After much speculation, Apple has announced the new iPad (yes, that’s how it’s called). Highlights are:
No word on the RAM and processor speed but they’re likely bumped up in order to accommodate the graphics and business use positioning.
Apple has sent out press invites to the much anticipated launch of the next iPad. Based on the photo, it seems clear it will have a Retina display. The question is what will be on the insides? A6 quad-core processor? Larger memory? Larger storage? Bigger battery? If this is going to be a pro level device that’s targeted at business users and aligned towards the strategy of cannibalizing or replacing the Mac, then those specs are pretty much assured.
Messages is the instant messaging application of the upcoming OS X Mountain Lion. It is essentially iMessage for the Mac. It also integrates with FaceTime and includes AIM, Yahoo! Messenger, Google Talk, and Jabber clients. But the significant thing about it is it expands iMessage from iPhone, iPod Touches, and iPads to the Mac. That’s a potentially huge bump in the number of users on Apple’s messaging framework and more reason to use Apple products.
I’ve been noticing that the iPhone strangely heat ups while just sitting on the table or in my pocket. That can’t be good for the battery and indeed it’s not. Even when fully-charged in the morning before going to work, it doesn’t last more than 3PM. Yesterday it even died right after lunch.
I’ve tried so many things: Turning off location-based services (negligible), turning off 3G (extra 2 hours), reset network settings (no effect), reset all settings (no effect), etc all to no avail. But I finally, I stumbled upon a solution that made a huge difference.
I read in a MacWorld article that it could be a sync issue. So I downloaded the recommended System Activity Monitor and tried troubleshooting as described in the article. Indeed even at standby, the processors were registering 10% or so usage. It led me to think that maybe my Google Exchange calendar, mail, and contacts are the culprit. Is Google that evil? :P
So I deleted my Google Exchange account. I immediately noticed the processors registering less than 5%. I recreated the Google Exchange account and observed. Processor usage remained at less than 5% on standby. I continued observing the whole day today and, with defaults (3G and location services) on, it hit 10% battery at 14 hours standby and 6 hours usage. And it no longer heats up unless used heavily. Huge improvement!
UPDATE: Problem returned. I’ll try removing the Google Exchange account again.
UPDATE: Removing the Google Exchange account didn’t work either. So I setup as new phone and then recreated the account. Seems to be working fine now. But I noticed low 3G signal really drains the battery. I guess nothing more can be done short of changing providers.
Engadget reported that there were 37 million iPhones sold last quarter. 37 million!!! How crazy is that? As Joset posted on Google+: “Babies born each day – 371,000. Apple phones sold each day – 377,900.” That crazy. Granted, last quarter includes Christmas, the season for giving, lots of iPhones under the Christmas tree, so that’s a peak number. But still, that’s just astounding.