Why Great Design Is Timeless — Om Malik

December 26, 2020
1 min read

If there are two things I like in the world, those definitely would be iPhone and design of Porsche 911.

More than a decade ago, Apple introduced the iPhone 4, with its new boxy rectangular design. It was the first time we got to experience the Retina display. Fast-forward to today, and the new iPhone 12 is slowly making its way into the hands of iPhone buyers. To the joy of many, it has the same design language as the iPhone 4.

iPhone 4 was my first iPhone. It was not a good device in a hindsight — the processor was too slow for the Retina display and in just a year and a half it would take a minute to open the app. But it was beautiful. I always considered it the best-looking iPhone. And this is one of the reasons I love my iPhone 12 Pro Max. Not even using it, I just like looking at it, enjoying its beauty as an object.

You can easily tell a Porsche from another carmaker, even when zipping past you over the speed limit.

AirPods Pro Review

December 25, 2020
4 min read

It’s a bit late to the party – when everyone is hyped up by the AirPods Max I bought AirPods Pro just a month ago.

I bought first AirPods right when they came out and didn’t have other headphones since. I’ve had to change them after two years because the battery was dying in less than 30 minutes, so I went with 2nd generation AirPods just around the time when AirPods Pro came out.

AirPods Pro didn’t tempt me because I always liked EarPods and AirPods shape better. They didn’t block outside noise, but were a bit bigger than standard ones, so it provided just a bit of separation from the outside world. They were the most comfortable headphones. I regularly forgot that they were in my ears, spending even the whole day with them.

I decided to get myself a birthday present and buy Sony WH-1000XM4 noise-cancelling headphones, as there was a nice sale at a retailer nearby, but when I got there, the last pair was already sold, I could only order online. While walking to the car I though a bit more about pros and cons of those headphones and realised — I don’t want over-ear ones, wearing glasses and spending a lot of time outside, Sony’s actually wouldn’t be very comfortable. A short drive later to the Apple reseller, AirPods Pro were in my hands.

They are just a tiny bit less comfortable for me than regular AirPods. It made me switch between medium and large size tips a lot, but ones are a bit small, while the others are too large. I’ve ordered memory foam tips in hope for them to add some comfort.

The noise-cancelling is very nice. Especially now, working from home. Sometimes I turn it on, without anything playing and it helps concentrate. While listening outside it allows using lower volume, which I think will be beneficial for hearing.

The transparency mode is delightful. It was the first time I tried something like that and I like it. It’s AR for your ears. With this mode turned on I can hear better than without headphones. Although some sounds are plainly painful — one day I was standing in the kitchen with the transparency mode turned on and my wife came in with vacuum cleaner blasting, I thought I would become deaf.

Spatial audio is very cool, first time I couldn’t believe the sound was coming out of the headphones, but it doesn’t work on a device it makes the most sense — Apple TV, so I don’t use it often.

I like the controls. For the first couple of days I was still tapping them, but now I think pinching is a big improvement. My fingers already remember how long I need to press to change modes, releasing it just before the sound plays, it gives a weird sense of satisfaction.

When buying 2nd generation AirPods I made a conscious decision not to buy wireless charging case and it was a right choice at that time, now I find myself using wireless charging with AirPods Pro constantly. I have a basic, low-power charger at my desk, as my previous iPhone couldn’t survive the whole day on one charge, but now I use it exclusively with AirPods Pro, throwing them once in a while on it and I don’t think about battery management at all.

The AirPods Pro are much harder to recommend than AirPods. They are more expensive, they could be less comfortable and I think many like the style of AirPods. But if they fit you, they sound great for their small size. And you have noise-cancelling headphones that fit in the change pocket of your jeans. I love mine.

iPhone 12 Pro Max. Is it worth it?

November 30, 2020
6 min read

It is one of those cases that proves Betteridge’s law. When you personally don’t like something it is so easy to make generalizations about everyone else. So here is an article about how everyone is better off without the new iPhone 12 Pro Max.

When Steve Jobs introduced the first iPhone, it made a lot of sense. He put a camera into everyones’ pocket at the time when it was not possible. Back then when you were looking at a $500 iPhone, you were comparing it to either a $200 flip phone or a $2000 DSLR. While it was clearly more expensive than a regular phone, iPhone could make calls, took instantly sharable pictures, had games, basic apps, and of course it also stored all your music and thus replaced an iPod. iPhone was not just magic, it was also a good financial decision.

The first iPhone was heavily subsidised by the carriers and although you did pay $499 to buy one, it wasn’t the whole price of the phone, as you had 2 year contract with the network.
Also, this was not a first camera phone and not even the best camera in the phone. At that time Samsung had camera phones and Nokia had its N95 with a 5-megapixel camera.

Fast forward to today, iPhone 12 Pro Max with 500GB of memory costs $1800, has a camera, and can do about the same things that an equivalently priced iPad or even a Laptop can do. Does it make sense to buy one?

In the first paragraph $499 price was for a 4 GB model, the 8 GB model was more expensive, so why compare it to the top of the line iPhone 12 Pro Max? I would compare it to the 128 GB phone for $1099.

At the time of publication, I thought the new iphone cost me $1300, but as I was filing my return, I realized that after Apple Care, trade in value of my original phone ($250), and taxes, the actual full price of this phone (with Apple Care) is $1,757.80. This is 2/3 of how much I paid for top of the line MBP that I use for all my work. This is insane. What is more insane is that you hide this behind $55/months for 24 months payments. It seems affortable, but in practice is just a ridiculous amount for what is otherwise just a phone.

I don’t think it is fair to add Apple Care to the price of the phone. And the price is much more clear now, not hidden under $499, like it was before.

After ten days of testing it, for me it was a resounding No.

Bingo. “For me”. That should have been in the title.

The new camera is a bit faster, and it is definitely a lot brighter, but at the end of the day, that is it. It is still a tiny lens, and anything that isn’t close and steady gets pixelated, and blurry.

iPhone X camera is much worse, there is less detail. It doesn’t have ultra-wide lens and LiDAR for portraits. It doesn’t have Deep Fusion and Night Mode.

Apple’s promoted photography is mostly portraits, people sitting still, posing. I have two kids though, and they love to run. There is no way I can take their pictures on this phone without having them to pause, just like I do with my 3 year old iPhone X. I can always turn on the video, but the quality is no different from my 5-year old Sony RX 100 iv, in fact, I think the old Sony actually does better video.

I know it’s not only about the specs, but Sony RX100 IV can record 4K video only in 30p, while iPhone supports 24p and 60p. Also, it doesn’t have HDR for video and its battery will die after 280 shots.

iPhone Pro Max feels great in my hands, and I love the quality of the big screen, but that is it.

Back a few years ago when everyone went massive in phone sizes, the logic was that big phones were great for those who had it as their primary and only device. That’s reasonable logic, but in today’s world, I think it makes so much more sense to buy a tiny small phone, for rare calls and text messages, and then to splurge on a proper laptop, or a large iPad, for everything else.

Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t want to open my iPad or god forbid a laptop every time I want to open Instagram or TikTok. The phone is so much more than rare calls and text messages for many people. I like watching videos on a bigger screen while on the go. And the battery is massive without cases or portable chargers.

For between $1100 and $1500 one can buy an iPad Pro with 12.9 inch display, and a cellular connection. That’s a whole computer that you can touch, and a screen big enough to serve as a home TV. Now that’s a good deal!

iPhone 12 Pro Max is an even faster computer with a better display, faster cellular and a better camera. I would argue it is much better deal.

There are probably decent use cases for the new iPhone, although I can currently only think of one. If you are a narcissistic Instagram celebrity who loves to post selfies from a nightclub, this phone is for you. For everyone else, iPhone 12 Pro Max is not a smart financial decision.

Personally, I am going to save up the money and put them towards a really nice camera, with a real photo sensor, and a real lens. I am hoping for a Leica Q (Matte Black Special Edition), but that is rather expensive. Perhaps a Nikon or a Sony would do. Either way, for anything photo related, I would rather get a great camera with outrageously better photo quality. For everything phone, an old iPhone would do.

Oh, so Leica Q is a very smart financial decision? It costs more than $4500. Last time I checked there are a bit cheaper cameras out there.
I’m not saying that this take is wrong (although in some cases it is). I’m just saying that this whole article is about one man’s decision, considering his needs and use cases.
For some it could be the main or even only computer. So, they won’t have money for an iPad and a phone.
For many people iPhone is better camera than a Nikon, Sony or even Leica, because of the SoC. They take photos outside in front of the sun and iPhone processes it, so you can put it online. Sure after transferring it to the real computer, editing it, correcting, the photo from a real camera would look better, but most people don’t know how to do it or simply don’t have time or desire.
So please, let people enjoy things, even if you think that they are not for you.

Choose Wisely – iPhone 12 Pro Max Review

November 27, 2020
6 min read

It is big. Every new iPhone this year is some sort of compromise, so to make a choice is to rate your priorities. Camera, battery, size, price. And after that there are still color and storage. I’ve been struggling with the choice, but at the end of the day iPhone 12 Pro Max was my go-to. Camera was the single most important thing, so I felt like I could sacrifice something else.

Size

There is no going around it, this phone is massive. My last iPhone review was that of an iPhone XS Max and I called it Coming Home because after spending a year with an iPhone X I was craving for a bigger screen and still, even for me, the iPhone 12 Pro Max is huge. Probably because of the flat edges it just doesn’t sit so tight in the hand. And it is also actually taller than the last years model and noticeably so.

iPhone 12 Pro Max looks noticeably larger than iPhone XS Max

What this means is that even with larger hands this phone becomes almost unusable with one hand. Good thing Apple announced widgets for iOS, so the first two rows on the screen could be filled with those.

It is the most noticeable while typing — reaching for the letters on the opposite side is physically hard now.

Design

After deciding on the model, the next big consideration was the color. Black and Silver were immediately removed from competition because they are a bit boring.

That left me with Gold and Pacific Blue. I went to the store when iPhone 12 Pro came out to see and hold both in my hands. I couldn’t decide until the very last minute of orders starting. But in the end the Gold won and I think I made a good choice.

Yes, this year’s color is Pacific Blue, but after Apple introduced “something different” with Midnight Green last year, this fourth color becomes a default. Everyone who wants a new phone buys it and actually, I think the bigger phone looks boring in blue because it is matte and there is just too much of the color because of the size. Also, the edges in most cases look almost black, and again, this year I didn’t want a black phone.

Gold, on the other hand, adds premium feeling to the already good-looking phone. It looks more like something made by a 3rd party, like Caviar, but with taste. It is absolutely gorgeous to look at. And you always have a glimpse of it, even if you look straight at the screen the edges are visible.

Regarding the fingerprints — this is the issue in the well lit environments of the reviewers, in the day-to-day life I don’t think about it and never notice. If you look at the edges of course you will see fingerprints, but they don’t bother me at all.

It is also heavy. Very much so. Although because of this it feels very premium, but again using it in one hand for a long time — it adds up. 

Battery

It is absolutely massive. Especially after 2-year-old iPhone XS Max. I don’t ever plug it in during the day, even when using Waze in my car, which was unthinkable previously.

I was surprised when on the second and third day after buying it, when I was still setting it up, opening literally every app, synchronising everything, it would have 50% battery left with 3-4.5 hours of screen on time.

But then there was a day with 7h 14m of screen on time and still almost 50% battery left by the end of the day. And another one, with more than 6 hours of screen on time when the phone still had around 5% of battery left working from 7:05 in the morning until 00:42 at night, on my birthday — so there were many calls, constant checking and replying to the congratulations in the messaging apps.

Battery is just massive

As I’m writing this at the end of the day, I still have 52% of battery left with 4.5 hours of screen on time. This is a full-day phone, at the very least.

Camera

As every previous part, I will start the same — it is big. In fact, it is so big, you can fit 44 mm Apple Watch into the camera cutout of the iPhone case.

I don’t know why you would do it, but you can

I would recommend reading the review made by one of the creators of the best iPhone photography app Halide Sebastiaan de With. This is the most comprehensive review you will find right now, showing the real differences between the Pro Max and regular Pro cameras.

As was expected it really shines at night and in the evening, where there is not a lot of light and a bigger sensor can gather more of it.

Oh, and the main thing — it finally doesn’t cut out glasses in the portrait mode.

With my daughter. Notice my glasses

Miscellaneous

  • This was a good year for Apple to ditch the charger from the box. When you first receive the box, it looks deceptively small. This feeling stays with you until you hold the device in your hand and turn it on.
  • Keyboard is a tiny bit bigger, but enough to be noticeable and more comfortable.
  • Physical buttons are in a different place and it is unusual at first, but as with everything you get used to it pretty fast.
  • The camera bump is so much bigger that I had to change the grip because I was touching it. Had to teach myself taking the phone a bit lower than usual.
  • Leather case is thinner, which makes a phone in it more usable. Although I don’t like that it has a chin now. With constant swiping up from the bottom of the screen it is in the way. But I do love the colored animation which is the same color as the case.
  • I miss 3D Touch. I used it all the time and long press even with the haptic feedback is not the same. And also cursor mode on keyboard was so much better when you could do it anywhere and not just on the space bar.
  • While watching recorded HDR video, the screen gets really bright. I mean REALLY.
  • Not on the iPhone itself, but on the migration process. Used wireless migration from one phone to another. The process is good, although for a long time (about an hour), you can’t use both phones. Some apps (especially banking) get confused about their state and I had to reinstall a couple.

Apple Event – November 2020

November 16, 2020
4 min read

It was another instalment of the beautiful commercial made by Apple, filled with amazing transitions and views of the Apple Park.

The presentation was short with a couple of minutes of recap by Tim Cook of all the products announced in the last 8 weeks.

This time there was a lot of background music when presenters were talking and I didn’t enjoy it, as it portrayed the ad vibe even more.

In the end they showed a bit with a PC guy from the old Mac vs PC commercials, it was OK. Judging by Twitter old-time Mac fans enjoyed it.

One More Thing — The Mac

Right at the beginning Tim Cook emphasised that One More Thing this time was relating to THE Mac. So, no AirTags, AirPods Studio or other devices.

I was surprised to learn that over 50% of Mac buyers are new to the system. On the other hand, with such a strong quarter for Mac, it is not a surprise that those weren’t only those who updated their computers.

They’ve made a commercial (yes, a commercial inside the commercial) showing many celebrities with Macs and a lot of those were with glowing logo. In black and white it was noticeable that they made focus on that, as it looked cool, but Apple doesn’t make such laptops anymore…

MacOS Big Sur

What they couldn’t show before is how macOS is better with Apple Silicon. It is more similar to the iOS and iPadOS in some regards. I know the internet is all about scores for CPU, but everyday little things are more important for the experience, especially on the types of machines Apple introduced. It launches apps instantly and more importantly it instantly wakes from sleep, just like iOS.

M1

This is the start of the next generation of Mac. First System on a chip for low-power Mac computers. It has 8-core CPU (4 High and 4 Low performance cores) and Apple says the High-performance core is the fastest core in the world right now.

All the new Macs

Apple introduced 3 new Macs, and they are similar to each other — MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and Mac Mini. For the first one it is a complete transition — you can’t buy Air with an Intel processor anymore. For the latter two it is the mainstream, low performance models, with Intel laptop and Mac mini still being sold as an option.

What they have in common is that all three have the same M1. You can choose up to 2 TB of SSD and 16 GB of RAM.

What is different is battery life in case of MacBook Pro and continuous performance. What that means is although the processor is the same because MacBook Air doesn’t have a fan and other two models do, they can not only reach the same speed as Air, but sustain it for longer periods of times.

It’s a shame that they didn’t update the camera in laptops. It is still the same 720p, very mediocre camera. Although the picture will be improved by the SoC thanks to Machine Learning.

Because Apple doesn’t sell any other display, it was funny how in every picture or video of people using Mac mini it was standing right on the stand of Apple XDR monitor, the stand for which costs $300 more than the computer itself.

I was blown away by the numbers provided regarding the battery life and am very optimistic about Mac lineup and will probably end up buying one of the laptops introduced (most probably MacBook Air). But of course the more exciting things will come out, when Apple will show iMac and Mac Pro with Apple Silicon inside. I can’t even imagine what will be possible with M1X (or whatever it will be called) where because of no thermal limitations there could be 16 cores and most of them would be High-performance.

Why I Was Wrong About Apple One

November 9, 2020
2 min read

When Apple first announced Apple One bundle during the September event, I was very skeptical to say the least. With Premier being available in a very limited set of countries and only 200 GB of iCloud storage in the Family plan it seemed like a non-starter for me. Together with my wife we use more than 300 GB right now, so I thought I would need to subscribe to the bundle and still pay for the 2 TB of iCloud storage.

What I didn’t realise at that moment is that iCloud storage expansion is in addition to the bundle, so I could downgrade my 2 TB plan and have 400 GB of iCloud storage in total. That completely changes the calculation.

Before I would have been paying:

  • Spotify — €8.99 (for Duo plan)
  • 2 TB of iCloud storage — €9.99
  • Apple TV+ — €4.17 (€49.99 a year divided by 12 months)

Total €23.15 a month.

With Apple One, I will be paying:

  • Bundle — €16.95
  • 200 GB of iCloud storage — €2.99

Total — €19.94

So, I will be paying €3.21 a month less and will have access to the Apple Arcade in addition, which I was considering renewing just last week.

Sure it is much less storage, but right now it is enough for our family without managing it at all, I could definitely delete about 50 GB from the cloud without any sacrifice.

There is only one question left and it is moving to Apple Music from Spotify. I was thinking about it before because of where Spotify is heading and I love having almost all the lyrics right there in the app. I was just hesitant to mention it to my wife because we would be changing our music streaming service for about a third time in a year, but turns out she hates Spotify and didn’t use it much. So win-win in our household.

If you were on the fence about using the Apple One subscription — reconsider, with the additional storage in mind, maybe it will be a good deal for you too.

Apple Event — October 13

October 13, 2020
5 min read

As other companies are trying to repeat the success of Apple presentation from June, they are going to the next level with the production of their events. This time the focus was even more on transitions and again, the event is much shorter, clocking at 1 hour and 10 minutes.

HomePod mini

Source: Apple
Source: Apple

The smallest announcement (no pun intended) was HomePod mini. Apple claims that it will have an amazing sound and for $99 it will be a very compelling device.

Two notable things — when talking about 3rd party services, Apple didn’t mention Spotify — the most popular music streaming service, but it will be supported in the new OS.

Second, Apple please stop showing HomePods without cords in the middle of the room, it’s misleading.

The Intercom feature could be potentially interesting, with the ability to ask Siri to communicate something to everyone in your family. What’s important it works not only on HomePods, but on iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, Macs and even CarPlay.

iPhone

Watching presentation, you could have missed that the main feature of the new iPhones is 5G (powered by Verizon). It is fast (in ideal conditions), reliable (in ideal conditions), has low latency (in ideal conditions). Oh, and did I mention? The new iPhones will have 5G (powered by Verizon).

The 5G was all over the presentation in partnership with, you guessed it, Verizon. Nobody knows how much Verizon paid Apple for that commercial inside the commercial, but it was bad. It was the worst presentation for a long time because of that. One would think Apple is above such things, but no, today was the very low point in the history of Apple events.

The one good thing in Apple implementation of 5G is Smart Data Mode, which will use LTE to preserve battery when the high speed is not essential.

iPhone 12

Source: Apple
Source: Apple

The main difference from the iPhone 11 is of course the new flat design, similar to the iPad Pro (and iPhone 4 and 5).

There are 5 colors — black, white, red, green and blue. And the screen is a bit bigger at 6.1”, but it has smaller borders, so the difference in the physical size is non-existent. The screen itself is OLED now, instead of LCD in the previous year model. It has a new technology which Apple calls Ceramic Shield, which is new material for the screen for dramatical improvement in toughness. Apple claims it has 4x better drop performance. We’ll have to wait and see if it will improve scratch resistance.

The new A14 Bionic chip is better and faster and will be faster than competition for years to come, that is everything you need to know.

The main camera is a bit better, the processor also allows for Night Mode on all cameras including front one. And you can also shoot Night Mode Time-lapses now.

MagSafe

Source: Apple
Source: Apple

There are magnets in the iPhone and it looks very interesting. You can attach wireless charger (similar to the Apple Watch), Apple cases will now have magnets to easily snap on and off.

And Apple introduced wireless charger for Apple Watch and iPhone.

Oh, and there won’t be a power adaptor and headphones in the box.

iPhone 12 mini

The smallest iPhone in the lineup. Physically it is even smaller than iPhone SE, but it has 5.4” display.

It is the same as the iPhone 12 except for the screen, so you won’t compromise on anything, just need to choose the size.

iPhone 12 Pro

Source: Apple
Source: Apple

Pro phones also feature a new design, although the band is from stainless steel and there are 4 colors — Silver, Graphite, Gold and Blue.

The displays got a bit bigger 6.1” (instead of 5.8”) for iPhone 12 Pro and 6.7” (instead of 6.5”) for iPhone 12 Pro Max. As with the iPhone 12, the bezels are smaller, so the physical size of the phone is just a bit bigger.

The biggest improvements are with the camera. Deep Fusion is now available on all 4 cameras (including front one).

There is LiDAR for depth data. The biggest improvement is in low light autofocus. The camera will find focus at night 6x faster. It also allows making portraits at night.

Apple will now support RAW photography right in app and what is more importantly there will API for Apple ProRAW, which will help 3rd party developers (like Halide) to improve their processing.

The iPhone Pro Max will have even better camera sensor. Starting with a bit better Telephoto sensor, which will allow using up to 2.5x optical zoom. And the main camera will have a Sensor Shift technology, which shifts the whole sensor instead of the lens for more precise image stabilization.

Prices for the Pro models will remain the same, but it will now start at 128 GB storage capacity. The iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro will be available in a week, while iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 12 Pro Max will be available in a month.

Mark In The Middle – The Verge

September 24, 2020
3 min read

First of all, as it often is with those types of stories – The Verge did a great job with presenting the article. Audio clips integrated into the story, so you can hear Zuckerberg’s voice, not only read the redacted quote is an interesting choice and I would actually like to see more of that.

Regarding the story itself. I think social media platforms, especially one as big as Facebook should be neutral. It is a rare thing that I agree with Zuckerberg, but here we are. A couple of quotes from him:

“That basically asked whether Joel can be in this role, or can be doing this role, on the basis of the fact that he is a Republican, or has beliefs that are more conservative than the average employee at the company. And I have to say that I find that line of questioning to be very troubling.

If we want to actually do a good job of serving people, [we have to take] into account that there are different views on different things, and that if someone disagrees with a view, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re hateful or have bad intent.”

Reading the US Twitter, I don’t know how anyone can remain sane. People are almost willing to kill one another because of the political affiliation. And I also find the way the question is asked regarding the Republican employee very troubling.

I also don’t get the walking out part of employees. If you don’t like the way the company is being run – leave. This “virtual walk out” for a day, when you have a nice job with pretty high salary is nothing more than a virtue signaling.

You shouldn’t work for a manager that you so strongly disagree with. Otherwise it is hard to believe your believes.

Can we build a quarantined Facebook city? an employee had asked ahead of the July 31st Q&A. Like, buying an island and all of us working there?

Zuckerberg read the question out loud, laughing gently.

“Gosh, I don’t think that that would be good long-term,” he responded. “I think it’s good to maintain connection to the rest of society.”

Fascinating answer. It shows how Zuckerberg really feels like something more than people at large. And I’m not sure how someone who bought out all the houses around his can say something about maintaining connection with the rest the society.

iPhone Homescreen – iOS 13 Edition

September 16, 2020
6 min read

Before the end of the year 2019, I’ve decided to start a new tradition, by posting my homescreen and looking at what changed over the year. I feel like it is a bit different right now, because of the WFH situation and also with the release of iOS 14 with a lot of changes focused on the homescreen. So let’s look at the last iOS 13 homescreen, before updating to the iOS 14, which I feel like will change homescreen dramatically (I’m actually running public beta, but screenshot was taken right before installing it).

Stayed

There are some apps that stayed on the homescreen, although some of them changed placement. I still use Telegram, Messages and WhatsApp and the Phone app for communication. After an absence for a month Twitter and Instagram are back. And of course Safari is still in the dock.

For keeping up with the news and blogs I still use Reeder and Pocket, and YouTube for videos, while Overcast remains my podcast player of choice.

I won’t be replacing CoinKeeper any time soon. As well as all of the photo apps, like Halide, Lightroom and Photos.

The one app I am considering switching but which is still there is Notes. I don’t know what to replace it with. For writing I’ve found the replacement, but I’m not sure about the archival stuff.

Removed

There are a a couple of apps that are no longer on the homescreen, but I do use almost all of them.

App Store and Settings I can usually get to from search or from the second screen, but I don’t do it often.

I very rarely use ExpressVPN on iPhone and as I’ve mentioned in my previous overview its placement on the homescreen was temporary. Just like Gemini – I now use it only when it sends push notification once a week, so there is no need to keep it on the homescreen.

The last two are a bit of a different story. I’ve started editing mobile photos in Lightroom, as I enjoy the way it changes photos more, so I’ve cancelled my VSCO premium subscription and removed it from the first screen, although I didn’t delete it from my phone, yet.

I’ve removed Waze because this past half a year I’ve driven much less and it doesn’t get a lot of use. On the rare occasions I drive to work I have a Shortcuts automation running when I get into the car which launches Waze automatically with driving directions.

Replaced

Kindle – Books

A little while ago Kindle app introduced a bug, where it would forget the place you’ve stopped reading. So I had to remember and find the place every time I’ve opened the app, which was … not ideal. So I’ve switched to the Books app. Although it opens a book for quite some time, I liked it in the end. It opens on the right place, shows words, what more do you need.

Music – Spotify

In the begging of summer Spotify had a deal, where new users could get three months for free (including Family plan). I’ve long ago wanted to give Spotify another chance and it seemed like a perfect opportunity.

The free trial ended and I am still paying for Spotify. I think algorithms are better. Music is the same. The only advantage Apple Music has – integration. But I don’t have HomePod and rarely use Siri asking to play music, so I don’t feel like I’m loosing much.

Reminders – Asana

I’ve been using Asana for work for a long time and actually liked it a lot, so decided to use it as a personal task manager and for cooperation with my wife. It has all the features I want in the task manager and it is free. Hard to beat that.

Added

Apollo

My Reddit client of choice. Like how it looks and feels and it gets updated all the time.

Revolut

I’ve been using the app more and more. It is now one of the places I have investments. So it made sense to bring it forward from the second screen.

Audible

Since we’ve had a child, I started listening to audiobooks more and more. It’s perfect for walks with a sleeping toddler. She is a bit older now, so I turn the subscription on and off, mostly waiting for the deals, since I don’t have time to listen to all the books I already have.

Ulysses

The app I’m writing this post right now. I’ve been looking for a writing app for a long time, since I don’t actually enjoy writing in the Notes app. This felt perfect, so now I’m a subscriber. I even started using Markdown, which I didn’t get before, but now it makes sense.

Tot

You might say it’s silly to have three writing apss on the homescreen and I might actually agree. But they are all for different purposes and Tot is for short bits of text which I need for a short period of time. I’ve tried using Drafts for a similar reason before, but Tot fits much better. It’s a very pricey app, but sometimes it’s ok to overpay for something you enjoy.

Mimo

I’ve decided to learn programming. I probably won’t become a full time programmer, but I want to understand code. Also as a business analyst it’s very helpful to know at least some code.

Mail

I’ve been using Mail.app for a long time, only now did I bring it to the homescreen. It’s only for my personal use, I don’t have notifications turned on, so I check the app 1-2 times a day.

Formula 1

As I’ve said earlier, after watching the Drive To Survive documentary I decided to try to watch Formula 1 races. We are half way through the season right now and I enjoy it a lot.

Morning

Recently I’ve tried to delete all social media apps for 30 days (and was successful at it), the app gave me the rundown of the most important news of the day.

Apple Event – 15.09.2020

September 15, 2020
5 min read

Although it is strange to watch September Apple Event and not see new iPhones, we do live in different times, so here we go. The presentation itself was good, the same style as WWDC 2020 and I enjoyed watching it (in case you are wondering, I realize that it is an hour long ad by a trillion dollar company).

Apple tried to manage expectations when it announced the event (a lot of journalists covering Apple immediately said there won’t be new iPhones) and at the very start of the presentation Tim Cook said they will talk Apple Watch and iPad today.

Apple Watch

Apple Watch Series 6

Same design as last year, although they’ve added three new colors – Gold, Blue and Red. I think they look good, especially the blue one (it will look great with the new blue iPhone).

There is a new sensor which will measure your blood oxygen levels. The manual measurement takes only 15 seconds and it does periodic background measurements, even at night if you sleep with your watch on. Although Apple didn’t say it, but it is helpful for the COVID-19.

The Always-On display got 2.5 times brighter outdoors.

Starting price remains the same at $399 in the US.

Apple Watch SE

The same display size and design as a Series 6, but without Always-On display and with an older S5 chip, which is 2x faster than Series 3. It is available both without and with cellular.

The price starts at $279 and Series 3 still remains in the lineup for $199.

Right now, if you are able to find discounted Series 5 it will be a much better deal – it has an always-on display, more health sensors and the same processor and design.

Solo Loop and Braided Solo Loop

New bands for Apple Watches that don’t have a clasp or a buckle. That means you have to buy one that fits you, it has a lot of different sizes. What interesting, it says on the ordering page that it is not compatible with Series 3 and older watches, but I always thought the band connectors were identical.

Family Setup

You can now use your iPhone to set up an Apple Watch for someone in your family, who doesn’t have an iPhone. They will have a dedicated phone number and cellular connection. This is an amazing feature for kids or older family members and another step to the iPhone-less future for the Apple Watch.

Apple Fitness+

“First fitness service built around Apple Watch.”

Interesting how they presented it as something only possible with an Apple Watch. There will be 10 types of workouts, provided by world class trainers, with Apple Music (you don’t need a subscription for the service to work). New workouts will be added every week.

The new service is available on the iPhone, iPad and Apple TV. It will show all the metrics during the workout on the screen and when a trainer will remind you to check your heart rate, the metric will get bigger.

When you start your workout on one of your devices, it will automatically start the workout on the Apple Watch.

There is an absolute beginner program, with all the basics covered and personalized recommendations in the app.

It will cost $9.99 a month or $79.99 a year (Family Sharing included) and you will get 3 months free with an Apple Watch purchase.
Unfortunately service is available only in handful of countries, so we will have to wait for it’s launch.

Other

There are a lot of new watch faces, including GMT which shows multiple time zones at once, typography with a lot of combinations, Chronograph Pro and a lot more.

Apple also announced that it will remove power adapter from the box, basically trying to present the cost-saving measure as an environmental thing.

Everything else that will be changed and added in watchOS7 got covered in the WWDC2020 presentation.

Apple One

The long rumored bundle from Apple is here, but unfortunately it’s not that simple. First, the name – Apple One. There are actually Three different bundles and only Two available everywhere.

First one – for $14.95 you get Apple Music, TV+, Arcade and 50GB of iCloud storage.

Second – for $19.95 you will get the same bundle, but with 200GB of storage.

And Premier – for $29.95 you will get 1TB of storage and News+ and Fitness+ as additional services.

The Premier one is available only in the countries where Apple News+ and Fitness+ are available and there are not a lot of those.

Because of the iCloud storage, the only one that makes sense for me is Premier, which will be unavailable. It is possible to add more storage to the first two, but at that point I’m not sure it will be a good deal. So no Apple One for me.

iPad

8th generation

This is the same plain iPad with a better processor (A12 Bionic), which means it will be more powerful. The design remains the same, with Touch ID button and screen bezels. It will still only support 1st generation Apple Pencil. But for the price of $329 it is an amazing value.

iPad Air

The iPad Air on the other hand got a complete redesign, it now looks the same as 11” iPad Pro, with rose gold, green and sky blue options available.

For the first time in a very long time, iPad gets new SoC before iPhone and iPad Air has A14 Bionic, which is industry leading 5 nanometer processor.

It also has a Touch ID sensor which is now in the Top Button (yeap, they’ve renamed Power Button in this one).

What is similar with the iPad Pro, except for design – it now has USB-C connector, support for 2nd generation Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard.

What it lacks is Pro Motion (120Hz) display, FaceID, camera array and microphone and speaker system.

For $599 right now it looks like a much better purchase than 11” iPad Pro and Apple tablet lineup remains weird and complicated.