Ever since Apple held an event on September 10 to announce the new iPhone 11, many have wondered if Apple would have another event in October to announce other products. With the month about to end, it is now obvious that won't happen. Instead, Apple released a new product yesterday without all of the fanfare of an event, and Apple also updated IOS 13.
AirPods Pro
The AirPods have been a great product for Apple, and virtually everyone I meet who owns AirPods really loves them. (My son turned 14 last week and he was thrilled to receive his first set of AirPods.) When Apple has a hit on its hands, it makes sense for Apple to try to expand the line.
Yesterday, Apple announced the AirPods Pro. The cost $249, so they are more expensive than AirPods with Wireless Charging Case ($199) and AirPods with Charging Case ($159). But with the extra money, you get:
- Active noise cancellation, which you can turn off by holding a button on the AirPods Pro, entering a mode that Apple calls Transparency. Transparency mode not only turns off the active noise cancellation technology, it also passes sound from outside through the silicone tips so you hear more than you would otherwise hear with the silicone tips deep in your ear.
- Soft, flexible silicone tips that come in three sizes to customize the fit. The AirPods Pro can even conduct a test of the sound level in your ear to help you figure out what size will work best for your ears.
- Instead of tapping an AirPod to trigger an action such as play/pause, there is now a force sensor button that you squeeze.
- Sweat and water resistant
- Qi wireless charging case
I know that I will wish that I had noise cancellation every time I use AirPods on a plane, but because I don't fly that often and the normal AirPods feel great in my ears, I don't see any reason to rush out and buy a pair of AirPods Pro when they go on sale tomorrow. Having said that, I look forward to reading the reviews.
iOS 13.2
Yesterday, Apple also released iOS 13.2 and iPadOS 13.2. For many folks, the top new feature will be the ability to use new Emoji, which I previewed three months ago. Here come the orangutan, waffle, banjo, and 395 more — which you can see here on Emojipedia.
New Siri privacy settings let you decide whether you want to let Apple engineers listen to short recordings of your voice that Siri had trouble understanding to help make Siri more effective. Your identity is protected if you do agree to share with Apple, but if you want to avoid even the possibility that someone could learn something that they shouldn't know by listening to a recording of your voice, then just decline to share this data with Apple when you first use your device after upgrading to iOS 13.2.
iOS 13.2 also enables the new Deep Fusion mode, which allows the iPhone 11 to take better pictures with sharper details when there is a medium amount of light, such as indoors. This is not a mode that you turn on or off, and Apple doesn't even give you a notification when Deep Fusion is in use or was used on a picture. Nevertheless, hopefully you will notice that your indoor pictures come out even better with a new iPhone and iOS 13.2.
When you are in video mode in the Camera app, an indicator in the corner now tells you whether you are in HD or 4K mode and whether you are capturing 24, 30, or 60 frames per second. Tap either one of those to change the mode without having to exit the Camera app to go to the Settings app.
If you use AirPods, the new Announce Messages with Siri feature lets Siri read messages to you as they come in. Siri will announce the sender, then read you the message, and then ask if you want to reply.
And like every iOS update, iOS 13.2 also includes security updates and bug fixes.
...and more?
Although that may be all that Apple has to say this week, there are rumors floating around of other new Apple products waiting in the wings, such as AirTags and a battery case for the iPhone 11 line. So perhaps we will hear even more from Apple before this week is over. We'll see.
