Apple recently announced the 16” MacBook Pro. They’ve invited journalists to the private event in New York, gave them review units and when the embargo dropped everyone was ready with the story.
This is the MacBook that saves us all. The keyboard is changed to the old mechanism, there is a physical esc key and arrow buttons are the right shape. It also is a bit bigger, with a bit smaller bezels and in a recent Apple fashion it got heavier, because it has so much more battery. Everyone was happy, especially developers and other professionals.
What also was happening at almost exactly the same time – there was a rumor about Apple AR product. Reportedly Apple has held an internal meeting with a 1000 employees who are working on the AR headset where it was discussed that it is a 2022 initiative at best.
And this is Apple PR at its best. First, you don’t hold a 1000 employee meeting and not think it is going to leak to the press (you are probably hoping it will, at this point). Second, the news was perfectly released during all the hype about the new MacBook. Third, almost the only notable thing that came out of this meeting, was the release date. There are some rumors that Apple was planning to release some kind of AR headset in 2020, so now Apple is managing the expectations – no AR headset next year.
So bloggers and podcasters can talk about the new MacBook, how Apple is finally listening and making compromises in the right places, finally again. How we want the same laptop, but for the 14” model. And mention in passing somewhere rumor about the AR headset and a meeting, but it stays in your mind – don’t wait.
Up until recently I was getting the new iPhone every year just as it comes out. Believe me, it is hard to do in Latvia, but I’ve always found a way. Sometimes through persistence, like with the iPhone X, I pulled every string I could, but got one of the firsts. Sometimes through luck – we’ve had tickets booked to Berlin right for the day of iPhone XS going on sale, so the second pre-orders started I was navigating Apple Store in German (which I don’t understand at all) and ordering the iPhone XS Max. This went on since I’ve returned to the iOS with iPhone 6S Plus, so it were a good couple of years. This was probably one of my favorite tweets of all time:
I don’t gamble. I don’t drink. My one vice is buying a new iPhone every summer.
Recently though, I’ve started to think more about upgrading the devices I use and try to ask myself – is it really necessary to do that just because the new comes out or do they improve something I really need?
First the AirPods, when the second generation came out, I didn’t see the need to upgrade, as I don’t use wireless charging, the battery on mine was still fine and the sound wasn’t improved. I could benefit from the faster pairing process and a bit longer battery life while calling, but those were minor changes considering the price. I’ve used the 1st generation AirPods until the battery got abysmal and upgraded.
Then there was an Apple Watch. I loved my Series 3, but when the Series 4 came out, it looked outdated, with the square screen and without the new watch faces. Series 3 was still powerful enough (unlike its predecessors). Series 4 had a couple of new health features, which are still not available in Latvia. The watch I had was still perfectly fine. On the other hand, when Series 5 came out with the always-on display, it was a big change and improvement to get myself an upgrade.
That way we get to the star of the upgrading show – the iPhone. I would love to have the newest and greatest, but do I need it? My year old XS Max works great, the battery is still good and lasts me all day. The camera improved, but I use it for some snapshots day-to-day and it is perfectly fine for that, when I travel I always take my “big” camera as I love to take photos with that. I tried Night Mode on my wife’s iPhone 11 and it is … okay. It looks cool, but I don’t see myself using it often yet.
The struggle is real and one of the biggest problems are social networks. I open my Twitter feed and there are all the tech bloggers getting phones for review or buying on the first day. I open my Instagram Explore tab and it is filled with new iPhones, AirPods and other products. From YouTubers, who got them from Apple, to influencers, to photo aggregator accounts. This creates the biggest FOMO I have probably ever experienced.
But are there any other reasons for not upgrading besides self-restraint? Except for the obvious one – money, there is also emotional – next year or the year after, when you upgrade, it would be a two or three times better leap in technology. Phones today don’t get much upgrade year over year, so in those two or three years there would be enough to surprise and delight you.
When I’ve upgraded to Series 5, as I’ve mentioned before the biggest upgrade was always-on display, but if I had Series 4 before that, it would be the only new feature. It is amazing, but it wouldn’t give you the same feeling for a couple of days, when you want to play with new device (if you don’t also consider the horrendous battery life as a new feature). For me the screen changed, it got bigger, there are a lot of new watch faces to play with. New types of complications. I’ve had this new device feeling, when for a couple of days I wanted to play with my new toy. I’m not sure it would have been the same upgrading from Series 4 to Series 5.
I’m not saying everyone should stop buying new watches or phones every year, I’m not even sure I won’t buy one, still. But I want to be more mindful about those things. Put more thought into the decision and not just run after new and shiny every time Apple presents or announces something.
When Apple announced AirPods I was very eager to get my hands on them. Unfortunately they weren’t available in Latvia for about 9 months and I’ve bought a pair as soon as it was possible. That was exactly two years and two months ago. Since then I’ve been using them daily, one could say constantly and as I told more than once – this is probably the most seamless and fun product Apple introduced in years.
They are small, had a great battery, sounded … like Apple headphones sound and you could easily connect to all your Apple devices.
When the 2nd generation was introduced there weren’t any incentives to upgrade right away. Sure the battery got better and they would connect faster, but otherwise – the sound didn’t change and I don’t care for the wireless charging. So I decided to wait it out.
A little more than a month ago my AirPods started to get considerably worse battery life. It felt like sunset close to equator – it was fine until suddenly it wasn’t. I would go on the hour and a half walk and would hear the sad sound of battery dying not even close to finishing. I had to think about charging them which was never the case before.
Going to London for a weekend was a final straw. I would constantly hear the boop-bip noise. So when I’ve went to the Apple Store I’ve decided to buy a new pair.
While I was working on this story, Apple announced AirPods Pro with active noise cancellation. I’ve never liked in-ear headphones that completely seal the ear. I love the way EarPods and later AirPods were in between those in-ear headphones which seal your ear completely and the ones just hanging there. So don’t regret my decision to buy a pair of 2nd generation AirPods just before the new model was announced.
The first day I started wearing new AirPods I was shocked – I didn’t remember how good the battery life was. I could walk half a day at least without getting them out. And then I remembered that they were updated with the new chip and are always listening for “Hey, Siri”. So I’ve decided to try using it. Being in a different city, I’ve asked for walking directions throughout the whole weekend and it was great. Siri listened to me and showed the directions on the watch, still announcing the turns through the headphones.
This is as close to the ambient computing as we are getting right now, but it is very fun and futuristic.
They connect faster than the first generation, especially when you change the device you are connecting to. As always, I didn’t think my 1st gen AirPods were slow at connecting before Apple told from stage that they were. I immediately started noticing how I’ve waiting for them to connect. Nothing like that here.
Otherwise those are the same AirPods as two years ago. They are comfortable for my ears, the case is small. The battery life is great. And they sound … not terrible. This is the time when I am totally ready to trade convenience over the sound quality.
If you have the first generation AirPods I still wouldn’t upgrade just because. Wait until the battery dies and then update, otherwise they are similar enough, so you don’t miss out on anything.
We’ve just got to Spain and despite of it being late at night decided to go swimming, the sea was about 3 minute walking distance from our hotel, so we’ve changed in the room, took towels and nothing else. I had only my Apple Watch with me. We’ve went to the sea, had a nice swim (which my Watch tracked as an activity) and on the way back we saw a bar. We went there and as nobody had a wallet, I’ve bought drinks for everyone with my watch. Tell me this 10-15 years ago, I wouldn’t believe you.
There are different types of technologies – the ones that disrupt, the ones that improve or worsen our lives and the ones that blend seamlessly into our lives and it feels like they’ve always been there.
When you first pay using Apple Pay it just feels right. It’s easy, fast, natural and secure. The one problem? During the presentation I though we would never get it in Latvia. When AirPods came out I had to wait 9 months before I was able to buy a pair. We still, after a year, don’t have EKG (although most of the Europe does), so imagine my surprise when one day out of the blue I see news that Apple Pay is available in Latvia. Five years after it was announced.
I immediately opened Wallet app to set it up both on my phone and my watch. It is still available only in mobile payment systems – Revolut and Monese (although Swedbank is promising the support soon), no other local bank offers it, so the barrier to entry right now is a bit high for users. It took me a minute to set it up and 5 minutes later I was using my watch to pay for coke. It felt like I live in the future.
It is now about two months since launch in Latvia and it feels like there wasn’t any other way before. I’ve used the physical card just a handful of times and mostly outside of the country.
My wife asked me to help her order Revolut card, so she could use Apple Pay. I’ve had a couple of waiters ask how is it possible to set up Apple Pay and they seemed very enthusiastic and really wanted to try it out.
Here in Latvia, almost every terminal is equipped with NFC reader, so I’ve only had one time where I couldn’t use it. After about a week I’ve left my physical Revolut card at home and never looked back. I have one back-up card in my wallet, but it almost never gets used.
I was surprised that there are a lot of terminals that don’t have NFC in Lithuania, granted it wasn’t the capital, but the smaller touristy city, but still. In Russia on the other hand contactless terminals are the norm. Even in some god forgotten little towns where cashier is a babooshka you can pay with your watch or a phone.
I love that there are no limits using Apple Pay, like there are with contactless. I’ve paid large amounts without the need to enter PIN, just pushing the button on the watch.
The offline story is very well covered here in Latvia, unfortunately not so much online. I was able to try out Apple Pay on a website just once, but it was a blast. There are a couple of apps that I use that added Apple Pay as their payment option (mostly apps that rent e-scooters), using those makes me wish every app and website supported it.
I hope more banks add the support for the Apple Pay in the future, as this is fast, easy to use and most importantly secure way to pay, so the more users have the ability to use it, the better.
I’ve got my first watch as a present in the middle school. It was a very nice watch for a kid and I still have it. Since then I’ve started appreciating watches and was wearing them daily. The last one I had was a vintage soviet watch Raketa, I’ve found and restored. You had to manually wind it about once every two days.
I’ve never used the phone to tell time, only watch. When I’ve bought Fitbit – it was an additional accessory on the right hand. Analogue watch always stayed on my left, no matter what.
That is until we’ve travelled to the New York City two years ago, where I got Apple Watch. I liked the Series 3 a lot for two main reasons – activity tracking and notifications. The one thing I didn’t like? The ability (or more precisely the lack of) to tell time. I was even considering wearing two watches – Apple Watch and an analogue one, but this would look too dorky, so I’ve decided to manage with just an Apple Watch.
When the Series 4 came out, I didn’t feel the need to upgrade. There were a couple of health features like fall detection (I think I don’t need it yet) and EKG (it is still not available in Latvia) and changed screen design. Sure, the Series 3 looked really old the second I’ve seen Series 4 in person, but I still couldn’t force myself to upgrade to another watch that you have to shake in order for it to tell time.
This year when the Series 5 was announced, I had to upgrade. How couldn’t I? They fixed the most important thing! I’ve had 42mm Series 3 and decided to get the big one again.
Display
The always on display is such a crucial feature of the watch that after half a day of using it, I couldn’t even imagine how it was possible to live without it. At first I had to learn not to turn my wrist too aggressively, but then it became natural, like so many years before.
When your hands are on the keyboard typing or you are driving, just a little glance at the wrist and you know what time it is – what a novel concept!
In total Apple fashion, they’ve though the feature through, there is an option to hide sensitive complications while in always on mode, I would argue it should be on by default, but it’s not. For me it shows time, weather and date, but doesn’t show reminders, activity and progress in Streaks. That is a great feature, if you commute, for example, people won’t be able to glance at your wrist and read information.
The full screen display with rounded corners looks nice, if you have those new complications along the corners or full screen watch face.
Notifications
This is the thing that changed the least after two years. It is the same mess if you don’t manage them, but if you do, it is possible to live with them. The one feature I would really love is the ability to manage notifications in the messaging apps on the chat by chat basis. A couple of chats would definitely buzz my wrist, but most would stay on the phone, probably silently.
Activity Tracking
When I wrote the review of Apple Watch Series 3, I had my first perfect month. Since then I’ve had 23 more. Since the day I bought a watch, I didn’t miss a day, closing all three rings. I’ve had Active calories ring set to around 500 most of the time, but for the last two-three months the goal is more than 900. The challenges for the month became, well … more challenging. Something changed in the algorithm and I don’t get easy ones anymore (like closing all the rings for a month, which I already do), right now those challenges really push me. I have to plan in advance how to complete them. This is great, but I would still love to have a less challenging month once in a while – some rest is also needed.
Battery
When the Series 4 came out, there were a lot of raving reviews saying how good the battery was. For some it was a two-day battery, for some it allowed to start tracking sleep. This year is different. On a big watch with the normal use from 6am to 23pm with one hour and a half workout there is about 15% of the battery left. On Series 3 after the same day there would be more than 50% left (and my watch is two years old).
On Twitter some are trying to turn everything off (like noise monitoring or always on display), with no luck, so the reason could be in the software (there are some reports WatchOS 6.1 beta fixed it). This one is definitely on Apple, I shouldn’t manage battery life and I have to be able to use all the feature that they’ve advertised.
On the other hand, they said it is “all-day battery, which lasts 18 hours”, and it does (although “all-day” one would think is a bit more than 18 hours). It’s just before battery was so good, I never would even think to manage it. You just put it on a charger before going to sleep and that is the whole management. The one time I had to think about battery was during the 14 hour flight, but that’s expected.
I’ve tried to restore the watch and set it up as new, as it helped some, but battery life stayed the same. In order to stay sane, I’ve decided to try not to think about the battery and see how will I manage.
Watch Faces
I agree with Marco Arment – there is still a shortage of good watch faces. Previous generation watches faces look so bad on the new screen, that they should probably be removed from the new watches. The most easy to use yet configurable are digital faces. But as someone who was wearing watches before Apple Watch, I like to use analogue and there are not many good ones. I love Navy Blue California face, but it looks good only in the full screen mode, which has only two complications and one of them is limited in choice, so I can’t use it during the day, because I actually use complications.
Meridian face would be a step in the right direction, but I don’t like the white background shining at me and black just looks really bad.
So that leaves me three watch faces I use a lot – switching between black California face with circular dial and Infograph Modular. And in the evening or when going out – Navy Blue California face with full screen dial.
Taptic Engine
Apple has a lead in a couple of places, some big – like an A-series chip, some small – like haptics. It is very enjoyable on the phone and it is changed a lot on the watch. I’ve noticed new engine immediately, it’s so much nicer. I like how it works when you use Digital Crown, it is so delightful. Vibrations for notifications are also quite nice. This is a small thing, but the one that gives you a joy using the device.
Room For Improvement
As my main gripe about the Apple Watch was fixed, I have a couple of small wishes going into the future.
As I mentioned the algorithm in challenges changed, so I have to plan how to complete them. Adding complication that shows progress would help a lot.
As someone who closed all the rings for more than two years, I would really love to have the ability to have a day off (I can even show a note from the doctor if it would be necessary).
More thought through watch faces, especially analogue ones. I’m not sure Apple has to allow 3rd party watch faces, but they definitely have to step up their watch face game.
And of course battery life. I know it technically lasts “all day”, but if you want to go out in the evening, you have to either charge the watch or forget about it, because it just won’t last.
Conclusions
Last year when the Apple Watch Series 4 got announced, even though it didn’t change the form much, the bigger screen with rounded corners looked fresh. Comparing two watches, you could definitely see how Series 3 was a previous generation. Using it day-to-day, though didn’t bother me much, because you don’t have something to compare to all the time. This is why I had no desire to upgrade.
This year they sold me after the words “always on display”. My guess is, this feature would be the reason for many to buy a new watch. It is a game changer. Yes, I have problems with the battery life, but I didn’t even think for a second trying to turn off the always on display to preserve battery life. It wouldn’t be the product I’ve bought.
Although I’ve had iOS 13 on my phone since the day it came out, I’ve waited for iPad OS, before signing up for Apple Arcade. I won’t be able to play my PS4 for about a month, so it was the perfect opportunity to test it out. Yesterday, after installing iPad OS 13.1, I immediately signed up for the free trial of Apple Arcade and downloaded my first games.
After connecting PS4 controller I downloaded a couple of games for starters, for no particular reason other than – I’ve read on Twitter that people enjoyed them. The games I’ve downloaded were – Sayonara, Oceanhorn 2 and Cat Quest II. I’ve played all of them for about 10-15 minutes each and I think I will be playing all of those more, the favorite out of them was Cat Quest, which is fast paced, beautiful and funny.
Playing on the big screen of the iPad Pro 12.9” with the controller attached is a blast. I could only imagine that playing on Apple TV would be something really close to the console, I’m already thinking about buying one, just for the games.
Before going to sleep I’ve decided to try out one more game – Mini Motorways and it was a mistake. I couldn’t stop playing. There is a saying – it is easy to learn, but hard to master, it is totally about this game. It’s fun, seams easy, the music is almost meditative. I’m afraid I will spend hours playing it over and over again.
I will probably write something more in-depth about the service later, but right now, this is the most fun €4.99 a month you can spend on a service.
Privacy became somewhat of a theme here, so continuing on this subject – with the release of iOS 13, a lot of apps are asking for the permission to use Bluetooth. Among them are Netflix, YouTube, Waze, Spotify and of course Facebook.
When it asks for the permission, in the little explanation there is it usually tells, that it will help connecting to other Bluetooth devices. Especially with media apps, users could think, that it is necessary to listen through Bluetooth headphones or speakers, but it has nothing to do with that.
Developers have access to those via other means and don’t need permissions for those. The real reason they ask for Bluetooth is location tracking. Using the Bluetooth and WiFi devices around you, app can figure out your location pretty accurately.
This has been happening for quite some time, but only this year Apple added the ability to disallow the permission. It probably tells you something that a lot of developers pulled this functionality from their apps during beta process.
The one legitimate use I did find, was for navigation apps, like Waze. They use Bluetooth in tunnels to navigate you where there is no GPS and mobile signal. But if like me, you live in a place without any tunnels even in farther proximity, you can safely deny the prompt.
Millennials invented cable! This is one of the better memes in the long time, but it works so well. I’ve been reading tech blogs for a very long time and couple of years ago one of the most popular themes was cable cutting. There was a lot of talk, how you can cut the cable, subscribe to a couple of services, buy antenna and save a lot of money.
For some time Netflix and Hulu (in the US) were the ones to have. There was a lot of content, some old, some new, some originals. Now, every company wants to build its own subscription service and charge for it about 10$ a month. And as this is the golden age of the TV you’ll want to watch them all. Subscribing to Netflix, Apple TV+ and Disney, for example, would be about 30$ per month. Add to it Apple Music or Spotify (that’s another 10$) and probably gaming service or two (Apple Arcade and PSN). 50$ and that’s not even trying. Want to watch Office next year – another service.
This all adds up very easily. Apps are implementing subscriptions more and more. Weather apps, Twitter clients, writing apps, Podcasts apps. Everything is a subscription.
For the video services, my plan would probably be keeping Netflix and adding one other services. The service I add will depend on the content it has. There is something new on Disney+? Subscribe for a month or two, until I watch it and something else pops up on another service.
When music streaming became a thing, it destroyed piracy in some markets, as it was much easier to pay and listen to all the music you want, without the need to download, clean meta-data, upload to the phone, etc. Now, with all those video services coming out, I have a feeling, piracy will again rise. You either look for it on some shady website, where it is all lumped together or you take your time to figure out which service it is on. Sure, something like Apple TV could help (app, not a device), but already not every streaming service is in there (and Netflix will never agree to be added).
I hope I’m wrong and those services will prosper and companies will have funds and willingness to produce more great shows.
As we’ve seen last week with Spotify, the use of location tracking can be explained with business interest – they want users to stop abusing the Family Premium plan. What Facebook is doing after all the scandals it had with our data, is unexplainable.
In the recent Newsroom article titled “Understanding Updates to Your Device’s Location Settings”, the social network company explains how updates to Android and iOS will prevent them from abusing the constant location tracking.
Facebook is better with location. It powers features like check-ins and makes planning events easier. It helps improve ads and keep you and the Facebook community safe. Features like Find Wi-Fi and Nearby Friends use precise location even when you’re not using the app to make sure that alerts and tools are accurate and personalized for you.
Just read the fucking quote. Facebook tracking your location to keep you safe. How delirious are they? Article further explains, that now there will be the ability in OS to allow location sharing with the app only once and if the app is tracking your location in the background with the app closed, iOS will prompt you with notification, showing map of the location data and explanation why the app uses it (to keep you safe, of course).
This article shows how bad these changes are for Facebook. Right now location tracking is the best data they can get on users. Knowing where you’ve been can give a lot of insights. Which neighborhood do you live in, where do you work, which type of restaurants you go to, if you are sick, how often do you travel. All of this information can be gathered using the background location tracking, without users even noticing.
I’m glad both Google and Apple are making changes to the location tracking in theirs OS’s. I’m sure Facebook will find a way to track it anyway, they say so in the article:
We may still understand your location using things like check-ins, events and information about your internet connection.
This article shows how out of touch Facebook is, but the more scary thing is – people believe them. I hope those changes will educate people more on the type of data they are sending to those companies.
As spotted by CNET, Spotify updated its terms and conditions for Premium Family subscribers, where it now says, that users have to provide location data “from time to time” to ensure that plan members are actually living at the same address.
What is interesting, Spotify tried to do the same thing one year ago, but was met with such a backlash that it had to stop, until now, when they just added this to the terms and conditions.
Although in the description of the Family plan it specifies that plan members should be ‘members of the same household’, people take the name of the plan quite literally and point out that it is not a prerequisite for being a family to live under the same roof.
This is one of those things, where legitimate users have to suffer because of the abusers. In the reports about the news it is mentioned that friends use the feature to pay less ($15 per month divided by six users is just $2.50), but groups all over the internet and social networks are full of messages where people are looking for “family members” to share the plan with. Most of them don’t even know each other.
Still, even if I understand what Spotify tries to prevent, this is the reason to leave the service. Today location data is a king and providing it to the music service is just stupid. Sure they say that they will delete location data right away, but who believes them anymore? The price of not deleting and apologizing later is much lower than what they can get selling or using the data.
I’ve been thinking recently about switching as everyone is so positive about recommendation engine (didn’t work for me previously), but after that I’m definitely staying on Apple Music with my Family Plan.
