iPhone 6 Number One Enemy is Gallium Chemical Element

Apple’s iPhone 6 body is made of aluminum. Similar to other metal or plastic, aluminum is also having a weakness. One of it is another chemical element named Gallium. An experiment was done by pouring 500 grams of gallium over aluminum back of iPhone 6 and let it stay overnight, in the next morning; the device is unrecognizable.

Gallium is a chemical element which goes with symbol Ga in the periodic table and atomic number 31.  It does not occur in free form in nature but there is a trace of it in zinc ores and bauxite. It is a soft, silvery metal which is a solid in low temperature and melts at 29.76 Celcius.

In the video shown below, the experiment was done to show the damage that can be done by Gallium to the back of iPhone 6. The back of iPhone 6 was scraped up to allow the gallium to seep through but the ports and connectors were taped to give the handset the probability to work after it was left in that arrangement for a night.

When checked for the result the next morning, the body of the iPhone 6 was so brittle such that it peeled away when touched showing the components inside. However, the device was still able to be turned on initially but towards the end of the video, we can see that once an iPhone 6, now it’s just a smoldering, bubbling mess.

iPhone 6 Number One Enemy is Gallium Chemical Element

Reports: Samsung Galaxy S6 likely to get iPhone like exposure setting

Last September 2014, when Apple unveiled its iOS 8, it brought a number of camera enhancement features to its platform. One of them included the manual control for the exposure. For this, user needs to tap of the object of focus and move the slider to the right of the marker box, slide up and down and voila in order to control your exposure.

Now many of the handset manufacturers offer this user-control over exposure in most of its premium flagship handsets. However, the solution provided by Apple is very convenient and offers a more better user experience of using the camera controls. However, a recent rumors says that the upcoming update would be bringing a similar manual exposure feature control and is likely to be based on Android 5.1.

The recent information coming from SamMobile shows some of the snapshots(below) that shows up the manual control pretty much similar to the one coming in iOS. The control uses just a light bulb-icon as a slider marker in place of the sun’s in the iPhone’s camera. Check out the leaked screenshots below. the company is expected to bring this feature to the Galaxy S6 in the next Android update.

The Android 5.1 update is expected to be coming in the first week of June where we can possibly see the implantation of this feature. Check out the screenshots below.

Reports: Samsung Galaxy S6 likely to get iPhone like exposure setting

Apple iPhone 5c alike spotted on Apple website, possibly could be the iPhone 6c

Well, these days there are a lot many rumors concerning the Apple handset which is possibly supposed to be a 4inch iPhone 6c along with two larger flagships iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. Various reports coming from the insiders have shown that Apple is considering a successor to its plastic body iPhone 5c which is none other but the alleged 4inch iPhone 6c and an interesting leaks which can cause you to think has come our way.

Apple has recently released an official Lightening dock which is listed on the Apple Store and is priced for $39. During its advertisement in one of the images posted, is a device that looks like the iPhone 5c but seems o be having a TocuhID to its home button. However, the iPhone 5c even though released with the iPhone 5s doesn’t have any fingerprint sensor on board and the home button for the iPhone 5c comes with a square marking that was missing this time.

However, these can just be a render and they are as such just illustrations giving out the idea about how the device could be looking. We would be waiting to hear some official word from Apple on this. Take a look at the previously leaked images showing up the differences.

source: Apple

Apple iPhone 5c alike spotted on Apple website, possibly could be the iPhone 6c

LG takes a dig at Apple showing the superiority of LG G4 display over the iPhone 6

Well, it’s now LG’s turn to put the competition straight forward with the Apple. In an comparison advertisement, LG takes a dig at Apple by comparing the QHD display of its recent flagship the LG G4 with the much successful Apple iPhone 6. On its official product page, we can see the LG G4 being compared to the iPhone 6. In the above image you can see that LG says that the “pixel for pixel, the display on the new G4 has a higher resolution than the iPhone 6 Plus. With more than 3.5 million pixels at your disposal, you can see everything in amazing detail.”

Well, there is no doubt to it that the quality of display for the LG G4 is more than just the pixel resolution. The LG G4 has got a 5.5inch QHD display with resolution of 1440 x 2560 pixels in comparison to the 1080 x 1920 pixel resolution of the iPhone 6 Plus. This is also sharper than the 4.7inch iPhone 6 having 750 x 1334 pixel resolution.

Get to know about more features of this wonderful flagship here.

source: LG

LG takes a dig at Apple showing the superiority of LG G4 display over the iPhone 6

Student’s iPhone 6 Confiscated by Principal at School

A principal in Northeast High School, Philadelphia has confiscated iPhone 6 belonging to her student due to disciplinary reasons.  However, as the dad demanded her to return the phone to him, she refused to do so as it against the school’s policy. She offered him to take her flip phone instead in case if he needs to contact the student for emergency.

Raven Hill, a spokeswoman from School of District of Philadelphia said that according to the student handbook of Northeast High School which is given to every student at the beginning of the school year, all confiscated cell phones, cameras, electronic and other telephonic devices will be returned at the end of each academic quarter with no exceptions. By the time the incident happens, the marking period is in two weeks.

The dad filmed the whole incident of him demanding to get his daughter’s iphone 6 back from the principal and uploaded it to YouTube. The video was seen by almost 180,000 people who might increase as time goes by.

Hill added that it is against the law to record a person without his or her consent. On the footage it seems that the principal identifies itself to the camera. Hill said that was not the case.  The principal identified herself to the parent and she was not aware that she was being filmed. A police report has been filed.

This aroused some public comments. One commented why the principal and parents could not come to a happy agreement while some commented why a schoolkid needs an iPhone 6.

Student’s iPhone 6 Confiscated by Principal at School

You can have an automatically changing e-ink display for your iPhone 6 with this popSLATE case

The sharp displays of our smartphones with higher-resolution and pixel density usually consume a large chunk of your smartphone battery even while checking the smallest of the details. Due to this, smartphone makers like YotaPhone are planning to have an alternate e-ink display that would display different information not requiring the screen to turn on every time. Case maker popSLATE has arrived with a very similar solution for this.

The popSLATE case is a protective case that is made up of 4inch shatter proof e-ink screen that acts like a display. the case has been designed for the latest iPhone 6 and the e-ink display would be placed to the back of your iPhone and would allow you to customize it with any map, photography or screenshot over the Bluetooth. The images would appear on the grey scale and a dedicated app or a dedicated button allows you to swap over the last 8 images.

This case has a 240mAh of battery of its own and can be charged through the microUSB itself. popSLATE is said to add more feature to its case in the future which could display information automatically based on the time of the day and your location. Check out the source link below to get more details for its cases. Take a look at the images below.

sources: popSLATE,

Image Courtesy: The Verge

You can have an automatically changing e-ink display for your iPhone 6 with this popSLATE case

Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge has a better design than iPhone 6: Mobile Carriers

The Samsung Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 Edge have been leaked out extensively in the past few days with almost every details of the handset getting surfaced. The design for the Galaxy S6 Edge has largely been credited for the “Project Zero” initiative by Samsung.

A recent report coming from the hometown of South Korea shows that major mobile carriers like T-Mobile, Vodafone, SK Telecom (local), Sprint and others have reportedly said to be loving the design of the Galaxy S6 Edge (the dual edge smartphone coming along with the Galaxy S6) that is likely to be coming in a wrap-around display. It is said that representatives of these carriers were so impressed with the design that they even thought it to be better than the iPhone 6.

An unnamed source allegedly revealed that “Some executives said the new phones were the best of the best among Samsung-made phones.”

It is being said that the Samsung Galaxy S6 along with its sibling the Galaxy S6 Edge could prove to be a major turn-around story for the not-so-well-going Samsung and would help the tech juggernaut to come back strong. Many analysts have also said the Galaxy S6 could be a major game changer for the Korean company. Few days from now and we will see the Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 Edge announced officially this Sunday on March 1^st.

source: Korea Herald

Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge has a better design than iPhone 6: Mobile Carriers

Apple’s iOS 9 running on iPhone 6 gets benchmarked

As we know, Apple’s new mobile operating system iOS 9 is coming soon. Google Analytics found Apple already testing this new version. Now the iOS 9 has popped up in the Rightware benchmark database showing iPhone 6 running it.

So it seems that Apple’s upcoming iOS 9 is being tested in its latest iphone. Apple’s CEO Tim Cook has already gone on record saying that the company will try to release a new version of iOS and Mac OS every year. The Google Analytics findings and the Rightware benchmark database indicate that Apple is moving in that direction and will probably be ready with a developer preview by June when the company holds its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC).

While it is still not clear what changes iOS 9 is going to incorporate, we can get an idea about it if we check the benchmark results. The Basemark OS II test results are available for iPhone 6 running iOS 8 and iPhone 6 running iOS 9. If we compare both the test results, we can see that there is only little difference between the two.

However, it is very likely that the iOS 9 version tested here is just a preliminary build that is being tried out and the actual final product will be much different with some major enhancements over the earlier version.

Via PhoneArena

Apple’s iOS 9 running on iPhone 6 gets benchmarked

Mophie introduces new Juice Packs to charge iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus

California-based tech company Mophie is well known for its Juice Pack cases for charging cellphones. The company has now launched Juice Packs for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. There are three types of such battery packs and they are available for pre-order at Mophie’s website.

There are two options for iPhone 6 – Juice Pack Air and Juice Pack Plus, but there is only one option available for iPhone 6 Plus. Juice Pack Air doubles the battery life of iPhone 6 while Juice Pack Plus increases its battery life by 120%. In case of iPhone 6 Plus, its juice pack adds only 60% extra to its battery life but since iPhone 6 Plus already has a longer battery life, that shouldn’t be a problem.

The Mophie Juice Packs have bumpers inside the case that add cushioning and protect it in case of impact or hard fall, although we can’t say for sure whether they will prevent the iPhone 6 from bending (#bendgate).

With Mophie’s Juice Pack, you can charge your mobile anywhere by just flipping a switch. The LED indicator in it shows you the Juice Pack battery levels and status of charge. When you keep the phone for charging with the Juice Pack connected to it, your iPhone will be recharged first and then the Juice Pack case.

Juice Pack Air for the iPhone 6 has a capacity of 2,750 mAh and costs $99.95. Juice Pack Plus has a 3,300 mAh cell and costs $119.95. Juice Pack for iPhone 6 Plus has a 2,600 mAh battery and costs $99.95. Although Mophie has not given any release date, it will not be far since pre-orders have already begun.

Via GSMArena

Mophie introduces new Juice Packs to charge iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus

Next in Line: Apple iPhone 7, What You May Get!

Recently, Apple introduced its latest additions into its Smartphone series, Apple iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. But rumors about the next addition, Apple iPhone 7, are already on the internet. On Sunday, a report was published which mentioned that the display screen of iPhone 7 would be bigger in size compared to the 5.5 inch screen of iPhone 6 Plus. However, this time the Smartphone giant has decided to make the display screen with sapphire glass which is one of the hardest materials after diamond.

The body of the iPhone 7 would be made with liquid metal to make it stronger, as reported. The phone might come with the Touch ID sensor with a 14 megapixel rear camera. Report informed that Apple might double the phone’s capacity next year to 256GB (latest models offers 128GB) and a quad-core A8 processor could be used. There are also rumors that the iPhone 7 might include a built-in projector, a feature that is present in Samsung Galaxy Beam.

With all of these demanding features included in the phone, the question arises about the phone’s battery. The report revealed that the iPhone 7 may use a new technology based battery that would be able to keep the phone running for longer period. The phone is rumored to be more expensive than previous models and is expected to be released somewhere between July and September of 2015. Although, the report reveals a lot about iPhone 7 but it is still too early to come to any conclusion.

Next in Line: Apple iPhone 7, What You May Get!

Another iPhone 6 Bent and This Time Caught Fire

We have heard postings on iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus which bend when put in the pocket for some people. However, there is one report from a user saying that his iPhone not only bent in his pocket but it caught fire.

Phillip Lechter, an entrepreneur and business coach says his iPhone 6 bent so much that it punctured the battery which in the end caught fire. It happens when Lechter and his family were riding in a rickshaw in Tucson, Ariz then the rickshaw hit a trolley track on the road. Thus this event caused him to bump into the side of the metal rickshaw.

During the event, his iPhone 6 was placed in the front pocket that hit the wall. The end result is that the iPhone was bent nearly 90 degrees and punctured the battery even though he is using leather case as his iPhone cover causing his leg to be on fire. It was then a nearby spectator helped to put out the fire by throwing a cup of water to his leg. According to the doctor, he suffered a pretty significant burn on his leg.

“The doctor’s report described a 11.5 cm x 10.5 cm burn area on my right leg and classified the burn as second-degree with first-degree burns surrounding the area.”

“According to the doctor, the burn will require cleanliness, antibiotics and pain management for treatment”. Lechter wrote on his blog.

Apple did not respond to a request for comment as for now.

Another iPhone 6 Bent and This Time Caught Fire

Apple Wants To Take NFC Beyond Apple Pay

Google tried to implement NFC through Android but it seems that they were not particularly successful with its implementation. Now, rumor has it that Apple is preparing to use Apple Pay for more than just NFC payments. They are scouting for partnerships to increase the span of NFC payments via the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. The payment API is not available to third-parties so Apple Pay can only be used through designated locations right now.

Apple is trying to implement the NFC chip for security, and even things like public transit tickets. They have been in talks with HID Global and Cubic who make secure building access systems that are activated using keycards.

The Apple representatives have talked to technology providers like HID Global and Cubic, which enable secure access to buildings and transit fare systems, respectively, said people briefed on the discussions. Spokespeople for the companies declined to comment about any discussions with Apple, but executives there discussed how they could integrate their systems with the iPhone.

A partnership with Starwood Hotels has already been announced as well. Hotel users can replace their keycards with the Apple Watch which uses bluetooth rather than NFC.

Cook said mobile payments had failed so far because they were built to serve the business models of their creators, rather than to provide a useful experience for customers. (source: Bloomberg)

There has been some backlash from merchants but Apple is going forward with Apple Pay. It is clear that they want this to be a big part of everyday life.

 

Apple Wants To Take NFC Beyond Apple Pay

Apple’s iPhone 6 Topped Presales Figure in South Korea

Apple’s iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus has been opened for pre-order since Friday, 24 October 2014, by three mobile carriers in South Korea. In less than an hour, the carriers reported that the figure has topped the reported pre-sales figure of Samsung Galaxy Note 4 which launched in September.

The first telecom company, KT Corp, claims that the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus models together sold up to 10,000 orders in one minute and 50,000 orders in thirty minutes while LG Uplus received 20,000 orders for the new iPhones within 20 minutes. It is the first time that LG Uplus selling iPhone in the local market. South Korea’s largest telecom company, SK Telecom, on the other hand, declined to comment on the detail. However, the company confirmed that the first and second batch of presale orders for iPhones have been fully booked. The iPhones will be made available on the store shelves and for customers starting on 31 October 2014.

Analysts estimated that about 100,000 units have been ordered by now.  it beats Galaxy Note 4 as it had only 30,000 units sold within the first 3 days after it has been launched. However, it seems like it is a little bit unfair to compare these two figures since Samsung has only given 10,000 units to the same three network operators for pre-order purposes whereas Apple seems to give the companies quite a bit of its unit to pre-sell.

Apple’s iPhone 6 Topped Presales Figure in South Korea

Apple Breaking its Record with 10 Million iPhones Sold on its First Week

Apple just broke its own record! If you remember last year, 9 million units of Apple iPhone 5s and Apple iPhone 5c were purchased during its first week of availability. And now, Apple confirmed this Monday that Apple iPhone 6 and Apple iPhone 6 Plus sold a groundbreaking record of 10 million iPhones! The handsets had been available last Friday in the following countries:

• Australia


• Canada


• France


• Germany


• Hong Kong


• Japan


• Puerto Rico


• Singapore


• UK


• US

And to sell 10 million hits in a week is simply amazing!

It only shows how the world is crazy about iPhones. And for other parts of the world, do not worry because will be available in your location soon. As Apple declared that on September, the latest models from the company would be out in 26 more markets namely:

• Austria


• Belgium


• Denmark


• Finland


• Ireland


• Isle of Man


• Italy


• Liechtenstein


• Luxembourg


• Netherlands


• New Zealand


• Norway


• Portugal


• Qatar


• Russia


• Saudi Arabia


• Spain


• Sweden


• Switzerland


• Taiwan


• Turkey


• United Arab Emirates

Revenues will certainly continue to come towards the company once units are made available in these places. For details about the models, they come in gold, silver and spay gray cases.

iPhone 6 (2-yr contract)

$199 – 16GB

$299 – 64GB

$399 – 128GB

iPhone 6 Plus (2-yr contract)

$299 – 16GB

$399 – 64GB

$499 – 128GB

Which do you prefer?

Apple Breaking its Record with 10 Million iPhones Sold on its First Week

Chipworks open up Apple iPhone 6: A8 Processor and iSight Camera

In the release of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, we are all curious about what is inside them. The two most interesting component is the A8 processor and the iSight Camera. Chipworks has teared down iPhone 6 for us to have a better understanding of the components present in the device. However, in this article, we will discuss mainly on Apple A8 and iSight Camera.

A8 Processor

Apple iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus runs on A8 processor. There are two billion transistors in the processor which is apparently twice of the number found in A7. It is built on TSMC’s 20nm process. A8 is measured at 89mm2, which is 13 percent smaller than A7. A7 is measured at 102 mm2. Even though it is smaller in size but it has up to 25 percent faster CPU and 50 percent faster graphics. On top of that, it has 50 percent more energy efficient than A7.

iSight and FaceTime cameras

Apple introduced dual versions of iPhone in 2013. Each is having different version of iSight Camera. With iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus, Apple has introduced the next generation of iSight camera. The Focus Pixel of the camera is reportedly enabling twice improvement in autofocus (AF) system as compared in the previous generation. iPhone 6 plus will have the premium camera with introduction of optical image stabilization (OIS). This technology has already in use or on the road map of several other smart phone manufacturers.

The good news is that both iPhones can have up to 1080p video performance with 30/60 fps and up to 240 fps for slo-mo.

The pictures in this article are of courtesy of Chipworks.

Chipworks open up Apple iPhone 6: A8 Processor and iSight Camera

A8 Processor: A New And Better Performing Chip Of iPhone 6

A8 processor is a chip developed by Apple Inc. with 20nm production method. It is the latest processor technology appeared in the new iPhone 6, which is very much efficient and better than the previous models. It claims to offer faster CPU and GPU performance.

It proved to be faster than the A7 processor placed in iPhone 5s and iPad Air. According to the Rightware’s database, the comparing of iphone 6 and iphone 5 scores showed A8 processor to be faster; it scored 21 204 points while on the other hand iphone 5 secured 20 253 points which clearly depicted that how it is better than the previous family member.

If we take it to processor speed than it has been assured that it will offer better overall performance and will consume less power in providing more; iPhone 6 is presented with the CPU of 1.4 GHz.

Galaxy S5’s Snapdragon 801 2.5 GHz quad-core processor which put out a score of 23 501 points at its best is a bit higher than the new Apple’s arrival. So on the per-clock basis the iPhone 6’s latest A8 processor is found to have some similar characters to Snapdragon 805. From the performance point of view, on using iPhone 6 one would feel just like using the Samsung Note 4.

However the iphone 6’s A8 processor is lower in performance than S5’s Snapdragon 801 but unlike its family it has a better and long life battery and that’s Apple promise of improve battery life.

A8 Processor: A New And Better Performing Chip Of iPhone 6

Latest Apple’s A8 Chip on iPhone 6 Explained

One of the important hardware aspects of the recently launched iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus from Apple is the A8 processor chip. In fact, a processor chip or some might called it the SoC (System on a Chip) is the more important component in a smart phone nowadays since it can either break or make the device. In this article, we explain further about Apple’s new processor chips.

Apple A8’s Processor Technology

The processor chips which powered the previous generation of iPhones were manufactured by Samsung on behalf of Cupertino. However, the latest A8 chip was not manufactured by the South Korean-based company; instead it was manufactured by TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company).

Although there is no confirmation about the clock rate of the A8 chip, but based on some preliminary benchmark result, it shows that the chip is the second generation of dual-core Cyclone processor, possibly ticking at 1.4GHz. In comparison, the iPhone 5S is also running on dual-core CPU but it is of lower clock rate – 1.3GHz. One thing that is confirmed is that the A8 SoC is based on ARMv8-a architecture which makes it a 64-bit, similar to A7 chip on iPhone 5S.

Apple A8’s Graphic (GPU)

Another important chip of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus is the Graphic Processing Unit (GPU) chip. This chip controls the processing of the image display to the screen. Although there is no confirmation from Apple too, we speculate that both smart phones are using PowerVR GX6650 GPU unit. The chip is one of the manufacturer’s most efficient GPU.

Apple A8’s motion co-processor – M8

The M8 chip in iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus is the next generation of M7 in iPhone 5S. The chip mainly collect information based from the sensors such as the accelerometer, the compass, etc. Improvement in M8 version includes the enhanced barometer (to monitor air-pressures), step-counting, various elevation changes and total distance travelled. It is also able to sense whether you are stationary or moving. These are a few of the usage among the other usage of the chip.

Apple A8 and iSight camera

The new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6S will come with a new fancy feature such as Focus Pixels, a better face detection and continuous auto-focus. The collaboration between Apple A8 and iSight will result in images with less noise and better quality.

 

 

Apple Battery Life

Although it is not significant but the battery life plays an important role in deciding whether a smart phone is considered good. Despite the deep optimization on hardware and software, the iPhone 5S with its 1570mAh battery does not top the performance. However, with the new A8 chips which boast of its power efficiency, hopefully will give a better battery life to iphone 6 and iphone 6 Plus. iPhone 6 with bigger 1800mAh battery size while iPhone 6 Plus with 2915 mAh battery size.

Latest Apple’s A8 Chip on iPhone 6 Explained

Apple’s New Product iPhone 6 GPU Benchmark Test shows It Is Behind The Curve

iPhone 6 which is released recently is using the latest Apple’s A8 chip with dual-core 1.4GHz Cyclone CPU and an unknown GPU. GPU chip is a chip whose task is for calculation of graphical output to the monitors. It is mainly used for gaming purposes. There is rumour that the graphics unit in A8 is the PowerVE GX6650, the next generation of the one that is used in iPhone 5S (PowerVR G6430).

Apple claims that with the new chip, it means the device will have up to 25 percent faster CPU performance and up to 50 percent faster graphics while maintaining a decent battery life even while powering larger and more pixel-rich display.

The first Apple iPhone 6 A8 GPU chip was put on a test. It was tested from the GPU testing Basemark X suite. The result shown that iPhone 6 scores a higher points from its predecessor at 21,204 points whereas iphone 5S scores 20,253 points.

Looking at the Basemark X result, we can assume that Apple has chosen hexa-core PowerVR G6630 instead since the performance is not really up to the expectation. When compared with other product from another company, such as Samsung Galaxy S5, it scores at 23,501 points with Adreno 330 GPU and screen of higher 1080p resolution.

For the other newly released product iPhone6 plus, we hope that Apple will put in a better GPU chip to produce a better quality of display on a bigger screen.

 

Apple’s New Product iPhone 6 GPU Benchmark Test shows It Is Behind The Curve

All about Apple Pay, Apple’s easy and secure mobile wallet

At the Apple’s big event held on September 9 the company’s CEO Tim Cook announced Apple’s new mobile payment service the Apple Pay in addition to two big-screen iPhones and a smartwatch. Instead of swiping your usual credit card, you can now pay with your iPhone 6 or Apple Watch. Apple Pay is “Your Wallet without the Wallet”. The phone will have security features built into it so that there would be no risk.

Initially, Apple Pay will be available in iPhone 6 and iPhone 6+ but updates for the same will be available soon for other iPhones 5,5c and 5s. Apple Pay can be used with the Apple Watch when paired with these iPhones. This service will be available in the United States from October and later in other parts of the world.

The Apple Pay system basically consists of Four components: Near Field Communication (NFC) antenna, Touch ID fingerprint sensor, Secure Element chip and Setup in Passbook.

Near Field Communication (NFC) antenna:

It is an antenna that enables short range wireless communication when two devices are brought near each other. So if you hold your iPhone near the contactless reader in the shop and put your finger on the Touch ID, your payment will be made. A vibration and a beep in the phone will let you know that the payment was successful.

In case of an Apple Watch, you have to double-click the button provided near the Digital Crown and hold the watch near the contactless reader with the watch’s face towards it. A pulse and beep will let you know that the payment has been made. According to the company, this will be available in early 2015.

Touch ID fingerprint sensor:

Touch ID is present in iPhone 5s and iPhone 6 & 6+ and allows you to use your fingerprint as a passcode. This sensor is present in the Home button which is made of laser-cut sapphire crystal to prevent scratches and enable it to work properly. It has a stainless steel detection ring that detects the user’s finger without pressing it. Touch ID reads your fingerprint when you put your finger on it in any direction and unlocks your phone. The fingerprint data is securely stored inside the iPhone’s processor.

Secure Element chip:

When you make payment through your credit card, your card number and identity can be seen but in case of Apple Pay, your credit/debit card information is already stored in your iPhone and is not visible to anyone. When you add your card to the Passbook, a ‘Unique Device Account Number’ is created, encrypted and stored securely in the Secure Element Chip present in the iPhone 6, 6+ and the Apple Watch.

When you make a payment, this ‘Unique Device Account Number’ and a transaction-specific dynamic security code are used to process the payment so that your credit or debit card information remains safe.  The data stored in the Secure Element is free from software and hardware attacks. In case you lose your iPhone, you can use ‘Find My iPhone’ and put it in the Lost Mode so that nothing will be accessible or you can also completely wipe your iPhone clean.

Setup in Passbook:

Your iPhone has a passbook application. You have to add your credit card or debit card information to your passbook app manually or from your iTunes account or by photographing them with your iSight camera. Apple Pay works with Visa Card and Master Card as well as cards issued by American Express, Bank of America, Citi, Capital One, Chase and Wells Fargo. Others whose cards will be added soon are Barclaycard, USAA, Navy Federal, PNC and US Bank.

Apple Pay will be accepted at 220,000 stores at launch. Some of the stores accepting contactless payments through Apple Pay are: Babies R Us, Toys R Us, Bloomingdales, Disney Store, Duanereade, McDonalds, Macy’s, Nike, Panera Bread, Petco, Staples, Sephora, Subway, Unleashed, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, Walgreens and Whole Foods Market. Apple Pay can also be used for purchases through the following apps: Disney Store, Groupon, Instacart, MLB.com, OpenTable, Panera Bread, Sephora, Starbucks, Target, Tickets.com and Uber.

If you see the following icon at check out it means you can pay with Apple Pay.

Watch the video of Apple Pay Announcement by Tim Cook uploaded by cnet:

All about Apple Pay, Apple’s easy and secure mobile wallet

Apple iPhone 6 complete review: Official specs, images and Promo Video

Well, after a long long wait, Apple has finally announced its this year flagship Apple iPhone 6, which comes in two different models of 4.7inch and 5.5inch. As just spotted, the 5.5inch model of the device is named as the iPhone 6 Plus. In addition to this two smartphones, the Cupertino giant has also went out announcing its much awaited Apple Watch, but this article will major focus on in-depth details of what all goodies has the 4.7inch model has to offer us!

There are a lot of changes that come in this new flagship in terms of its hardware and software like larger display, more powerful chipset, slimmer design, the latest released developer-friendly iOS 8 on-board and much more.

Design and Display

The design of the iPhone 6 was always much in talks before its official release! With the release, it is clear that this is the second major re-design that comes with rounded edges with a more rectangular narration and has been more squeezed up making it slimmer and lighter. Yes, the new iPhone 6 just packs within 6.9mm of thickness weighing as light as 129 grams only.

Moving to its display, Apple seems to have understood the need for larger sized display and thus taking a larger leap, the new iPhone 6 offers a 4.7” IPS display with a pixel resolution of 1334×750 pixels and 326 ppi density. However, even with the increased size, Apple has ensured to pretty much stay in line with its “retina display” philosophy delivering similar results to the existing Apple iPhone 5s. However, the Cupertino giant claims that the iPhone 6 can deliver brightness up to 500 nits and comes covered with an oleophobic coating over it that ensures that your screen will be free from any kind of fingerprint smudges over it.

The powerful and new Apple A8 chipset with 64-bit architecture

It was quite expected that will bake its new A8 chipset to the core of iPhone 6. To get into details, this is the new quad-core A8 SoC that is the company’s custom made chipset built with the 64-bit ARM architecture, more specifically ARMv8. Compared to its predecessor (A7 in iPhone 5s) the Apple A8 is 13% smaller measuring just 20-nm in size with nearly 2 billion transistors employed for work. Two of the chip’s cores are 25% faster and the GPU performance has been topped up with 50% better performance. Here is a comparison graph showing it with the first ever iPhone till now.

The excellent part is that the new SoC supports over 20 LTE bands that is above any existing smartphone in the market. The new iPhone 6 also supports features like Wi-Fi calling, LTE roaming and Voice Over LTE. Apple has moved over to the Wi-Fi 802.11ac standard that delivers that delivers up to three times faster speeds when connected to a wireless network. With all these enhanced and power-packed features, one thing you would surely be wondering off is what about the battery life of the device! Apple is yet to unveil the exact capacity of the device but says that when compared to the iPhone 5s, iPhone 6 would offer 4 extra hours in 3G talk-time, 1 hour of extra video playback and 10 more hours of audio listening.

An enhanced 8MP iSight camera with True Tone flash

Apple said that with the new phase focus technology brought to its iPhone 6 camera, the time required to focus is almost cut to half. Another good thing about the camera is that it can also snap slow-motion videos in 720p resolution at an excellent 240 frames per second. This means capturing slow-motion videos is certainly going to be a delight for users. A bit disappointment here is that, Apple has kept itself from bringing OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) to the new iPhone 6. But the company says that they have incorporated a new software implementation that would compensate for hand shake during video capture.

The camera at the front comes with new sensor with f/2.2 lens offering the company’s much famous FaceTime feature in HD mode. The company claims that this new configuration enables the camera to collect 81% more light means that users will now get even more brighter selfies.

The all new Apple Pay for wireless payments through NFC

One of the biggest announcements that came along with the iPhone 6 was an introduction to the company’s new Apple Pay service. This new feature from Apple will work along with the existing PassBook that would offer new wireless digital payments through NFC.

The new iPhone 6 comes with built-in NFC chip, which along with the Apple Pay will facilitate users to make payments at large number of retail locations like McDonals, Subway, Whole Food Market, Starbucks, Macy’s, Staples, Bloomingdales and Disney and Apple stores. For this Apple has partnered with American Express, Visa, Amex and MasterCard. This means all you need for your weekend picnics is nothing more but just an iPhone 6.

Well, looking it from the security point of view, Apple has promised that this new feature will certainly hold much more enhanced security. Instead of sharing up your credit card info with merchants during transactions, the new Apple Pay will generate one-time-only dynamic security tokens. Thus on completion of the transaction, the security token will not be any more useful even if someone gets note of it. This would ensure more safety and security of your personal banking info.

New iOS 8 with more functional notification bar, improved Siri and latest Health App

Moving up from the design-centric iOS 7, Apple has moved to iOS focusing much more on its functionality additions. Apple has gone up more flexible with its new iOS 8 which hosts a new software keyboard called QuickType. The good things is that the company has given open access to its keyboard component thereby creating an open platform for third party developers to create custom keyboards for people who usually are not much happy with Apple’s own implementation. The new built-in keyboard of iOS 8 comes with few next word suggestions as found in most Android keyboards. According to Apple, the QucikType is now much more smart that is able to differentiate between your formal and informal contacts based on the conversations and will set a more predictive vocabulary as per the need. This means that if you are texting to your boss, it will set a more formal vocabulary while in case texting to your friends it will put an informal vocabulary ahead.

The famous TouchID feature from Apple is now available to third party apps as well! Apple has ensured for this as all the biometric information of fingerprints would be stored inside the chip and no third party apps would have any kind of access to it that ensures higher level of safety. Another major improvement in the iOS 8 is its notification bar. The notification bar has now turned to be more functional that will allow to perform a large number of actions like replying to a text message or like any new Facebook post. Moreover, all this actions could also be performed via the lockscreen as well! Apple has also announced back at the WWDC that it would be bringing widget support in the new iOS 8.

Siri – Apple’s virtual assistant has been given some good attention and is now able to recognize songs, control some smart household gadgets using the HomeKit API and even make iTunes purchases. Siri is now capable of understanding some over two dozen languages which you can just activate by saying “Hey, Siri!” for any kind of assistance needed.

Pricing and Release date

Apple has launched its iPhone 6 in three different storage variants of 16GB, 64GB and 128GB. Apple is the first company as on date to offer a 100+GB built-in memory in a phone. The above image clearly reveals the pricing showing the 16GB version of iPhone 6 to be costing $199 on 2-year contract, the 64GB to be costing $299 and the 128GB version for $399.

Pre-orders for all these models will begin tomorrow on September 12^th and the company would start shipping out the models next week on September 19^th. The first batch of the new flagship would go on sale in countries like USA, France, Germany, Australia, Hong Kong, Canada, UK, Singapore and Japan. Nearly 115 countries would be receiving this device by the end of this year.

You can check out our complete review for the 5.5” iPhone 6 Plus as well as the newly launched Apple Watch. Catch a large number of promo videos released by the company here.

Apple iPhone 6 complete review: Official specs, images and Promo Video