. Then drop the headphone jack once everyone’s bought into the idea. This was also discussed on the Apple Insider podcast, which if you don’t currently subscribe to – you should! 

Of course the 3.5mm deserves to die, it’s been around since the early 19th century. It’s feature list is lacking, and it’s sound quality is good…… But it could be better! 

Opening up the Lightning connector to audio makes a whole load of sense, bringing with it even higher quality sound, which would work hand in hand with the worlds uptake on 4K media. 

Of course, the biggest bugbear is going to be the lack of the ability to charge the device while listening to music. However, as it stands lightning connected devices are not allowed to draw power from the device. This is set up in the Lightning adapter requirements that manufacturers have to meet to be allowed to use the connector. 

Sure it’s going to piss people off, but Apple are often found leading the masses to the new connectivity options, such as USB C and FireWire. At the end of the day, it’s the evolution of the quality of music driving the change, and not just their want for an even thinner handset. 

Only time will tell… But I’d be very surprised if the iPhone 7 is the first to sport no headphone jack!! 

Edit: Victor Marks has pointed out that such headphones are already in circulation, which you can see here

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Samsung may unveil 12inch Windows 10 Tablet

After the successful(?) launch of the 12 inch Apple iPad Pro, rumours are doing the round of a potential 12 inch Samsung Galaxy tablet running Windows 10. The Samsung SM-W700 will be Samsungs very first tablet to run the Windows operating system. (Perhaps this will pave the way for a Windows based Samsung mobile?)

The spec of the new W700 are thought to be:

  • Intel core processor
  • At least 4GB RAM
  • 2 or 4K resolution
  • Bluetooth 4.1

An interoperability certificate supporting the rumour was logged on the 18th of November

WifiCert

The W700 is expected to be unveiled in the early part of 2016, perhaps we will see it at this years CES?

The only other 12 inch Windows 10 tablet believed to currently be in development is the Toshiba tablet unveiled at last years IFA event in Berlin. If you want to read more about the Toshiba ‘featherlight’ tablet, the lucky guys over at the verve managed to get their hands on one back in September and published this review.

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Latest Apple TV said to run iOS 9

 Apple TVPosts have started hitting the net, suggesting the latest in the Apple TV will actually be running iOS 9. However, its believed to be a version specifically optimized for TV. This may not come as a surprise to many, as rumours have been circulating for some time suggesting the latest hardware will be focusing on game play and Apps. This should hopefully give the aging device a new lease of life, many have lost faith in the Apple TV system as its seemingly been left at the road side as Apple focus more on their other hardware.

Its believed Apple will ve unveiling the new hardware at the September event on the 9th. However, there’s no idication yet of pricing or availability. One things for sure, it may be hard pressed to compete with hardware such as Amazons fire stick which sports an impressive £35 price tag.

Its believed the new Apple TV will have Apple’s A8 chip at its heart, which should be more then capable of powering even the most demanding iOS Apps and Games. Along side the more powerful chip, are many rumours of a remote sporting a touch pad. Wheather this will support force touch or not is yet to be seen. 

Something which may take the shine off the release for early adopters is that it’s believed Apple have not managed to finalise the deals to enable their all new TV Streaming services. Although they all still in the works, so should hopefully be along shortly after the launch.. 

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Buttonless Touch ID coming in 2017?

Touch ID
Image Source

Patents are being passed onto Apple from a Virginia based biometric security startup company called Privaris. Privaris are known for there handheld and keyring attached biometric scanners. Rumour has it that Apple are look at introducing a buttonless (built into screen) Touch ID Sensor in 2017.

If the rumours are true and Apple do pair up with Privaris, its fair to assume that the uses for the Touch ID sensors will expand exponentially! Especially with the impending launch of home kit, there’s suggestions that Apple will implement a door unlock feature using just Touch ID.

Although it has been corroborated that Apple have actually purchased patents from Privaris, there’s nothing to say they will actually go on to use them. As Apple have a habit of sucking up patents which never go on to be in production. The flip side being when Apple acquired AuthenTec back in 2012, who Apple rebranded as Touch ID. An quickly implemented their technology across its mobile device range.

Of course, if they do actually  manage to implement the Touch ID sensor in the screen itself, it could spell the end of the home button on the iPhone.  Rumours have been rife since as far back as 2011 suggesting Apple would drop the home button.. The up and coming release of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus (which have just gone into production) have already but it to bed for another year.

However, that in itself comes with it’s own challenges, the most obvious being a bigger reliance on phone side buttons. Which is something other manufacturers seem to prefer. Only time will tell if Apple do in fact radically change the design and layout of the iPhone. Perhaps we will even see Touch ID in its MacBook range!? Who knows..

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