To sum up Apple’s announcement earlier today…

Apple:

We’ve released an update to the iPhone 4, called the iPhone 4S. It’s way faster, yet has a longer battery life. The graphics performance is stronger, for better gaming. Antenna problems have been fixed through a cunning dual-antenna system. It works worldwide (GSM and CDMA) but isn’t any bulkier. The camera’s 8MP, also with better video recording. There’s a new version of iOS, with loads of great features. And there’s iCloud to tie everything together.

Whiny internet bitches:

Wah wah! No iPhone 5! Wah wah wahhhhhhh!

Duncan Wilcox on Twitter:

iPhone hardware might be exciting but once you turn it on it’s the software that sets it apart from other smartphones. Focus is iOS 5. Thinking about tomorrow’s announcements if you hadn’t guessed.

He’s right, of course. What sets Apple apart is the OS, rather than the hardware. People bang on about the lack of ports, extensibility and other features of iPhones, which some competing devices have, but Apple’s sleek and simple iPhone 4 remains the USA’s number-one smartphone for a reason: what you can do with it.

Tomorrow will almost certainly see iOS 5 released. This will bring some catch-up features like notifications that don’t suck, but also iMessage (unlimited, free text messages to iOS 5 users), Newsstand (iBooks for magazines), and PC Free (back-ups to iCloud and over-the-air updates). In addition, iPad 2 owners will get AirPlay mirroring of everything on screen to an Apple TV.

I’m sure there will be new hardware, but I don’t really care what it is, as long as it looks nice enough and isn’t any worse than the iPhone 4. And I’m certain that I’ll buy a new iPhone, but that’s only because I never grabbed an iPhone 4 and have been patiently waiting for an upgrade.

I suspect that regardless of what Apple reveals tomorrow, disappointment will speed across the internet like a virulent disease (which, naturally, will particularly affect tech hacks and analysts, who’ll yell that, yes, Apple is finally doomed! Again!), and if Apple’s new hardware really is only going to be the iPhone 4S—a minor update—it’s a pity that’ll be Tim Cook’s first keynote. But even if that is the case (and it might not be), it won’t distract me from what matters: the software. The phrase I’m most hoping for tomorrow isn’t “and here’s the new iPhone 5”, but “and iOS 5 is available for download today“.

Digitimes reports that Acer VP Scott Lin has continued his company’s special line of crazy:

Acer vice president Scott Lin pointed out that ultrabooks from notebook brand vendors will mostly be released in the fourth quarter and start mass shipping in early 2012

Only many months after the MacBook Air, but of course all these companies aren’t copying Apple’s every move—they are innovating!

therefore, estimates for ultrabooks to account for 30% of the global consumer notebook shipments by the end of 2012 are reasonable and tablet PCs will be the first products to be impacted by ultrabooks.

Because, as everyone knows, the iPad’s been selling really badly since Apple released the MacBook Air.

Lin pointed out that tablet PCs are mainly emphasizing light and thin features as well as entertainment capabilities, and once notebooks are capable of achieving the same features, while still maintaining battery longevity, consumer’s purchasing behavior will reverse as consumers would rather choose a machine that can satisfy their demand for both entertainment and work, instead of carrying a tablet PC and a notebook around.

Lin pointed out that he’s a dolt that doesn’t see what’s actually happening in the tech industry. He also pointed out that he doesn’t fully understand lots of people love the intimacy of a touchscreen interface over an old-fashioned clamshell, do plenty of work on iPads anyway (Penultimate! iA Writer! Brushes! Numbers! And so on!), and OH GOD WHAT IS THE POINT?

*picks self up off of ground, bracing self for further Acer idiocy*

Lin believes that consumers’ purchasing focus will return to notebooks in 2012.

Just like they did in 2011! Also, notice how those ‘laptop’ things were just a fad? I’m sure consumers’ purchasing focus will return to desktops in 2013. And CRT TVs. And horse-and-cart.

As regular readers of Revert to Saved will know, I’m the games editor at the spiffy Tap! magazine, Future Publishing’s iOS monthly. Tap! is one of those magazines I’d happily buy every month if I wasn’t already writing for it, because it’s such a joy to read (a recent edition had a headphones round-up that contained two full belly-laughs—how many publications can you say that about?), but readers had wanted said joy on their iPads, and not using PDF-churn Zinio.

They’re in luck! Today sees the launch of the Tap! app. The app itself is free, and you can either grab single issues for £2.99/$4.99/€3.99 (a hefty saving on the newsstand price) or subscribe for three months, six months or a year.

The app itself goes beyond the mag in a few ways, such as in offering 360-degree views of kit, and short videos and walkthroughs of games (the debut has Jim McCauley showing how he got world-leading scores in the excellent Magnetic Billiards). But, for me, what’s more interesting about the Tap! app is that the in-house guys built the thing themselves.

Editor Christopher Phin has explained on Twitter and elsewhere that existing magazine solutions just didn’t feel right for what Tap! wanted to achieve. Instead, the team started from scratch. Rather than taking an off-the-shelf solution and smashing its magazine into it with a hammer, it started with a blank sheet of paper and a pen. Once the ideas and features were formulated, only then did the team start looking at software, and swiftly decided to build its own. Phin remarks:

This new publishing platform actually itself runs on an iPad, meaning we can take advantage of all the iPad’s features natively.

This means that, unlike many other app magazines on the iPad, Tap! isn’t just rendered JPEGs or PNGs for each page: the text is searchable and resizable. Also, those who make use of assistive tech can use VoiceOver.

I’m clearly not a neutral here—I write for Tap! and so I’ve a vested interest in the app’s success; however, I’d argue that because of the care that’s gone into its production, not least in its integration of assistive technology, it deserves to do well. I hope you agree.

Linky: Tap! magazine for iPad on the iTunes Store.

Gary Marshall for TechRadar:

I love my Kindle, and I love my iPad. I don’t love their processors, or their RAM, or their connectivity options, or any of the other guts. I love their simplicity, and that’s why I buy Kindles over other ebook readers and iPads over other tablets. Bezos – and by extension, Amazon – gets that, and the Kindle Fire clearly comes from that philosophy.

As long as other Android tablet manufacturers continue banging on about dual-core this and mucho-RAM that, Apple’s going to continue kicking their faces off with its size-nines; and now Amazon’s going to join in with its size-sevens.