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The Waiting Game
In case you didnāt know, Iām a big fan of Apple (from the corporation, the products to the companyās history). Hereās a little secret: I maintain a document of possible upgrade paths for all my current Apple products. Itās fun. Yes, Iām a bit crazy.
Each year, during the fall, Apple releases a slew of new products. Each year, I spend some time updating my document to reflect my analysis of possible product upgrades. Take the iPhone for example. Iām currently using last yearās iPhone 13 Pro. Iām super happy with but Iām pondering the idea of upgrading to the iPhone 14 Pro Max. So, I list all the reasons why I should do it and all the reasons why I should refrain from doing the upgrade. Itās the same drill for my aging 2018 11-inches iPad Pro. Or my Apple Watch Series 6. Itās quite fun and educative because for each product, I spend quite some time studying it and pondering their technical advances over my current product. Itās really fun. And crazy.
This year, itās a bit different for some reasons. Thereās still nothing in the Apple tech landscape that could trigger a purchase. Not yet. Rumours about an upcoming iPad Pro refresh and a more powerful Mac mini with an M2 are aplenty. Things could change in a few weeks.
But, seriously, what is more fun than anything else is the waiting game. Pleases come while waiting for something to happen. I read somewhere that people who wait patiently to get something are more happy in life than those who succumb rapidly to fill their immediate needs. I must be quite happy then.
Header photo credits: Photo by Zhiyue on Unsplash
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On the Dynamic Island Inception and Possible Future
A recent Twitter thread about the possible iPhone Dynamic Island inception by Matt Birchler caught my attention a few days ago but couldn’t find the required time to write my take.
How long could Dynamic Island have been in gestation at Apple? A few weeks, a few months? I think this has been in the works for quite some time. Besides the visual appearance, the API goes with it and needs a design period too. I’m sure Matt understands and knows about that. I would argue that Apple worked on this way before this year’s announcement. Best integration between hardware and software takes time because of how Apple is internally structured. Secrecy plays a significant role in making things longer to achieve too. Apple plan’s for the long run, and I think the pill shape was set in stone last year.
The second thing that caught my attention is this: How long will Dynamic Island be with us? What if Apple can make the camera disappear under the iPhone’s display? Would this make Dynamic Island pointless? No. My take is that the feature is here for the long run, even though the camera and all other sensors could disappear entirely. Apple is training us to accept Dynamic Island as a fundamental part of the iPhone experience. We may even expect the feature to be the de facto standard of the best iPhone user experience. I don’t think we will revert to the previous design that Dynamic Island is taking care of. The black pill share could be dynamically removed when not required but could then pop up to respond to the current context dictated by the user interaction.
The Dynamic Island is such a terrible name but the feature in itself is brilliant, so Apple.
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Press Releases it will be ā Next Round of Apple Products Releases
The way I see it, there is nothing in an updated MacBook Pro line with M2 processors and a tweaked iPad Pro line to warrant a keynote. There has to be something special, really special. iPadOS 16.1, macOS Ventura aren’t enough. The rumoured Mac Pro? Maybe, but no signals on its imminent release either. An updated Apple TV hardware? Nah. A larger MacBook Air (like 15")? Why now? That is why I agree with Gurman’s view and the next product release will go through a set of press releases later in October.
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Let Apple Fix All Bugs, Will Ya?
MacRumors in iPhone 14 Pro Owners Complain of ‘Slow’ Camera App - MacRumors:
Affected users are seeing the Camera app take four to five seconds to activate after the Camera app icon is tapped, with the problem occurring after the camera has been opened once already.
Coupled with other issues related to the camera and AirDrop, even though I’ll probably upgrade to the 14 Pro Max, I’ll gladly wait a few months before taking the plunge. But, fixes are coming very soon, apparently.
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On iPhone Internal Design - as Important as the External Design
iFixit writing about the internal redesign of the iPhone 14 in “The iPhone 14 Feature Apple Didnāt Tell You About”:
This is the most substantial iPhone redesign since the X. Itās hard to understate how big a change this is. For a reference point, Samsung hasnāt changed their phone architecture since 2015.
So, with the biggest update in years, weāre upgrading the iPhone 14 to a repairability score of 7 out of 10. Thatās the best score weāve given an iPhone since the iPhone 7. This is the most repairable iPhone in years.
Who wrote that smartphones, iPhone in particular, have peeked? A fundamental redesign of the iPhone to make it more repairable seems not only a good move but a much-needed change of thinking. If Apple is serious about environment protection and carbon footprint, they not only have to think about the choice of materials but also the way iPhones are built so they are more easily fixed. Kudos to Apple. Why this design is only for the iPhone 14, not the Pro, is a mystery to me.
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The more I think about it...
The more I look at reviews, watch YouTube videos and visit Apple.com, the more I realize that considering my current hardware setup, there aren’t many reasons to upgrade to the iPhone 14 Pro (currently with 13 Pro), the Apple Series 8 (currently with Series 6) or the AirPods Pro 2 (currently the original Pro version). The Apple Watch Ultra could be a reason, but I’m not the target customer for that one.
Waiting for October releases and going to the Apple Store tomorrow. Just for fun.
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The Unexpected Pain That Comes With Lock Screen Customization
So, Iāve been testing iOS 16 since its early beta stage, and I love it so much. One of the best features is the customizable Lock Screen. But it also creates an issue, the same with Apple Watch watch faces: how to decide which widgets to use and place in those limited slots. There are more and more widgets available each day, but the space is so constrained. I cannot find a strategy to create a Lock Screen that Iām fully satisfied with. I end up creating many of them, but switching among them isnāt smooth, except if they are linked to a focus mode. Itās not a first-world problem, but it is annoying. Iām left with a sense of constant dissatisfaction.
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What's Hot in Italy? Android or iPhone? My Observations
Here’s an interesting post by Gruber about Android vs iPhone’s relative popularity in different places around the world. I have some observations to share from my experience.
After spending three weeks in Italy for vacation, from what I could see, there was a lot of iPhone around me independently of the place I visited. Sure I saw many Android phone users too. But a majority were iPhone users. Regarding Android’s relative popularity in Germany and France, I would consider the possibility of an aversion for what Apple represents (an “American icon”) in those countries as a partial explanation. Maybe it’s not cool to support an American company like Apple?
Another interesting fact: WhatsApp is THE messaging service app people seem to use the most. iMessage isn’t popular in Italy, it seems.
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Away from Apple's Far out event
Next week, Apple will release a bunch of new iPhone and Apple Watch. I think it’s the first time I feel so detached from this media event. I’ll still be in Italy on vacation. The “Far out” event will happen at 19:00 local time. I’m not sure I’ll be able to watch the keynote live since I’ll probably be having dinner or visiting a village. I don’t want to impose a stay at the apartment for that. I’ll watch the YouTube video when I’m back at the apartment.
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M2 MacBook Air ā Not Going To Happen
I paid a quick visit to the Apple Store yesterday to get a pack of AirTags and give another look at the M2 MacBook Air, especially the Midnight colour version. In principle, this colour is gorgeous, but in practice, I donāt think I would go with this colour if I were to upgrade to the M2 MacBook Air. Itās really a fingerprints magnet. I know my fingers can be āoilyā at times, which would be even worse than in this picture. I like the idea of having black keyboard keys on a dark frame (like the MacBook Pro). Too bad. Another reason to postpone any upgrade plans.
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How Apple Is Encouraging Developers to Have Their Own Identity
Telegram’s CEO, M. Pavel Durov, complains that Apple is making his life harder than necessary by having to wait for the review process to complete its job. When Apple finally accepts the update but requires him to remove the Telemoji package, he goes on to say:
… this will motivate Telegram to make Telemoji even more āunique and recognizable.ā
He sounds like a whining baby. Thanks to Apple, Mr. Durov now gets the idea and his team will have to return to their drawing board and be more creative.
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Less Colour Options at First, Introduce More Later
Color Options for All iPhone 14 Models: Everything We Know - MacRumors If iPhone 14 colour options are reduced compared to the iPhone 13 lineup, I think itās because Apple is trying to reduce manufacturing options in a time of highly constrained manufacturing capacity. New colours could later be introduced like they did for the purple option this year.
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On Apple Silicon Macs and lack of Windows Support
Regarding the lack of Boot Camp on Apple Silicon Macs: I think that the lack of Windows support on Apple Silicon machines is hurting some buyers, me included. Iād like to be able to run Windows on a Mac, because of my job in IT. I came close to buying a Mac Pro to run VMware stuff. But whoās really at fault here, Apple or ā¦ Microsoft? Linux is another story, though. I’m not fully aware of current Linux compatibility with Apple Silicon, but I think it’s slowly coming. Oh, and don’t even try to mention Windows ARM to me. This thing won’t run on Apple Silicon Macs unless Microsoft and Apple actively cooperate on this.
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The Lost of the Nobs
About the updated design of the media player on the iPhone with iOS 16 beta 4: this enhancement in iOS 16 illustrated by Six Colors is real. At first, I didnāt like the loss of the little and reassuring nob, but now the interface feels cleaner and yet shows some affordance as we now know what these lines are for.
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On The Myth of Lack of Mac Management Tools
Recently, during a discussion in a meeting at work, a colleague of mine was expressing his frustration about the fact that one of our customers was using Macs in its business. He went on saying the Mac is such a pain to manage and is an immature platform in the business world compared to Windows PC. I couldn’t help myself to tell him he couldn’t be farther than the truth.
Hereās the thing: of course, management tools and services are aplenty on the Windows platform. Why is that? Well, because it needs so much attention, so they can keep working! Just think of security-related software needed to keep hackers away from your machine full of security holes, thanks to Windows.
It was a āšā moment for sure. I think Iām on earth on a mission: to debunk false perceptions about the Mac.
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Iām Not Publishing an iOS 16 or iPadOS 16 Wish List This Year
WWDC is around the corner. Itās usually the time of the year when tech pundits will work hard on their wish list for the next major revision of Appleās iOS 16 and iPadOS 16. I typically do that myself. This year, though, Iāll skip the whole thing. Appleās core operating systems are mature, low-hanging fruits are scarce. At this maturity stage, it seems that expressing our desires is more and more a matter of preferences, or interpretation of what could be better user experiences. I may sound bored. Maybe I am. Sure, Iād like improvements to the iPad like full external monitor support, but then what? Apple owns the agenda, decides how to move the needle and protect its bottom line. The rest is pure noise.
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Today was a special day. So many memories.
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Notes of interest from Apple’s Q2 2022 earnings report and conference call | AppleInsider
The last seven quarters have been the best ever for Mac
What a difference a few years make on the Mac. I’m happy to see the Mac thrive like this.
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Interesting Ideas for iPadOS 16
I recently wrote an article about where the iPad should go from here. On the subject of iPadOS, looking at this article on Behance from Parker Ortolani, here are the few interesting ideas that caught my attention:
- The updated Dock with the ability to move an application window to an external display.
- Still on the Dock, the frequently used applications replaced with standard folders (like downloaded items).
- Stacks in the Dock, just like on macOS.
- Home Screen icon placements can include things like Shortcuts, or files.
- Studio Mode for external display full support. My number one request.
- Addition of Preview from macOS would be super useful for more pro-like workflows. Same with the addition of Dictionary. It would be super useful for content creators like me.
WWDC 2022 is around the corner, starting another round of updates for iPadOs over the coming year.
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When Apple Pivoted
Thanks to MacRumors, as reported today, I didnāt know today was the fifth anniversary of a special meeting between Appleās top brass and select journalists to talk about Appleās plans with the pro users and their commitment to the Mac.
At the time, we didnāt know how serious Appleās upcoming pivot would be. In retrospective, Apple delivered and then some. It is simply a tour-de-force to flip the Mac product line upside down and bring power efficient, mighty and beautiful Mac designs. The Mac transition to Apple Silicon is probably the most important change to come to the Mac line since its inception in 1984.
I canāt wait to see what the next ten years will be made of.
