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APPLE HAS UNVEILED the latest additions to its iPhone range: the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus.
At a media event in San Francisco, Tim Cook unveiled both the 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch devices saying it was “the best iPhone we have ever created… It makes all the things you do every day so much better”.
Both phones will come with the latest version of its operating system iOS 10 and is powered by a new A10 chip. It is water and dust-resistant, has a retina HD display and will start at 32GB. The home button is now force sensitive, using a taptic engine found in the Macbook to determine soft or hard presses.
Battery life has also been improved with the iPhone 7 having two more hours of battery life than the iPhone 6 and one hour more than the iPhone 6s.
The biggest change is that the headphone jack has been ditched in favour of the lightning port. Headphones will need to connect to it, via Bluetooth or an adapter.
It also announced Wireless earbuds called AirPods which have up to five hours battery life.
The Airpods also come with a chip built-in so it will be able to tell when you’re wearing them before playing music. It will also work with Siri, coming with a touch pad, and the case is also a charger, storing up to 24 hours of charge.
The iPhone 7 will include wired earbuds and an adaptor for those who still wish to use traditional headphones, but you will have to pay for the AirPods which will be available in October.
The iPhone now comes with an upgrade to the camera. It will also come with stabilisation as well as a new sensor and image processor for better quality photos.
The Plus now has 12MP cameras, one dedicated to wide-lens shots. The camera app comes with a 1X button which, when tapped, takes a photo with the telephoto lens and lets you shoot with optical zoom, going as far as 10X if the user requires it.
It also allows depth of field which by using software to scan the photo, makes the subject pop out and look like it’s almost 3D.
Traditionally, Apple announces a major update every two years, starting off with a new digit like the iPhone 6 in 2014 before releasing an updated ‘s’ version a year later (the 6s in 2015).
However, the upgrade cycles for users has changed thanks to smartphone technology plateauing and with the tenth anniversary of the iPhone launch happening next year, it’s likely that Apple is saving major changes for that year’s version.
It’s a me, Mario
Apple also announced a new version of the Apple Watch called Series 2. One of the major features is it’s now swim proof. It can now be taken 50 metres underwater and comes with a dual-core processor making it 50% faster, and built-in GPS so you can run or walk without bringing your phone.
The event was also used to announce a new iOS title from Nintendo. Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of Mario, Zelda and Donkey Kong, announced a new mobile game called Super Mario Run. An endless running-style game, it will be released at the end of the year at a set price, instead of following the free-to-play model most games use.
Another Nintendo property, Pokemon Go, was announced for the Apple Watch. The CEO of Niantic Labs John Hanke took the opportunity to say it had been downloaded over 500 million times.
Both the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus are expected to be released in Ireland next month with pricing yet to be confirmed. It will come in five different colours: jet black, black, silver, gold and rose gold.
Pre-orders will start on 9 September while the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus will go on sale in Ireland on 16 September. iOS 10 will be released on 13 September.
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A lecturer of mine used multiple choice questions along with negative marking in our assessments, to this day I still have nightmares of getting a minus result!
Oh god negative marking used to be the death of me!!
Multiple choice questions are a superficial test of superficial fact based knowledge.
The methodology has more to do with providing an easily quantifiable performance assessment than anything to do with real world deep knowledge, real cognition, and problem solving.
Einstein performed poorly at school on a primitive version of multiple choice questions.
If you can’t answer a simple MCQ right I don’t see how a person could have a “real world deep knowledge, real cognition, and problem solving” skills on the topic.
MCQ questions limit the candidates ability to waffle and takes away any subjective bias of the marker. I would argue that MCQs test a candidates deeper understanding. Essays can be open ended, answers ambiguous and in some situations the marker barely reads/analyses the answers.
The question is…. Does implementing these strategies mean you are more intelligent that someone who actually studied?
Obviously not!
I write MCQs too and it is not pure crap as some, but not all, of the patterns he found will persist after randomizing the questions or the order of the answers.
It is unfortunately true that MCQs are a very limited way of assessing students but given resource constraints they may be a necessary evil.
This is pure crap to be honest. I write MCQs and yes, humans do write them and they do give patterns…but… We have software that jumbles the questions sync and the order in which the answers appear so everyone gets a different test with the answers in different orders…
I took the licensing test for radio operators and knew only about 50% of the answers. I used some of these techniques and general cop-on and brought my score up to nearly 80%
That’s why I love multiple Choice Questions in exams, one of the options has to be correct, it’s just a matter of figuring out which one is the most plausible.
There’s hope for me. Cheating the tests and beating the system. I’ll become a Guard yet!!
Do you mean a Garda .
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