MarcoR

I think that is leaning towards a negative for the SE. 3D Touch isn't a must have, its just a quality of life thing. It makes a lot of interactions with the OS better and more streamlined but its also not going to ruin the experience. Sorta in the middle there, I guess

399 for what effectively is a 6S and isn't needlessly gimped on the hardware front. Still packing up to date processors and storage and GPU, cameras and everything. Im actually impressed, I for sure would have expected Apple to just gimp it somehow to match the lower price but they didn't really I guess to Apple, it being a smaller phone (and thus not as great for some forms of media consumption and use) is being gimped enough. Someone who wants a small phone specifically wants a small phone, they weren't going to miss the "big screen" experience anyways

Literally a 4" iPhone 6S. A smartphone maker who understands that a small phone doesn't need to skimp on powerful specs? Who'd a thunk it would be coming from Apple

Amusing that they aren't talking about the 12 millionth store opening, rather all their behind the scenes and public efforts on various issues. I still think ResearchKit is one of the best things they have created. The usability, the backend; everything about it is just so intuitive and friendly for large scale research purposes.

I'm alright with downloading rips for stuff I already own. For example, I have Lost on Bluray. There is a small chance in hell that I am going to spend the time required to archive that myself. Whats easier for me? Just download the thing and shove it onto my server. Pretty much all my movies are handled this way. The discs are just to look pretty while on display, the only collection I actively use would be the James Bond 50th collection, but those are just special. I don't condone piracy. If you have a method of obtaining it legally - do so. You aren't owed any content by any organization just because you feel like it. I also don't condone lazy piracy. Don't support shitty rips and hack jobs in any format, whether it be music or movies or even books. If you're that committed to it, at least do yourself the favour of having quality content. I don't go for anything less than a full size BD rip of whatever I own. I have a stellar home setup and I intend on enjoying it as much as possible, regardless of how I consume the content. Discs still are just the least headache inducing way of getting the most out of my system, even with the relative ease of obtained 25GB or more BDs.

Glad to see that these kinds of threads are still so pleasant and decent in the discussion department. Palmer was referring strictly to the GPU department, but that doesn't make for a good sensationalist headline. A vast majority of Apples products do not have GPU grunt the way gamers want them to have it. Why? Cause most consumers, Windows or OSX, DO NOT GIVE A DAMN about it. The most intense thing they might ever do is 4K YouTube videos. Hell, a lot of popular games like DOTA or CSGO are so laughable on the graphics requirements, you don't need a powerhouse to run them. Apple doesn't skimp anywhere else, mostly. Battery life? Top of the class. Displays? Top of class. Trackpad? Embarrassingly top of class. Chassis and build? Need I repeat myself? If you spec your 'average' XPS, Asus, MSI or anything else? Any laptop that matches the Apple equivalent in specs and build? You'll be paying through the nose as well. Spec lists aren't everything when it comes to a laptop purchase for a lot of people. Its the whole package. My rMBP comes to party with a 1TB SSD pushing over 1gbps in speeds, 8+ hour battery life and one of the best displays on the market which is great for OTG editing and colour work when Im away from my powerhouse of a desktop. Any Windows equivalent will cost the same, have similar specs, and maybe come with a better GPU (or maybe not). I didn't buy this for gaming. I don't know anyone who really does.

Samsung doesn't always pick Exynos for those who are wondering. Some markets they opt for it, others they opt for SD because of the modems you get included (especially in North America, its less of a headache) Exynos itself isn't aways the best price. Samsung Semiconductor does not give Samsung Mobile any special pricing here, hence the splitting of variants across regions. This is a very solid update and should be a stellar flagship for Samsung, quite frankly for Android. People don't care about G5s or Nexus in the wild - Samsung is the face of Android and the S7 is a pretty nice face to have.

This is not a good looking phone, that's really all you can say on that front. The bulbous camera hump is dumb, why not fill out the rear of the phone? are people really crying over their phones not being 5.2mm thick and instead being 7mm so they don't look bad? Sony seems to get this. Samsung is moving towards no bump. I just don't get how these designers think it's good. It's bad for all brands who do it. The hot swapping is a high level gimmick. It'll be amazing for one generation at best, no one else is going to bother incorporating such features as a vast majority of your consumer base does not care about these things.

Somewhat better value than Oculus given the hand controls but it's all a crapshoot right now to see who is actually better. Pricing will be high no matter what. This is enthusiast grade hardware requiring enthusiast grade desktops. It's not for us "poor people" on any level. I need 1 grand in GPUs just to run VR properly to start off with

If you think anyone on LTT could unlock it, you are sorely mistaken. iOS is encrypted on a level that makes the FBI consider PUBLIC LEGAL ACTION instead of wasting time brute forcing their way through, because thats the only thing they can do. Supercomputers don't exist yet that could hammer their way through the encryption on both iOS and Android. Full disk encryption is no joke. There is a very good reason why Apple has so many warnings in both user guides and their security white papers about not losing your passcode - you have a fancy paperweight otherwise. The encryption is just that good and that uncrackable right now and for the foreseeable future. Thats why these agencies are pissy, they have no backdoor to access and they have no time effective method of cracking the encryption. The government isn't stupid, they've got access to tools that maybe only black hats could rival. They can call upon as much supercomputing power they need, but even that isn't enough. They aren't stupid, they're rather smart when it comes to cracking things open. iOS is just that locked down that their usual methods clearly aren't working.

It's great to see Apple sticking to their guns and directly challenging the authority of the Federal Government over this. Also nice to see Apple indirectly call out every other company that hasn't taken a strong position yet. More companies need to get onboard with encryption and stand against abuse of government power. Having a full SCOTUS bench is more important than ever since this case is assured to head there and will set some damning precedence either way.

These are the guys who stopped Facetime from being open to all, and reduced the quality. No really, FaceTime once upon a time was geared to be open to any platform, and carry far better video quality. These patent trolls killed that, which is a real shame since Apple of all people were presenting a unified video chat solution for any platform. Facetime is now platform locked and mediocre in quality. It's a shame. Patent trolls exist due due to a flaw in the system. It's a shame that someone who just buys vague patents and then sues despite not implementing said patents. That's not innovative at all

Noticed a lot of misinformation around this, here and elsewhere... TouchID is a hardware element. Not software, your fingerprint reader and it's hardware are coupled with the phone during manufacturing. The minute you turn the iPhone on and it gets flashed the first time, the two are irreversibly ties together. Its why Apple didn't repair their iPhones up until a year ago. You walked into a store with a broken home button? You got a new phone. Replacing the home button on your own would permanently violate the hardware security and render TouchID (and Apple Pay) null. It was always a security thing, nothing more. It it seems that in the past year, Apple changes that policy and is capable of repairing your TouchID sensor to the hardware, like from factory, though how often they do this is unknown as for Apple it's really that much easier to just replace a customer device either under warranty OR for the core charge on a device swap. Killing 3rd party repairs? Come on guys. Apple has several authorized repair centres, plenty of places that aren't from Apple themselves. They don't stop these guys. They simply provide a VALID way, using OEM parts. Actual 3rd parties who aren't authorized are a mixed bag. Who knows what they're doing, in hardware or software. Apple isn't "bricking" phones out of spite. TouchID is a security feature first, and since a lot of iOS 9 features can work off TouchID it's not like they're being vindictive or unfair in wanting people to have valid hardware in place.

This doesn't make sense. NASA is a public entity and sooner or later every piece of their information gets pushed to the public domain, you can request access otherwise and they'll give it to you because its all normal information! Hacking into NASA to learn what they're doing is...well it doesn't make any sense. And hacking into a Global Hawk? Yes, in order to access information that is part of the public record you will risk being labelled a terrorist and having the FBI/CIA track you down? Totally worth it, no? And to find out things about "chemtrails" or "environment manipulation"? Good grief, that is a level of tin foil that I will never understand.

Unlike Apple however, Google can't afford to tick off their partners by becoming an OEM of their own. Same reason why Windows Mobile was met with "meh" and why some OEMs took offence at the Surface line of products - MS was stepping into territory that they otherwise stayed away from, hardware. I wish them luck however. People clearly want to pay a premium on premium devices with stellar backend support in hardware and software. I hope Google takes this seriously and doesn't just half ass it like most of their projects.