Wesley's Tool-Box

Even with excellent performance, lackluster battery life will tarnish the usability of a phone. It's thus natural to see if iPhone 5S has made any improvements with battery usage from the previous generation. Apple has targeted it to be at least as good as iPhone 5, so I wanted to see how the two really compares in real life use.

The official capacities are 5.45Wh (3.8V 1440mAh) for iPhone 5 and 5.92Wh (3.8V 1560mAh) for iPhone 5S, an 8.6% difference. So 5S could use a little more power and still stay even. The iPhone 5 I have has seen use for about two months, while iPhone 5S has been with me for a month. So both have relatively fresh batteries close to these original capacities.

With these in mind and full charge, I started using the two devices, which were running iOS 7.0.3 now, in the same manner throughout the day. This meant opening the same app and taking the same actions at the same time. It's an interesting experience, and because apparent responsiveness of the two devices are similar at casual use, it wasn't too difficult to carry out.

To even the playfield further, push notifications, push data and automatic app updates were disabled, while screen brightness was fixed to 33%, which is good for indoor use. WiFi and Bluetooth were both enabled, but not used, so LTE was responsible for data. Other settings like GPS and visual effects were kept on by default. So how did the draining of the battery turn out?

I've been wary of installing new OS upgrades on the server because it can easily mess up the custom configuration I set up. In fact, that was primarily the reason why my old iMac that ran my websites (including this one) until early this year ran Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6) for 3 and a half years until it broke down. I passed upgrading to Lion (10.7) or Mountain Lion (10.8 ) all that time. I ultimately moved to Mountain Lion only because the new Mac mini that replaced the iMac required it.

This time was different. I had simplified the server configuration and kept track of the modifications. Basically, it was down to a couple of configuration files for built-in Apache server, and a separate MySQL installation. Downloading Mavericks (10.9) from the Mac App Store was what took most of the time. It was released as a free upgrade from anything that ran Snow Leopard and up, so there was a huge demand. Once the download was complete, I ran the installer, and it took about half an hour to complete.

I noticed that the websites were broken after the installation, as expected. However, checking the changes revealed that I only needed to fix the main Apache server configuration file. A couple of minutes of fiddling with the file later, the websites came back working properly. This was easily the fastest and the most trouble-free transition to the new major OS X version ever.

As a bonus, Apple had decided to make iWork upgrades to the just-released latest version for free, regardless of whether it was bought on DVD or on Mac App Store. My old copy of iWork '09 installed from the disc got properly upgraded, and the apps now show up in purchases list. Free OS and office suite upgrade, and smooth server transition. Apple has spoiled me.

While waiting for Apple to announce new products (the event took place on 2AM in Korea Standard Time) for 2013 holiday season, I tried another shot at taking photos of Jupiter with SX50 HS while its Great Red Spot was facing Earth. It's still not very discernible even after post-processing, but I think the wrinkle at the right-hand edge is likely to be it.

Incidentally, Io and Europa were visually close together, but the camera was able to distinguish between the two. Maybe I should try to take the photos while Jupiter is higher up in the sky - it should have less atmospheric disturbance. You can see the stacked photos of the planet and the satellites before composition if you keep reading.

Apple had a big product release day just a few hours ago, with new OS X, iPads, and Macs coming out. While it was left out of the announcement, iOS 7 also had a new point release just after the presentation at Cupertino ended. iOS 7.0.3 lists a lot of changes and fixes, and among them is a mention that the accelerometer calibration was fixed. I personally checked on this issue earlier. What better way to verify the fix than actually seeing it for myself?

As you can see, the problematic horizontal tilt measurement of iPhone 5S is now in agreement with the other iPhones. I can also hold the device up and see that it's reporting fairly accurately. Same can be said for the other measurements, which you can see if you decide to keep reading below.

It seems Apple didn't make an independent patch for this problem and instead lumped it together with other fixes since it wasn't a critical one. At least it came out just a month after the first release and before the release in Korea, so I'm glad the Korean users wouldn't have to be concerned from the get-go.

International Space Station was to make a pass over the early evening sky. I wasn't quite sure if it would be visible because the Sun just set over the horizon and the sky was still relatively bright.

My worries were unfounded when I noticed a bright dot streaking from the southeastern side of the sky - it was nearly -4 in apparent magnitude. I had just enough time to capture it passing below the Moon and then moving into the west. The movement was very similar to my previous ISS sightings, and the close-up photos made me sure it wasn't some airplane making a coincidental pass. It was quite a fun experience overall.