It’s iPhone Buying Season (and a walk through Apple’s product line)
It’s fall, which means it’s iPhone buying season. I don’t talk about Apple or its products much these days, because to do it well takes time and a lot of work and I don’t particularly feel I bring much to the conversation; my general pattern is to ask myself if I’m adding to a discussion or just joining it, and if it’s the latter, I might as well shut up and listen. (you’re welcome). There are many good and qualified voices covering Apple, I don’t for a minute feel like the world needs me injecting my opinions into things as well.
For those that are curious, those voices that I depend most on to stay informed include:
Jason Snell, who runs sixcolors.com. Also a co-host of the Upgrade podcast with Myke Hurley.
Rene Ritchie’s YouTube channel.
Marco Arment, co-host of Accidental Tech Podcast (with Casey Liss and John Siracusa) and Under the Radar (with David “underscore” Smith).
With these resources, I always feel connected enough to what’s going on — with educated takes on what parts matter and what bits and pieces don’t, that I feel like I’m well tied into the Apple Ecosystem and getting the info on what I need to know given how deeply I’m embedded in it.
And of course, last week Apple did their intros of the iPhone 12 models, which means we’re now deep into iPhone buying season.
iPhone Buying Season
As someone who worked for Apple for many many years, my entire tech eco-system has been built around Apple technology since before some of you have been born. While Apple might sometimes annoy me and sometimes do stupid things — I’ve never seriously considered switching away, and see no future where I might. I’ve never used an Android phone, and while I’m conversant in windows, and once or twice flirted with Surface units, I’m an Apple six color bleeding user and supporter and expect to be for as long as I can make that choice.
Laurie and I have also been signed into the iPhone upgrade program since it was announced, which means my default is to upgrade; it merely adds another year to the existing lease to get the new model. So I was a bit surprised when I realized I was looking at the rumors on the iPhone 12’s, and thinking to myself I think this is the year I’ll sit it out. Nothing really grabbed me.
So my plan going in was to keep the iPhone 11 another year. I really, really like it, and it serves my needs well.
And then Apple announced the iPhone Pro Max: bigger sensor, better night mode, and Apple ProRAW — an officially sanctioned raw mode. As soon as they did, I realized I was sucked back in, because the iPhone 12 Pro Max solved two problems for me: with the ProRAW, I believe I’ll have better ability to work with iPhone images through my existing workflows and be better able to manipulate the images than I have today; and Magsafe solves my ongoing minor frustration with the phone sitting on a Qi charger and not actually charging.
Since my plan for the last year or so has been to migrate more of my non-telephoto photography to the phone and turn my phone into a legitimate second body in my workflow, this seems a big step forward for my situation.
So I’m in. I’ve already pre-ordered the new Moment Lens case for the Pro Max, which I’ll order when purchasing opens. Laurie’s joining me and ordering an iPhone 12 Pro. I”m not sure I’ll love the bigger size of this Max camera — but we’ll see. And if that’s the tradeoff to get the absolute top of the camera capability, I’ll do it, and maybe downgrade in size as the technology migrates to other phones in future years.
And I’m thanking Apple for solving problems I didn’t expect to be solved, just as I was thinking the product had matured enough I could skip a year.
That’s the essence of Apple, when you think about it.
A walk through Apple’s Product line
As I was considering whether to talk about this year’s iPhone, I decided to expand the scope. Since I own so many Apple products across their lines and have opinions on them, let’s chat a bit about all of them and where Apple is doing well — and where it isn’t.
First, a general comment: overall, if I were to rate Apple’s performance across its products, I’d give it a B, with some rough edges.
The key rough edge is software quality. It is trying to do very many things in a very compressed schedule, and over the last few years, it’s felt clear the complexity has been winning more battles than it should. Releases can be buggy, features delayed, and in general, I’ve gone from push the button and upgrade immediately to hmm, should I wait a week? — and this is something Apple needs to do much better on. I do see signs of improvement, but it’s a work in progress.
On top of that, we still see very slow progress on technologies that aren’t the front and center of Apple’s product line. I’ll call out the Apple TV, Homepod and Siri as three technologies where innovation and progress are slow and halting at best. To me, this is an indication they are starved for resources — and that’s an indication that Apple is involved in too many things, because not all of the things they’re doing are getting the kind of attention I expect from Apple.
I was in a conversation this week with friends related to this — they were lamenting that Apple dropped out of the Wifi market, and that they really wanted good, quality WIFI units from Apple. I agree — in theory — but in my mind, broadening Apple’s product line even more, when existing products seem starved for attention and resources would be a bad thing. Once Apple can earn an “A” grade for product quality and innovation on its existing products, well, then I’ll suggest is the time they should consider expanding their product line further. And they are very much not there today. (aside: this is why I’ve put in a pre-order for two of the new Eero Pro tri-band routers to upgrade my wifi; I dislike they’re owned by Amazon, but I’m definitely expecting a nice quality upgrade from them).
So my bottom line is: Apple’s doing a good job overall, but not a great job, and “good” isn’t acceptable given the standards they suggest we should judge them by and that I expect of them. They have work to do. So let’s wander through the product line and see where I think they’re strong and weak(er). I’ll do this by following the products lines they show at the top of the web site. I’ve already covered iPhone 12 above — and to be honest, I expect Apple to treat every product line as well as they treat the iPhone — that is my gold standard.
Mac
I am Mac centric and keyboard centric. My first Mac was a 512Ke, my first loan-to-own was a Mac II, and I’ve been using and owning Mac desktops and laptops ever since. Most of my daily work and all of my writing goes on using a Mac — I have never found a way to use an iPad for more than note-taking that works for me.
My current day to day Mac is a 2019 16” Laptop which I adore. Laurie has a slightly older MacBook Air and iMac. I had an iMac back in the butterfly keyboard days where my laptop was relegated to less frequent mobile use, but I am thrilled to be back in one mac for everything mode. Attached to is are two monitors, my main monitor being a BENQ aimed at serious Photography and Video work, and a 4K LG mounted on the wall. the laptop screen is always open, and the two sidecar monitors are used to hold reference windows — like my calendar, my weather station and 1Password. I work almost exclusively, when I’m at the desk, on the BENQ.
Behind me on the shelves is a few years old Mac Mini, which acts as backup server, long-term archival storage and manages the Plex server.
I love my current setup. I did own a butterfly keyboard for a number of years, and I didn’t actively hate it like many did, but I didn’t really like it, either. I’ve typed on worse, and I was lucky to not run into the bad key problem. That said, I happily upgraded to a new machine as soon as it made sense to.
There were a number of years where the Mac line seemed shifted into it’s mature and the future is the iPad, with not a lot of resources or energy expended on it. I may annoy some with this, but I don’t think that was a bad choice by Apple, as long as it continued producing Macs and updating the technology as new components arrived.
That said, there was a point where it became clear the iPad wasn’t going to shove the Mac out of the way — except perhaps generationally as all of us old pharts age out. Apple did realize this and started putting more focus and energy into the Macs again, and the product line overall seems to have been refreshed and feels modern, not legacy.
The software side is a bit less wonderful. I fully understand why they are building in the more extensive security features, but too often it feels wedged in with the UI seeming like a half-designed afterthought. This had not helped Apple in getting people to understand and accept why those features are here. Apple’s software in general has rarely shown the same love and care the IOS versions of apps have (cough messages cough). With the maturation of Swift and the Cataylst frameworks, we can see that Apple has been working on closing that gap behind the scenes for a few years with the results finally surfacing (with mixed results) where we can see them, but for a number of years I can’t blame Mac users for feeling neglected and abandoned.
I do think Apple has done a lot to close the gap between how they treat IOS and how they treat MacOS — but the gap remains and we’re still a ways off from true parity, if in fact we ever get there. But I’ll give it an overall good enough — for now. grade. I would actually be okay with the Mac being treated as a legacy device without a lot of innovation, as long as they don’t screw it up; but if they intend to treat it as an innovation platform again — and the mac Pro and this 16” Macbook Pro indicate that’s their view — they have a ways to go to really pull if off well. Right now, they’re pulling it off good.
In terms of Apple accessories for the mac: my laptop has a touch bar, which I never use, except that it has Touch ID, which I find incredibly handy. The touch bar is an incredible bit of technology that Apple has never been able to suggest use cases for that most of us care about. Apple is usually very good in not promoting technology over solutions, but here is a classic case where they seem to have fallen in love with a tech toy and sold it to us with look at what we did! instead of look at how this solves problems for you! — and the result was a collective yawn. Apple has not done anything to solve that yawn, and it hasn’t been adopted by developers in interesting ways that I’ve ever cared about. So like most people, I basically ignore it.
My primary keyboard has been the magic keyboard for years and it’s the one I love typing on. I also use the magic trackpad and couldn’t operate without it. My love of the magic keyboard is such that for my iPad, when I go mobile, I use Studio Neat’s Canopy to carry the keyboard and use as a stand, and I love it.
I understand why Apple has bought into USB-C for all on the Laptop. I understand why it annoys some people. I remember people being equally annoyed when Apple started the migration from ADB to this new thing called USB, too. We’ll get over it (unless you write for the Verge).
iPad
Next up, iPad.
My current iPad is two years old. Laurie has one that’s four. We both have new iPad Air models from this fall’s product line on order, because Laurie’s is old enough that it makes sense, and mine, which I’ve dropped a few times with fortunately only cosmetic nicks to the edges and no glass damage, has a failing WIFI system because I probably dislodged the antenna or connector in one of the drops. whoops. So this is the year we both get new iPads and we’re both looking forward to it.
We’re going with the Air’s because we both agree the Pro models are overkill given how we use them, which is much more as content consuming than content creation. That said, we’re both getting Apple Pencils and Smart Keyboard Folios for the iPads, for a complete refresh of our tools here. I have a first generation pencil around here somewhere in a drawer; i found I used it a bit for a few weeks and then stopped remembering to carry it — and not caring. I’m willing to give it a fresh shot with this new system, and I’m going to be interested in the folio case and the new iMac will nudge me towards more content creation with the unit. If so, great. if not, that’s fine. We’ll see how it goes.
Overall, though, while I am and will likely remain Mac-centric, I really love the iPad for what I use it for, and I use it a lot. It’s the second device I use on an daily basis, with the phone a distant third (but for what I use the phone FOR, I can’t live without it)
So given that, I’ll simply note that I do hope Apple ends up treating the Mac as well as it treats the iPad when it can (which likely won’t be until they finish the migration of core technologies into the new swift frameworks and get more of the underlying code base shared between them)
But, yeah. I’m real happy here.
I’m on IOS 14 and generally happy with it. The widgets were a nice addition and I’m still figuring out what I like with them . I find Widgetsmith from David Smith (and ditto below on the Watch with Watchsmith) are nice improvements over Apple’s basic features.
Apple Watch
I have owned an Apple Watch since series 0, and I upgraded to a series 6 this year when it shipped. It is my only watch and I wear it every day. I’ll agree with Marco’s view that the watch faces are ugly and there are very few that have the look and flexibility I want: I admit to two, one built around Infograph and one around Activity Digital. A few times a year I experiment, and I always take a look at new faces when released and I more or less reject them as too ugly, too not-me, or too-few-complications.
The series 6 was the first watch I hesitated upgrading; the improved battery convinced me and the VO2Max sensor intrigued me. I admit to having tried it once (results: confirmation I’m alive and breathing), but for me, the watch is two things: it’s a very mobile and convenient notification system, and I like it’s fitness and health monitoring in the background. Because of my bad knees, I am at higher risk for falls if I’m not careful, so fall detection is a solid reason to wear the thing, but I do like being reminded about how I’m doing in terms of fitness things in general — but to be blunt, I see the activity rings as an advisor, not a boss. But I do find them useful and they have made a difference, so I’m sold on wearing it.
Part of me wishes the watch faces were better; another part of my thinks at some level, they’ll never be as good as mechanical watches and trying to get there will likely push the watch in the wrong directions. Instead, I’ve admitted and bought into that I’m wearing a digital watch, and not wishing for a lipstick-on-a-pig miracle that some day, a watch face will confuse someone into think I’m really wearing a Rolex. Still — I think Apple’s innovations in faces has been lagging and I’m not entirely sure why. There were some nice improvements in complications for IOS 14 that I hope is a good sign for this.
But overall, the watch is on my wrist from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to bed, minus showers, and I regret that not one bit.
Apple TV
Here’s where I’m going to stop being quite so enthusiastic….
Our house until recently had two Apple TVs in it. The big TV in the family room — a Roku enabled TCL — has one, and I had a second unit here in my office attached to the 4K monitor. I came into the office a couple of months ago to find the Apple TV had died at some point. I, of course, immediately replaced it. With a Roku.
That more or less sums up my thinking on the TV hardware. It’s expensive. it’s huge compared to the roku. It doesn’t differentiate itself to me in any useful way (I have no interest in the Apple TV as a gaming device; I have an iPad and I have a Nintendo Switch). A couple of weeks ago TCL announced Airplay 2 coming to their TVs, and once that arrives on mine — the existing Apple TV will be unplugged and retired, because literally the only time I’ve fired it up in the last six months has been to use Airplay (or to install updates). that’s it’s only purpose for existing and differentiation today, and that’s going away.
The Apple TV hardware to me has the feeling of well, we did this product, we have no idea what to do with it but we can’t exit the market — and my suggestion to Apple is that now that the Apple TV software is out, yes you can exit the market, and should. There were many opportunities here for Apple, all ignored or reacted to way too late to succeed, and now it’s time to move on. Or maybe buy Roku but other than handing them money, leave them alone.
Speaking of the Apple TV+ (the app) and streaming platform: The only time in the last few months I’ve used the app was to watch Apple Keynotes. That said, this household is sports centric and 90% of the time when a screen is lit it’s pointing at a live game of some sort. I watch few movies and less series TV, so I’m not even close to the demographics Apple TV+ is aiming at, so that’s not exactly a criticism. I’m not even in the game here. But if Apple hadn’t given me a free year I wouldn’t have a subscription, and once the free time is up, unless I move to a bundle that includes it (which frankly is likely) it’ll go away. It’s not good or bad — it’s irrelevant to my life.
I will admit to, out of curiousity, watching the first episode of Raven’s Quest, and all it did was remind me why I don’t watch stuff like this any more.
Homepod
When Apple announced the Homepod, I was intrigued. I got myself a unit, and then got one for Laurie, too. Now, months and months later, I can admit the the sound quality is amazing, Siri is as frustrating as ever, and I simply don’t use mine very much overall. Laurie uses hers left. I probably give it Siri commands a half dozen times a week to manipulate the office lights, but I’m just as likely to fire up the Home app instead, because the app seems less likely to get it wrong. Anything beyond “turn this on” or “turn this off” I never do.
For sound, I’ll use it to play music or podcasts from the phone. If I’m playing audio on the Mac, the speakers on that 16” Pro are more than good enough so I don’t bother with the Homepod. The TV/monitor is hooked up to speakers because it’s not compatible with the Homepod, and when the Apple TV was in the office, it never seemed to remember long-term that I wanted it to play through the homepod, and I was too lazy to always set it up again.
I bought it to see if having a dedicated unit like that would encourage me to do more voice interaction and use the home assistant aspect more with Siri. Months later, I can say the answer is a resounding NOPE. If the unit fails, it won’t be replaced. I might at some point simply unplug it and retire it. When I am listening to music, I love how it sounds but I have other options that would work just as well without it.
This really feels like the touch bar on my mac does — like a product where Apple fell in love with the technology, but didn’t really think through what solutions it offers. The new $99 homepod minis address how expensive the original homepods were, but I still see nothing about the homepod that makes my life better in any way worth even spending $99 on it. It was an interesting but failed experiment for me to buy it.
AirPods
Finally, airpods. I own a set, actually two, with a first generation in a drawer, and a second generation sitting on my desk on a Qi charger. I’ve been using them as my primary headphones for work conferences and everything else for many months. I actually like them quite a lot overall, but I’ll also note I don’t find them super comfortable for extended use. I’ve tried all three sizes of the ear plugs, plus some third party options, and they’re all in the okay but not great in terms of long term use comfort.
I found myself wondering if Apple would finally announce the rumored over the ear headphones, but so far this fall, no love. And about three days before the iPhone keynote, my AirPods started acting up with the crackles and ball bearing clanks — indications of dirt in the mesh covering the noise cancellation sensors. I’ve spent some time following the recommended cleaning and I’ve got it down to a minor clicking, but it looks like they need to go in for replacement.
But I’ve found while they’re fine when I’m out and about, I prefer more traditional headphones here in the home. Without an Apple option to buy, I happened to notice that on Amazon Prime day the Bose QC35’s were on sale for $100 off. My before-AirPod headphones were the first generation QC35 and I loved them, so I grabbed a set. The QC35 II feels even lighter than I remember the originals (which died heroes when I tried to replace the worn out ear muffs and failed miserably).
So as of now, I’m back in camp headphone with the Bose camp, and the AirPods will be in my pocket whenever I leave the house. And one of these days i”ll get them replaced to do away with the rattle. Unlike the Homepod I expect to always have a set handy, but ‘ve found I simply prefer the over the ear vs. in ear solution for extended use, but I’ll happily put them on when I’m out walking or sitting outside relaxing.
Final thoughts
A long piece, but I hope you find it interesting. My general summary: there are places where Apple is doing a great job: iPhone hardware, iPad hardware, Watch hardware and the current Mac hardware come to mind. And there are places where Apple is doing a pretty good job, especially with how they’re driving the Watch and IOS in general forward.
That said, quality of IOS releases still needs to be improved. MacOS software has improved in the last couple of years but I’ll still frame it as a work in progress; acceptable but not good enough, especially in feature parity with IOS.
And since this covers most uses by most users, despite the complexities of the scale it has to work with, I have to give Apple a pretty positive grade. But that said, I am still waiting to understand why Apple felt the Homepod deserved to be released, and I think it’s time for them to cut and run from Apple TV hardware — they’ve lost that market to Roku and won’t get it back, and shouldn’t waste energy trying.
Their portfolio of products, and how well they are implementing them is good, but not perfect. But it’s far from an unqualified success, and that’s what Apple keeps telling us we should expect to them. They still have work to do to actually achieve it.
