Well it may start to be a thing. But software engineers need to know to make it a thing.
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I thought it was already a thing, although it only helps if you have an iPhone. Otherwise you have to wait āa period of timeā for it to start beeping. What to do if you get an alert that an AirTag, Find My network accessory, or set of AirPods is with you - Apple Support
Buy one of our products to make it harder to stalk you with another one of our products is a hell of a sales pitch.
Watch
My series 3 is still just fine, but theyāre not going to support it anymore. Will just get the series 8. The ultra one is nonsense, just like actual luxury watches. Sure, some actual deep sea divers will get one, but mostly rich people. It has nice bands, though. Iām excited to buy knockoff versions of those bands for $10. Still not a fan of them doubling down on the ābuy an Apple Watch or dieā marketing message.
Airpods pro 2
Not that much better than current ones, but still better. Iāll probably get them because my current headphone situation is very fiddly, and they will solve it. Hoping the adaptive transparency feature works as advertised.
New iPhones
RIP small iPhone. I will cherish you for many years. When the time comes I guess I will have no choice but to get the smallest phone available. Also, I donāt see any USB-C.
They are clearly out of ideas for iPhone. They just keep making the camera better. Some of the safety features and ābuy our product or dieā marketing have been ported over from the watch. The new notch design on the pro model is nice. Iām sure the regular model will have it in a year or two.
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My Series 3 is on its last legs in terms of battery life and software support. I think Iāll go with the non-cellular small Watch 8. Back when I got the 3 the only way to get GPS was to also get the LTE cellular version, but in the last five years Iāve only used the cellular connectivity three or four times. So GPS only will do me fine I think.
I didnāt see the event but found out all I needed from Twitter. I bought a phone last year so the watch was all I cared about.
My next phone might be Android again with that.
Doubled battery life is a big quality of life improvement for my usage. Iām going to stick with my 1st generation AirPods Pro for as long as the battery life remains reasonable.
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Except what small Android phone is there thatās any good? The default iPhone 14 is smaller than the Pixel 6a. Smaller than any Samsung Galaxy. Smaller than any current SONY phone.
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Maybe by that time Framework will make a phone.
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I got the new AirPods Pro 2.0. Here is my review on day 1.
It connected to all my devices, including Nintendo Switch, so easily. It also switches between those devices seamlessly. Exactly what I wanted. Now I can use my Bose QC 35II over-ear at my desk for my desktop and work PC, and use the AirPods for everything else. No more hassle of constantly manually switching Bluetooth connections and all that. This was my primary reason for buying them. Second reason was to use while indoor cycling, but I havenāt tested that yet. Soon.
All the wireless headphones I own or have owned prior were either big over the ear deals or were earbuds that still had some kind of wire or something connecting them to each other. It is very nice, comfortable, and freeing to just have two little things in the ear.
For the past 15+ years just about all the earbuds and earplugs Iāve used have had triple flange tips that seat pretty deep in the ear canal. I tried all sizes of tip on the AirPods. None of them felt to me like they were secure in my ear, or were creating a proper seal. I ended up just going back to the default size. I used the software tool that tells you if you have the right size tips, and it said I do. Even though they feel like they are going to fall out of my ear, they never do. I even tried literally headbanging, and they didnāt budge. I think this is just something I have to get used to.
The noise cancellation was actually quite impressive. Despite not feeling like it created a complete seal in my ear, it very effectively blocked outside noise. It also very intelligently occasionally lets in particular outside noises, but keeps them quiet. For example, I heard both a fire engine and some construction noises, but they were very toned down. I guess this is the āadaptive transparencyā actually living up to the hype.
Switching between noise cancelling and transparency mode is very easy. Iāve had other headphones with that feature, but never used it. I would always just take the headphones or earbuds out when I wanted to hear something like someone talking. The fact that Iāll actually use the feature says it all.
The personalized spatial audio was a bit tricky to setup since it needs to use the camera to learn the shape of your ears. It was hard to aim the camera while not being able to look at the phone. Once I had it setup, it worked. The spatial audio feature itself is a gimmick. I could absolutely go without it and not give a crap. That said, it isnāt distracting or bad to turn it on either, just completely unnecessary. Basically it makes it sound like the audio is coming from speakers that are in your room at a fixed position even though you are using headphones. So when you turn your head, the balance/face adjusts accordingly.
The last thing to mention is the touch controls. It actually took me awhile to figure them out. I was trying to tap on the stems of the earbuds, and it wasnāt doing anything. Apparently the taps only register on this small flattened area. Also, you have to press a lot harder for it to register than I expected. I thought I was just going to lightly tap. No good. You have to really press as if it was some kind of button. Once I learned it, it worked mostly just fine. If the device Iām listening on has some accessible volume controls, like my phone, Iāll probably still use those first. But otherwise, itās nice to have the controls on the AirPod.
I think Iām going to keep and stick with these, especially since I have iOS devices. That said, Bose did just come out with the new QC Earbuds, and they are a strong contender.
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How do you switch between devices like the Switch? Is there an App that lists all your active devices?
To pair the AirPods with an Apple device, you just put the airpods in the case, open the case, and hold it near the Apple device. The pairing will happen āmagicallyā. The pairing will also share between all devices using the same iCloud/Apple ID. I paired once with my iPhone and I didnāt have to repeat it for my iPad.
To pair with a non-Apple device you put the airpods in the case, open it, and then hold a button on the back of the case until the light blinks. This puts it in pairing mode. You then pair as you would any other bluetooth device.
To switch the airpods between Apple devices, you do nothing. You just put them in your ear and start using whatever device. It will figure it out. Sometimes if you switch devices quickly it will delay. I put away my phone and immediately took out my iPad. It didnāt switch over to iPad immediately, it took a little bit.
To switch them to a non-apple device, you just need to tell that device to connect, assuming pairing was done at some point in the past. On the Nintendo Switch that means going to settings, choosing airpods, and pressing connect. Once you choose it, they connect immediately.
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Apple Watch Series 8 vs Series 3 review after like, an hour or so.
A new watch five years newer than the old one. The old one was just fine. If they had kept providing software updates to the old one, I wouldnāt have upgraded. I sure hope this new one lasts longer than five years.
Moving my Verizon plan from old to new watch was seamless. Hooray because you would expect that to be a huge hassle.
Are there are new specific huge features Iāll be using that the old watch didnāt have? Will I be using the new watch differently because it is more capable? No. The only really major differences between the new one and the old one are invisible features in the ādonāt dieā category. The primary feature was, and still is, doing things like checking notifications without having to take the phone out of my pocket, or having to take the phone with me outside.
All that said, Iām experiencing five years worth of incremental updates all at once. Individually they are small changes, but they add up to making this watch a lot nicer
all around.
The screen is significantly bigger and brighter making everything just a lot easier to see and touch.
You would think the overall size and shape of the total package would suffer to accommodate the larger screen, but it actually improved.
It only weighs 3 grams more than the old one. The weight difference is unnoticeable without a scale.
Itās larger in terms of width and height by a few mm each way, but almost 1mm thinner.
Most of the lost thickness was in the portion of the glass screen that sticks out. I donāt know if they made the glass thinner, made the case ride higher up the glass, or both. All I can say is itās a lot better.
The side button is flush instead of sticking out a little bit.
The crown is a whole lot nicer to spin and press.
The haptics on the crown are also really nice. I donāt know if the old watch didnāt have them, or if I disabled them. Iām not disabling them now, theyāre great.
Itās obviously very significantly faster and more responsive due to having chips that are so much newer.
Itās better enough that Iām not too upset that this was a somewhat forced and unnecessary upgrade. Iāll be much more upset if it happens again sometime too soon.
Upgrading from an Apple Watch without always-on display to one with is a huge improvement.
Apple Watch Series 8 vs Series 3 review after like, a day or so.
I was putting off upgrading, maybe for one more year, but I received a ā¬200 Apple Store voucher as a Christmas gift so got myself a new one. I went for the base wifi model, as I only got the cellular series 3 because that was the only version with GPS. I used the cellular functionality sometimes, but not enough to pay extra for it this time.
Five years is a lot of years of incremental improvements to hit all at once. The bigger screen is great. The always on display is great. The battery life is great. Crown rotating haptics are strange but I got used to it immediately. The faster response and input is great.
The only thing I donāt like is the business of the corner complications on my previous favourite watch faces. There is an image and text for so many of them, and I donāt need both. For the fitness tracking, I only need the circles OR the numbers, but it shoves both up there. Redundant information is redundant. And Ugly.
Iām sure Iāll get used to it.
WWDC is almost upon us, Iām hoping that weāll hear a small tidbit about the iGlass / Apple Goggles Iām mostly interested in the UI and how gestures are detected.
I like the name. Iām not sure I have enough VR/AR experience to have strong opinions about any other details.
I think Iāll get the first non-pro version.
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Iāll be testing it out in the stores for sure. If itās good enough for my day-to-day workflow Iāll get it as a new macbook.