News

It is time to decide what to do with your old iPhone now that Apple has officially announced the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. The new models will be available on September 19th, which still gives you time to lock-in a trade-in value for your old device. The electronics re-seller Gazelle is currently offering up to $335 for select used iPhone models, but prices normally fall sharply when a new iPhone is announced, so you should act now.

Trading-in your old iPhone model for cash is easy and can nab you a new iPhone 6 for free. For example, the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 will be available for pre-order on September 12th starting at $199 and the 5.5-inch iPhone Plus will be available starting at $299. If you lock-in your trade-in value now you could potentially get up to $335 depending on the condition and model of your iPhone. That's more than enough money to buy a 16GB iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus.

As expected, Apple today announced two new iPhone 6 models and its first wearable device named the "Apple Watch". The iPhone 6 features a 4.7-inch 1,334 x 750 Retina Display HD, and the iPhone 6 Plus boasts a 5.5-inch Retina Display HD. Both devices are powered by Apple's new A8 chip, which is 25 percent faster than the A7 chip found in the iPhone 5s. The A8 is also 50 percent more energy efficient offering up to an estimated 14 hours of talk time, 11 hours of video and 10 days of standby.

The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are equipped with an 8MP rear-facing camera, f/2.2 aperture and a new imaging chip with improved features such as better noise reduction and so on. Both models also support 1080p video at up to 60 frames per second, and slow-motion video is now capable of 240 frames per second. The iPhone 6 Plus also includes optical image stabilization. Other features include 802.11ac WiFi, 150Mbps LTE data, WiFi calling, one-handed mode, NFC and Apple Pay.

The iPhone 6 keynote presentation at Flint Center is coming up fast. Speculation and last minute leaks have been piling up for weeks, with the next generation camera being one area of interest. Apple routinely touts the lens improvements and low-light capabilities of the iPhone camera. Now, parts photographed by Feld & Volk show optical image stabilization (OIS) could be entering the mix.

OIS works by allowing the components to physically move, in turn sharpening the image by reducing vibrations and other movement at the image sensor. The rear camera parts pictured here are said to be from the 5.5-inch iPhone 6. It remains unclear whether or not the smaller 4.7-inch iPhone 6 model will also feature OIS. Compared to the current iPhone 5s camera module (below, right) the new part is larger and flatter.

Much of the news over the past week was about Apple's big event this coming Tuesday, September 9th. Apple announced on Thursday that the event would be streamed live on Apple.com. Official invitations were sent out the previous Thursday. The iPhone 6 will definitely be unveiled, and it is almost certain at this point that the company's wearable device (popularly, but unofficially, dubbed "iWatch") will make its debut as well. The event will take place at the Flint Center for Performing Arts, which has about four times the capacity of Apple's traditional venue, the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco.

In addition to the unveiling of the iPhone 6 and iWatch, many analysts believe the next generation iPad Air will be announced as well. Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities believes it will debut next week and will feature an A8 processor, Touch ID fingerprint sensor and an improved camera. You also may be able to get it with a gold chassis.

It was a big week for Rovio Entertainment who released Angry Birds Stella to the App Store on Thursday. The gaming studio also got the internet buzzing with its retro 80's trailer for Angry Birds Transformers. The Angry Birds / Transformers crossover will be available for mobile devices on October 15, 2014.

In non-Rovio news, Team Meat released more details about Super Meat Boy Forever, and Sony announced that Run SackBoy! Run!, a LittleBigPlanet endless runner, is coming to PS Vita and mobile devices later this year.