Waiting for the iPhone 15 Ultra

I’m really looking forward to the iPhone 15 Ultra👀. Coming from the iPhone 13 Pro, I skipped the 14 Pro1; I expect the camera improvements to be tangible. The telephoto lens could see the most significant improvements driving sales of the Ultra to new territories2. Using a periscope architecture, telephoto could jump from 3x to 6x or more. This could be the last thing that makes me sell my Nikon D7503. The softer and rounder edges and titanium finish might make this iPhone the best design of all time4. And, finally, USB-C will certainly simplify charging the damn thing! I wonder if I’ll still be able to use my Lightning Lavalier microphone using a Lightning-to-USB-C adaptor.🤔

It will be my first “Max” iPhone. Apparently, I’m on a stretch of going for the bigger screens5.

  1. I skip a generation to limit my consumerism habits. It’s an environmental issue here. ↩︎

  2. Kuo’s rumors about periscope lens. ↩︎

  3. I depend on a 70-200mm zoom on my Nikon which is very useful on a trip. ↩︎

  4. I still thing the best design was the matte black iPhone 7. ↩︎

  5. I recently upgraded from the 13-inch MacBook Air to a 15-inch version. ↩︎

Poll: 1️⃣ iPhone 15 Ultra or 2️⃣ iPhone 15 Pro Ultra? 1

My gut feeling is that if Apple really is going to use the Ultra, it would be tied to the Pro moniker, otherwise this would create confusion.

  1. I Wish there was a poll feature on Micro.blog 🥺 ↩︎

On Dark Sky and Apple's Weather

A Eulogy for Dark Sky, a Data Visualization Masterpiece

The design of Dark Sky was so wonderful that I could understand the shape of the weather at a glance, even from a zoomed out view of the app.

Great analysis of the now-defunct Dark Sky weather app. I’m a bit late on that one. I don’t remember using Dark Sky because I think it wasn’t working in Canada. I’m not sure about this. Once Apple took over and brought the redesigned weather app with iOS 16, we could visually feel the Dark Sky’s influence on it. But Apple being Apple, they dropped a few things here and there and made a few things their own. I tend to use Carrot Weather more, but recently, I deep-dived into Apple’s Weather, and frankly, they did a good job. Yet, there was something unique in Dark Sky that I don’t feel in Apple’s offerings. Is it too close to the Yahoo Weather look & feel? Maybe.

Am I alone who happens to get the iPhone keyboard displayed on the iPad instead of the full-size keyboard? My wife experienced the same thing many times. We don’t know how to make this thing revert to the normal size keyboard. Easy to make it disappear, but when it comes back, it’s still the small version. Very annoying to type on this.

Tempted to install macOS Sonoma Beta 6 on my shiny new 15-inch MacBook Air… I like to be at the cutting edge of software releases… on iPhone, iPad, Watch and Apple TV, betas have been rock solid for me so far (the worst is the iPad). Any advice here besides “you’re mileage may vary”, “go ahead at your own risk”, etc.?

This week, I am getting an appointment for a screen replacement on my iPhone 13 Pro (under my paid AppleCare warranty). Three highly visible scratches are bugging me big time: the trade-in value is reduced by 485 CAN$ (at the worst timing possible: iPhone 15 Ultra is approaching😩), and I always focus on the scratches when looking at my iPhone screen. 🫣 AppleCare can be a good investment.