A relaxing place.

I make it a point to visit the magnificent National Trust property Filoli frequently, and wander the grounds and do some reading after enjoying an excellent Panini sandwich in the café.

Such a trip washes away the day’s concerns and one comes home recharged. It doesn’t hurt that the journey is all back roads except for a short blast on California’s most beautiful freeway, the 280 on the way down to Woodside.

I generally end my sojourn in the conservatory which has comfortable seating and is a haven of peace and quiet.

The Conservatory at Filoli. iPhone 5.

An excellent camera.

I wrote about how I believe Apple is managing inventory of the iPhone 5 in Part I.

‘Limited’ as in none. iPhone 4S snap in the Apple Store.

So while there may be a bit of a wait until the floodgates open in Q4/2012, it’s worth it. If you consider your cell phone camera as the one you always have with you, you will want to upgrade.

Let’s retrace. The iPhone 3GS camera was so-so, meaning slow and noisy, as was the one in iPhone 4. Then a quantum leap occurred in iPhone 4S when the sensor jumped to 8 megapixels and the responsiveness of the shutter button was greatly improved. I have already illustrated panoramas using iOS6 in the iPhone 4S and the quality in the iPhone 5 remains excellent. Determined to try out the rumored enhanced low light capability of the iPhone 5’s camera I took it to my country home (aka Filoli – you know, the place my 10 year old son wants to buy) and repaired to the poorly lit interiors.

My first snap startled me. The delay between shutter press and the taking of the picture has been dramatically reduced. I jumped, not expecting this, then proceeded to cycle the shuter as fast as I could. Lightroom 4 reports that I banged off 3 pictures in one second and 4 would have been easily achievable. This compares to maybe 1 per second with the iPhone 4S. It’s quite extraordinary, comparing well with the shutter response in a film rangefinder Leica – where you have to wind the film between snaps – and as good as a better grade DSLR like the Nikon D700, where the cycling rate is comparable in single shot mode. This means the camera is almost directly wired to the photographer’s eye. See an image and snap!, it’s yours.

I determined the optimum import settings in LR4 to be as follows, and saved these to an import preset:

iPhone 5 LR4 import settings.

To reduce noise in big prints these are the related settings:

iPhone 5 LR4 noise settings.

The drawing-room at Filoli. 1/20th second.

The camera was focused on the green vases on the mantlepiece by touching the display at the appropriate location. Though the display is now 16:9, up from 4:3 thanks to the taller dimension, still image files remain 4:3, as before. The original JPG file size is 2.7MB.

Here’s a section which would make a 30″ x 24″ print:

Section of above image.

The develop settings in the two panels above have been applied, together with a little boost from the Clarity and Vibrance sliders. Outstanding.

Now you don’t get the dynamic range available in a RAW file and I did not use the HDR function, though for very high contrast subjects that would make sense.

The camera is now so good that no excuse need be made for large print images. I routinely printed 13″ x 19″ from the 4S and feel confident in saying that 18″ x 24″ with the best images would be easily achieved, no excuses needed.

A friend wrote “I bet Apple has four or five camera prototypes in the lab” after I had shared my findings with him. I so hope that is the case. The design clearly incorporates real world usage needs, not something concoted by the dopes at Fuji.

The main drawback in poor light is that a support is needed. There’s nothing worse than having to hold a camera several inches from your face in a poorly lit room than holding it a foot away from your face. The above image was at 1/20th second, and I got lucky, as it’s razor sharp at the focus point. As with the iPhone 4S, the zoom function, accomplished by ‘unpinching’ – you know, the patented technology Android stole from Apple – will simply make a noisier image, so I don’t bother using it; the same result can be accomplished at the processing stage.

In conclusion, if you are happy with a fixed 33mm FFE lens this is an excellent photographic tool, if not blessed with the greatest ergonomics. Can’t be bothered to drag the monster DSLR along? The iPhone 5 does just fine. I would think that a real optical zoom cannot be too far away. Maybe in iPhone 6?

And before I forget, want to see why any sane SF Bay user should be getting a Verizon LTE iPhone 5 rather than an AT&T one with LTE scarcely to be found? Here are the cellular speeds at Filoli, which is pretty much in the middle of nowhere:

Cellular speeds – Verizon LTE, iPhone 5

In town I routinely get 20MBS download.

Getting out of your AT&T contract: Verizon is known to be very rigid on enforcing contract terms, but AT&T is weak. I had one year left on my 2 year iPhone 4S contract with AT&T and was offered two choices. Cancel the contract for $215 or sell the 4S back to AT&T for $227, then pay $449 for the iPhone 5 on a new 2 year contract. Such a deal. A quick check of eBay disclosed an average selling price of $335 for a 16GB 4S. Mine had some rub marks on one side so I listed it for $295 ‘Buy It Now’ with free US Priority shipping. It sold 60 seconds after listing, net cash to me being some $262, less the $215 contract cancellation payment to AT&T, meaning $47 left. I applied that to my new Verizon 16GB iPhone 5 ($199 + $53 CA sales tax), for a net outlay of $205, which I will deduct as business expense on my tax return. Assuming I have taxable income this year the net after-tax cost is lower still.

Disclosure: Long AAPL, BRCM, QCOM.

First impressions.

Advice for baristas and starving students regarding the purchase of an iPhone 5 appears here. One word version? Don’t.

For those who can afford the latest toy or who need it for their day job (me!) it’s simply a deductible business expense, and as my business involves being current and fast it’s a no brainer. The monthly fees remain unchanged, and the proceeds of sale of the old AT&T iPhone 4S will pay for the early contract cancellation charge.

First, the secret of snagging one and not paying someone to wait in line for you is to order it at 10pm local time in the US, go to check out and check “In Store Delivery”. Enter your zip and next morning’s inventory status will be reported for all your local Apple Stores. I tried on Monday and no joy, but hit the jackpot Tuesday. Quickly told a friend but at 10:15 his trigger finger was too slow and they were out. The pleasure of shopping in an uncrowded Apple Store is like Tiffany’s, but cheaper. The girls in Tiffany’s, however, now that’s something else …. 10 minutes in and out and I was off to activate the iPhone at the local proctologist’s, err, make that Verizon. Want to know what it feels like to live in North Korea? Visit a Verizon or AT&T store. After three hours at the Verizon Store I was fried, fit to be tied and activated. This after running across the road to the Apple Store for another NanoSIM as VZ fried the first one. Another hour and my old AT&T iPhone 4S number was ported over.

Allow me to enlighten you on the inventory situation. AAPL’s fiscal year ends 9/30/2012 and they have already sold enough iPhones to exceed earnings expectations. Thus there is absolutely no purpose served by having more sales stuffed into Q4. As they can sell all they make, it makes sense to hoard the inventory then put it out Q1/2013, meaning October 1st. It’s the perfect earnings manipulation tool. Further, despite all the journalists’ reports of display manufacturing backlogs, not one iota of credible evidence has surfaced to support this statement. Still, journalists are people who could not get a real job and are fact agnostic. Their driver is clicks. No clicks, no Big Mac.

How does the iPhone 5 feel? In a word, worse than the iPhone 4S. It’s not that the extra height is not welcomed – it is – but the device is too light, feeling like a cheap toy. The 4S feels, well, like a Leica M2. The iPhone 5 feels like any plastic prosumer horror of a camera – like my Panny G3, for example. (In fairness, the G3 is an order of magnitude superior to the M2 in every respect except how it feels). Sure the much vaunted micron fit and finish is great but I cannot tell the difference between 1 micron and 10 microns and nor can you. The fit and finish of the 4S is identical in practice, the glass back nicer, if more fragile than the alloy one now in use in the latest model.

The other thing I fail to understand is who really needs the thinnest phone? Is not better battery life worthwhile for an ounce/millimeter or two? Keep the 4S battery, Apple, make it feel like the 4S and get with the program.Thin really sells that much?

The new connector? Ever tried inserting an USB plug into the desktop tower while grovelling amongst the black beetles with a flashlight? The new connector rocks. It’s reversible. If you are complaining about paying $29 for a spare, get real. An Android phone is just what you need. Good luck with that mini-USB thing. This connector is the bee’s knees.

iCloud now works well. I backed up the 4S to the Cloud and then restored onto the 5 and the whole thing was seamless, though my son’s games took over an hour to restore over wi-fi. And when you see the realism of a game like Infinity Blade you breathe a sigh of relief that the authors are on our side.

I am not going to publish any objective measurements here. Those are all over the web and can be summarized by saying that all app activities are 2-3x as fast as iPhone 4S and 1.5-2x as fast as iPad3, both on paper and in subjective use. Best of all, AT&T’s lying display of ‘4G’ on the 4S (4MBS download speed on a good day) is forever history as the 4S is consigned to eBay. The iPhone 5 has real 4G and handily delivers 20-25MBS every time. In Burlingame, where I live, on the SF Peninsula, Verizon rules, and has 4G towers everywhere. By contrast, AT&T is still looking for its pickaxe and handle to put up towers.

But the sublimest pleasure in the acquisition of an iPhone 5 for this user has nothing to do with the phone. It’s the simple and immensely enjoyable act of firing AT&T. Sure Verizon is no better, but one devil fired just feels, you know, good. In fact, that was the first call I made on it.

More on the camera in practical use soon.

Note to Apple: Please buy a US telco and fire everyone in customer service. Integrate the operation into the Apple Store/Specialists/Geniuses with proper training and bedside manner.

Disclosure: Long AAPL, BRCM, QCOM.

Outstanding definition.

When you see results like the one below you want to beg Apple to make a real camera. Something with a minimum of buttons, no ridiculous multiple choice LED settings, small, fast, maybe with software enhanced out-of-focus capability, iCloud integration, Siri voice control and an in-body non-extending zoom covering 28-90mm at f/2.

I have mentioned before that Apple needs to explore new markets to keep up its torrid growth, markets such as home appliances and in-car controls.

But the obvious one is cameras. It meshes perfectly with Apple’s business model. Take something which everyone uses – PCs, phones, cloud storage, cameras – and make it better. A lot better. In the process get rid of all the options only a few pizza-guzzling nerds deem essential, serving only to make an ergonomic nightmare of the result. And the competition here, as was the case with smartphones, hasn’t had an original idea in years, resting comfortably on its oligopolistic laurels (meaning Canon and Nikon) for lack of competition. Ripe for the picking.

And Apple has to do this because at present rates even pygmies in equatorial New Guinea will soon have iPhones.

The camera market is enormous and the competition simply awful. Look at the average DSLR. A design catastrophe with its plethora of buttons, levers, controls, options and so on. The modern DSLR could hardly be made less user-friendly and the prime reason to own one is to secure the highest quality results, accepting the penalties of bulk, weight, poor useability and cost.

How large is this market? Apple could sell a sophisticated, beautifully designed iCamera for $499 all day long. They already have all the knowhow needed to make such a device. If the iPhone 5 can make a projected 100 million in sales then an iCamera could easily do 25 million annually. That’s $12.5 billion in revenue and $5 billion in profits, instantly adding 25% to the bottom line and share price.

To see what I’m rambling on about, look what iOS6’s panorama mode from the minuscule sensor in the iPhone 4S can do:

Click the picture to download the 8MB original file

Stretched across the full 57″ width of my three Dell 21″ displays the definition is stunning.

57″ wide display.

The location is the sundial garden at Filoli, the same sundial which my son and I set correctly on our previous visit. It remains correct.

Disclosure: Long AAPL, BRCM, QCOM, OVTI.

Well, I tried.

…. and quite possibly the worst investment you can make.

Considering that Apple stock has secured four years for my boy Winston at Harvard, and maybe two more if he is set on becoming an educated derelict, I make it a point to check out the local Apple Store when each new iPhone is announced.

My intentions, you must understand, are purely altruistic. Aware that the majority is desperately in need of sound investment advice, I checked out the crowd, eager to dispense some wisdom at no cost.

Well, the crowd at the Burlingame California store was 150 yards long at 8:15am today. Maybe 250 people. I had Winston roll down the car window and proclaimed in a loud voice to all assembled “Buy the stock, not the phone!”.

Now, somewhat to my dismay, this caused hilarity among the assembled masses, comprised largely of students and the like. What I was expecting was a collective frown of concern and looks of contrition. But, no. The bozos lining up and ensuring Winston’s sojourn on the Charles River thought this the funniest thing they had heard all morning.

For the predominant demographic represented in like lines the world over, the iPhone is the single worst expenditure they could possibly make. Their ‘$200’ iPhone (actually $200 + $55 tax in CA, tax being charged on the unsubsidized $650 price) will end up costing them no less than $2,175 over the life of the two year contract. They would be far better off with a prepaid, throw away phone plus a MacBook Air or iPad, and pocket the substantial difference. This would afford them a far better computing experience on a keyboard you can actually use and a screen you can see, rather than the ridiculous ‘computer’ which the iPhone claims to be.

Oh! well. I tried. Meanwhile, keep buying those iPhones, suckers. I thank you and my son thanks you.

Disclosure: Long AAPL, BRCM, QCOM, OVTI.