The Apple Store experience in China and Hong Kong

Hands-on with the iPhone 6S

It is somewhat of an experience to visit an actual Apple Store and is considered a privilege for people living in the Southeast Asia as Apple is yet to open an official Apple Store in this region (correction: Apple will be launching it's first official store in SEA next year in Singapore, read more on that in my previous blog entry). I can still remember the first time I stepped into an Apple Store, it was totally by accident. At that time, I was merely walking around the Festival Walk mall in Hong Kong looking for some devices which are not available in Malaysia and I unknowingly bumped into the big Apple logo on the first floor.

But that was nearly three years ago and back then I was only focusing on the new iPhone 5 which was still not available in Malaysia. So this year, I am back to document and visit not 1 but 4 Apple Stores in about a 24 hour timeframe. This trip is somewhat of a coincidence as my visa was expiring during the weekend of the iPhone 6S launch and I had the opportunity to head across the border to Hong Kong and visit the three (out of 4) Apple Stores there.

The Apple Store journey begins after the break. I will also leave in directions to each Apple Store location and the time to get there so you can also try out this one-day trip on your own if you are visiting both Shenzhen and Hong Kong.

What Apple experts say about the 12.9-inch iPad Pro

The PC Killer?

credit: FINANCIAL POST

In 2010, Steve Jobs took to the stage to unveil the iPad which was all nothing but a bigger iPhone at that time but with the popularity of iOS growing dramatically over the years, developers started taking interest in designing new experiences specifically targeted at the iPad's larger display. Ever since the original iPad was launched, subsequent iPad models brought into market basically worked as expected. Sure, there is more powerful hardware being included in each iteration but that's well expected for a next generation product. As you can say, the iPad whether it's the mini or the Air is basically the same.

Just like the iPhone, Apple will refresh the iPad lineup every year and while the hardware has been getting more impressive year after year, iOS still feels like a bigger iPhone on the iPad. Currently, there are over 850,000 applications that take advantage of the iPad's larger display but this year with iOS 9, Apple is finally bringing in some well needed software enhancements to improve productivity and multitasking on their beloved tablet.

With the new multitasking features enabled, this is where the next generation iPad comes to play. iPad Pro is what Apple is calling it and just like Apple's own MacBook lineup (which also conveniently has an Air and Pro model), the iPad Pro is designed to be a high performance device that will supposedly replace your computer according to Tim Cook. The big screen is not the only new thing available on the iPad Pro, there's also a new smart connector which is used to attach accessories like a physical keyboard without any wireless connectivity making it a native experience. But is it just a bigger iPad like how the mini is a smaller iPad?

Draw Something 2 Announced, Popularity Revival ?

Well after quite a few weeks of being rumored, Zynga has finally announced the sequel to the one time hit game Draw Something which was extremely popular for a short period of time last year. This time around Zynga is giving the game a refresh by giving in some new tools for the gameplay. Gone is the old design of the app and replacing it is a much more modern and popping out interface which take similar design cues from the instagram app. But with all of the new things being added by Zynga this time around the core gameplay and objective of the game is still there which is to draw something from the words provided and asking your friend's to guess it. Currently the game is only in the App Store but it might soon be available for download in both the Google Play Store and Windows Phone Store. Check out the screen shots below showcasing the app. 

• Draw Something 2 [$2.99]
• Draw Something 2 [Free]

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The iPad Is The Best Tablet In The World, Why? Find Out Here

Approximately 3 years ago nobody even knew what a tablet was and the majority of the people were using their phones, computes, gameboys, PSP's, etc. Well today the majority of people living in the face of earth knows what a tablet is unless in this past 3 years you have been living under a rock like patrick. Today i'm going to talk about why i think the iPad is the best tablet in the world period. First up is that without the introduction of the iPad by Steve Jobs in 2010, the average tablet we know and love might not be so or maybe the tablet category even ceased to exist. Additionally, the iPad was not the first tablet in the world, there were many tablets long before the iPad was introduced in 2010. Moving back to the story, when Steve Jobs announced the iPad in 2010, it was really a revolutionary product. The first gen product sold pretty well an its successors continue the glory by selling even well time after time. Also in the same year at IFA, Samsung introduced their first ever tablet which was powered by android and was called the Galaxy Tab. Although in the past 3 years companies have tried making tablets as successful like the iPad by these tablets never came close to the iPad. Notable companies like Samsung and Asus has pushed out tablets which are really innovative. Up until recently only Samsung introduced the iPad mini which is what apple calls 'every inch an iPad'. Last year the tablet wars started flaming up with Google announcing two Nexus tablets which are very powerful and has a very reasonable price. So what does this mean for Apple ? For that answer you'll have to tune in to another article which is coming in the near future. 

So here are some of the top reasons why i think the iPad is the best tablet in the world. The top of the list is the ecosystem and apps; the digital world we live in today is revolving around apps and content and that is what iTunes is all about and it does it like no other. As Apple touted in the iPad mini announcement last October, there is 275,000 apps in the App Store made just for the iPad and these apps are not just scaled up phone apps. That point is really valid because i have used a Galaxy Tab before and the apps are really just not optimized well; Especially something like the instagram app which blows the image up until you see some tearing. The next point which i'm going to point out is that if you're buying an iPad, you're buying an Apple product and if you're buying and Apple product you are buying yourself in to the world of trust and premiumness. Also Apple products are made to last and it's pretty rare that you hear people nagging that their iPad is lagging unless the software is buggy etc. My next point is also related to apps, this point is somewhat an iOS thing but i'll still sound it out; the thing is that developers tend to develop apps for iOS first then only android this trend is still continuing for some developers even though that Android is more popular than iOS now. Examples of this are, Temple Run which only came to android 8 months after being on iOS. Another scene is with Instagram which launched in late October and up until last April that it was launched on Android. Additionally the biggest concern of users in this age is that iOS is boring and static icons is not the way to go, that has proven true in the smartphone world but in the tablet that point is still not thrown on the table just yet. 

The thing is that people complain that iOS is not customizable and that point is not that valid in the tablet world because having widgets on a tablet is not a good idea (for smaller tablets yes) because widgets on android tablets seems to be small and not optimized also when you change to portrait mode the orientation of the widgets follow on and feels a bit disorientated. In the end having static rows of icons on a tablet is actually a good idea. One additional thought is that the multitasking on the iPad is really like no other tablets (excluding windows 8 that is), the app switching gestures and closing app gestures are just very convenient. Well you can say that android has a multitasking button but that uses an extra step. The next resolution is that the iPad is really more easier to use (if you exclude playing with the settings), its as simple as clicking an app an using it. Personally i think that the iPad is really the best tablet in the world period. I am an owner of the first gen iPad  and a Galaxy Tab 10.1 and i've used both of it and really the iPad is unbeatable in most aspects. One of the best things about the iPad is that i use it a few hours a day and i only charge it once a week or at most twice, mind to note that i'm using the first gen iPad. But with the Galaxy Tab its a totally different story as the battery is something like an android phone but a tad bit better. Also my 1st gen iPad is running iOS 5.1 and the Galaxy Tab 10.1 running Android 4.0; notably the Galaxy Tab has a better spec but still the iPad gets through with some light stuttering every now and then and the Galaxy Tab is like any other android tablet. Another thing which i really like about the iPad is the physical home button its serves as some tactile feedback unlike most tablets today having capacitive keys and even on screen keys. This is all i can say but to sum things up, the iPad is my choice for a tablet period. 

Buy me a cup of coffee to keep me going by donating to me via Paypal. Subscribe to this blog for up to date tech content or you can follow us on Twitter, like our Facebook page and add us to your circles in Google+ to be updated with the latest tech content. Learn More About The Galaxy S4 Here. Tip us about something we are not aware of

Apple Managed To Sell Over 3 Million iPad 4's & iPad Mini's Over The Weekend

Last weekend Apple opened the sales of the WiFi iPad mini and the iPad 4. Although these devices were not overwhelmingly popular, Apple still managed to sell over 3 million units in the course of 3 days. Apple however did not disclose the breakdown of iPad mini sales and iPad 4 sales. But that amount is still more than the 1.5 million set by the iPad 3 in the opening weekend. Personally i think that the iPad 4 sold more because it has the latest and greatest hardware paired up with the retina display. Bu there are indications that Apple sold quite an amount of iPad minis when some Apple stores went out of stock of the iPad mini. 

Source: Redmond Pie 
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IDC Reports Show That The iPad's Market Share Is Slowly Going Down

This year has been a rollercoaster ride for Apple as there are times where they are good and bad. According to IDC the iPad's market share is now dropping slowly and now it only holds a mere 50.4% whereas Samsung holds 18.4% of the market. Next up in the list is Amazon with 9% and Asus and Lenovo is is placed 4th and 5th with 8.6% and 1.4% of the market respectively. The tablet market is now being shaked up and anything can happen in Q4 because W8 tablets are out, the iPad mini is out and so is the Nexus 10. We will just have to wait and see. 

Source: Phonearena 
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The New ipad was apple's 'Plan B'

New report suggest that the new iPad is actually Apple's “Plan B” ipad, as the original idea was to launch a tablet that was thinner and lighter than the iPad 2. Apple wanted to use a new display technology from Sharp but the Japanese multinational wasn’t able to have the tech ready in time. CNET reported that Apple initially planned to use IGZO (indium gallium zinc oxide) semiconducting material to create the new iPad screens. DisplayMate Technologies CEO Raymond Soneira told the publication that IGZO features a lot higher electron mobility which would allow them to make the transistors and the circuit elements a lot smaller. DisplaySearch analyst Richard Shim is confident that the new iPad that Apple released wasn’t part of the original plan. He noted that they pushed the amorphous silicon to a higher pixel per inch than anyone else has but since the light throughput wasn’t very good, they needed double the number of LEDs. This made the 70 percent larger battery mandatory to keep the same battery rating claims as the iPad 2 which ultimately led to a thicker and heavier ipad. Furthermore, Apple hasn’t had any trouble convincing people to buy their third generation iPad as evident by the 11.8 million tablets the company shipped last quarter. Since then Sharp started producing panels based on IGZO technology which we could possibly see in the next generation iPad or other tech related gadgets.

Source: Techspot

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The new IPAD

The new ipad was released this morning at apple's ipad event. the event covers the ipad and the apple tv. one of the key features of the new ipad is the retina display, which has a resolution of 2048 X 1536 pixel resolution. it also packs a A5X chip which is a dual core processor with a quad core GPU. the next big thing in this new ipad is the improved camera; this camera is a 5 megapixel sensor which is capable of recording 1080p video. other camera features are auto-focus and face detection. it also comes with 4G LTE support from Verizon and AT&T. the price is still the same; $499 for the 16gb wifi version, $599 for the 32gb, and 699 for the 64gb. whereas the 4G versions retails at $629 for the 16gb version, $729 for the 32gb , and finally $829 for the 64gb version the new ipad will be available starting from 16 March and will be available for pre-order starting today. the bottom line is that the ipad still keeps the reveloutionary 10 hour batter life on wifi but can only last 9 hours on 4G. whereas the Apple TV can now support ups to 1080p video playback

Source: Geeky Gadgets