Today I found myself enjoying the view of the distant London skyline from Primrose Hill when I suddenly thought it would be a wonderful opportunity to test out the new panorama mode in iOS 6 on the iPhone 5.
This was a very quick panorama, taking about ten seconds to shoot. If you click on the photo below you will see a 50%, 6.3 megapixel (5400 x 1166) version of the shot from the iPhone re-sized in Photoshop and saved with 80% quality in a new browser window (be sure to click on it in the new browser window it if is scaled down to fit initially). If you click on the link at the bottom of this post you can download the original 16MB, 25.2 megapixel (10800 x 2332) image straight from the iPhone 5 for a closer look. I thought this post might be of interest to those interested in seeing how the IOS 6 panorama feature performs.
Primrose Hill London iPhone 5 panorama
It is interesting to me what a remarkably painless job the iPhone does of capturing panoramas. It takes almost no effort at all and you get rather great results. Admittedly I don’t see this approach replacing the tripod and DSLR approach of the discerning photographer but the iPhone does a very good job. The iPhone shots have the perspective corrected automatically and while the above shot was just a quick test, it could easily be improved in your favourite photo editing software. I have to say I am very impressed.
Although the creation of panoramic images is nothing new and it has certainly been getting easier in recent years with the evolution of software such as Photoshop, I can imagine that we will be seeing many more panoramas in the months to come due to the sheer simplicity and accessibiliy offered by iOS 6 devices.
Oh and you really should visit Primrose Hill if you haven’t had a chance to do so already as it is rather lovely. I hear that sunrise is particularly spectacular.
Download the original file here (right click and save as).
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As you can probably imagine I was rather excited at the prospect of receiving my brand new iPhone 5 this morning. I managed to pre-order one online on the morning of Friday 14th September and went for an unlocked 16GB black/slate model for £529.
It was delivered by courier this morning (Friday 21st September) just before 12pm and just as the reviews and previews I had read indicated, it was indeed a great looking phone. It somehow manages to look infinitely sleeker than its portly cousin the iPhone 4S. Although it is reportedly only 20% lighter than the 4S it seems a great deal lighter than that when holding it. It almost feels like the dummy models you sometimes see on shop floors, only this is a real, working handset. The weight, or lack of is most certainly a good thing.
The screen feels much larger than previous iPhones yet it doesn’t feel oversized like some of the other handsets I have used recently. I am able to reach every area on the screen without having to stretch my thumb awkwardly. I don’t want to turn this into a review of the iPhone 5 but suffice to say I was incredibly pleased with my purchase in almost all respects, all respects that is apart from one very crucial aspect – build quality.
Let me provide a little bit of background. For the most part I enjoy using Apple kit. I have a MacBook Pro, iPod, iPad 3 and I’ve owned an iPhone 3G, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S and now an iPhone 5. I have always been more than happy with the build quality of the devices I have purchased. Of course it is possible to damage them if you aren’t careful, but I have always felt that they were of a high build quality. Upon initial inspection I naturally thought the same of my new iPhone 5 and indeed I expected no less. This however may have been a somewhat hasty assumption.
I have now had the phone approximately eight hours and as you can imagine I have been incredibly careful with it. The phone has been on my desk and in my pocket. It has not been dropped or manhandled in any way, shape or form. Unfortunately I have already noticed that part of the thin plastic trim that is wrapped around the edge of the screen is actually coming away from the phone. This trim is so thin you would be forgiven for not even realising it was there, but there is a thin bit of black plastic around the edge of the glass. I could easily pull it away from the phone and the whole thing would come off. The problem is you can’t really ignore it because it protrudes from the phone so it is surely just a matter of time before it snags on something and completely snaps off.
The phone has literally been in my pocket for a few hours and it’s already starting to come apart – I have never experienced this kind of issue with any of my previous devices. Can you imagine what it will be like in a week from now? A month? A year? My white iPhone 4S still looks like new a year after purchase, yet the iPhone 5 is beginning to look tatty already.
I am going to get in touch with Apple and hopefully they will replace it for me. Quite possibly this will be a one off incident and nobody else will experience this kind of defect but I wanted to provide some photos and let you guys know just in case this is the beginning of a trend. I have never had to contact Apple customer service before as I have never had a problem with any of my devices, let alone a brand new iPhone only several hours after taking possession of it. I realise that some products will have defects, that’s just the way it goes. Perhaps I’m simply unlucky this time around – if that’s the case then I will of course understand.
I’m not angry with you Apple, I’m just disappointed.
You can right-click and download a high res 3993×2661 image here to see the fault in better detail.
** UPDATE – 2012/09/22 **
I spoke to Apple after sales this morning who were extremely helpful and have agreed to send me a replacement handset as soon as one is available. They have also agreed to arrange the collection of the old handset in such a way that I am not without a phone at any point. This is really great customer service. Hopefully this fault was just a one off issue. My faith in Apple, for the time being at least, has been restored.
** UPDATE – 2012/09/25 **
My replacement iPhone 5 arrived today and is immaculate. The phone arrived much sooner than I was expecting, I had been told there would potentially be a several week wait. This iPhone 5 certainly doesn’t have the same problem as the one it is replacing.
I now just need to arrange a collection of the old handset by the courier. The Apple customer service has been extremely efficient and I am impressed – the customer service representative I spoke to was extremely helpful and I have absolutely no complaints. Fingers crossed this iPhone will be trouble free.
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We have just returned from Hawaii on honeymoon but this is an iPhone shot as we were coming in to land in Oahu. An absolutely beautiful part of the world and although I may be back home in Blighty my heart remains in Hawaii (along with my sleeping pattern.. jet lag is a real pain!).
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So last night we went along to see some fireworks at a local display and the venue we had chosen also had a fun fair with a bunch of rides featuring lots of neon lights and motion. It had been raining quite heavily when we left the house and I hadn’t taken my ‘proper‘ camera with me. So I nonchalantly took out my iPhone 4S and snapped a few impromptu images shortly after we arrived. When I got home I was pleasantly surprised with the result of one of the shots in particular.
I think what is really incredible is that the iPhone camera (and lots of other mobile phones I’m sure) have the potential to capture such decent quality shots in less than ideal conditions. It’s wonderful to have such a capable camera in my pocket with me everywhere I go and from now on I’m going to make a more concerted effort to use it. I think Chase Jarvis may have actually been onto something when he said that The Best Camera is the One That’s with You.
This has really made me reconsider how I think about my iPhone camera in relation to my Canon DSLR. I guess at the end of the day all that matters is making the shot, everything else is kind of irrelevant.
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I’ve been thinking about it since Thursday and wanted to take a moment to post something about Steve Job’s passing.
I found out that Steve Jobs had passed away just under a week ago while eating breakfast and scanning the headlines using my iPhone, which has become part of my morning routine over the last few years. It was of course incredibly sad news and shocking despite knowing that Steve had been unwell for some time. I think it is fair to say that we all realised this was going to happen, especially following his resignation as CEO of Apple back in August but I don’t think anyone expected it to happen quite so soon. It was perhaps poetic that I along with many others learned of his passing while using one of Apple’s iconic devices.
I was of course saddened to learn of his death but not having known the man personally I didn’t feel the emotional connection that some people seem to have felt, judging by the numerous tweets and blogs posts that I have subsequently read. I did however spend my drive that morning on my way to work thinking about Steve Jobs passing. I thought about the legacy he leaves behind and the impact he has made on the technology landscape. He was multifaceted. A perfectionist and by all accounts could be very difficult to work with or work for but he was unquestionably driven and his drive has to be the biggest factor in pushing him to succeed and create the innovations that he will be forever be remembered for. I did not however intend for this post to simply be a shrine to Steve Jobs – there are already plenty of those available elsewhere, no doubt written far more eloquently than I could possibly manage.
While driving home that evening I turned on the radio and caught the second half of his 2005 Stanford speech. I do remember hearing this speech before only this time it felt even more poignant and personal and I have to admit I actually had a tear in my eye towards the end. I don’t think I have ever shed a tear due to the passing of a company CEO or somebody in the public eye but this was a little different. When you listen to Steve talk about life and death you forget who is speaking and just hear a universal message that applies to us all. The video is posted at the end of this post and the whole speech is moving but here are a couple of extracts I felt were particularly poignant:
“When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
– Steve Jobs, Stanford commencement speech, June 2005
The sentiment is both incredibly profound and completely true and has been at the back of my mind since hearing it. It makes me think about my own life and making the most of the time I have. We each have a responsibility to ensure our own individual happiness as nobody else can do this for us.
Stay hungry, stay foolish and thanks for everything Steve.
