What a busy week in the iPhone and iPad world! iOS 13.0 was released yesterday, but it won’t be the latest version of the operating system for very long. In just a few days, on September 24, Apple will release iOS 13.1 and the first version of iPad OS (which I presume Apple will also designate as 13.1 to be consistent with iOS). Meanwhile, the iPhone 11 and Apple Watch 5 are both available starting today. If you place a pre-order, like I did, you are just a few hours away from the delivery truck showing up with your new device. There was way too much news this week, but I’ve picked some of the highlights for the news of note:
- If you want to hear me talk about iOS 13 and you are in the New Orleans area, I’ll be speaking to the Krewe de Tech group at the Jefferson Parish East Bank Regional Library on Tuesday, October 1 at 6:30. The meeting is free and open to the public. Click here for more details.
- If you want to learn almost every detail of iOS 13 and iPad OS, Federico Viticci has released his comprehensive, 76,000-word, review of iOS and iPad OS 13.
- If you want to just focus on some of the highlights of iOS 13, Jason Snell and Dan Moren of Six Colors are releasing articles addressing 13 features of iOS 13, and so far they are all excellent. There are currently articles on Photos, video editing, Maps improvements, Find My, the long press, QuickPath keyboard, and Shortcuts.
- Heather Kelly of the Washington Post offered a good overview of new features in iOS 13.
- Attorney John Voorhees of MacStories reviews PCalc 3.9, an impressive calculator app that was updated to take advantage of many new features in iOS 13.
- I updated my iPhone to iOS 13 yesterday afternoon, and when I connected to the CarPlay system in my car on the way home from work, I got a chance to use the new version of CarPlay. I love everything about it. The new Dashboard provides so much more information, and I love being able to use the Maps function while also being able to see what is playing and access controls for the audio. Also, there is so much more useful information on every screen, and the larger font sizes and buttons are fantastic. CarPlay Life provides a good overview of everything that is new in CarPlay in iOS 13.
- Attorney Nilay Patel of The Verge created an impressive video explaining and showing why the iPhone 11 Pro has the best camera on a phone.
- Photographer Austin Mann took the new iPhone 11 Pro to China along with Yo-Yo Ma and took some amazing photographs.
- Joanna Stern of the Wall Street Journal wrote a review of the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro aimed specifically at people who are currently using an older iPhone.
- Jason Snell of Six Colors writes about the new U1 Ultra Wideband chip in the iPhone 11 models and what it might mean for the future.
- The iPhone 11 models support the latest and greatest version of Wi-Fi called Wi-Fi 6. Jeff Abramowitz wrote an interesting article for Wired about the origins of Wi-Fi, which launched 20 years ago this week.
- iPhones are powerful and efficient thanks to the Apple-designed processor inside. In an article for Wired, Om Malek writes about the A13 Bionic chip in the new iPhones.
- John Gruber of Daring Fireball wrote a great review of the Apple Watch Series 5.
- I also enjoyed Matt Birchler’s review of the Apple Watch Series 5 on his BirchTree website.
- Stephen Pulvirent of Hodinkee reviews the new titanium version of the Apple Watch Series 5.
- Bob Iger, the head of Disney and a departing member of the Apple Board of Directors, wrote an article for Vanity Fair about Iger’s relationship with Steve Jobs.
- And finally, here is a short video from Apple showing off the primary new camera features in the iPhone 11 Pro: