Month: September 2021

If you are thinking about getting an iPhone 13, I recommend that you first read my general post on all four of the models in the iPhone 13 line.  The iPhone 13 is the primary new model.  The iPhone 13 mini is the smaller version of the new model.  The iPhone 13 Pro is the more advanced version of the new model.  And the iPhone 13 Pro Max is the more advanced version of the new model that adds an even larger screen.  For me, the best choice was the iPhone 13 Pro.  I consider it to be the “just right” size.  The mini is cute but I prefer having a larger screen, whereas the iPhone 13 Pro Max size would be way too big for me.  Thus, for me, the only real choice was between the iPhone 13 and the iPhone 13 Pro. 

Between those two, for many folks, the iPhone 13 Pro is a better choice for two reasons.  First, if taking pictures with an iPhone is important to you, the iPhone 13 Pro is a better choice because it includes a telephoto lens, a macro lens, and better cameras.  Second, if you appreciate using nicer technology, then the iPhone 13 Pro is a better choice because of the improved screen with Pro Motion.  If you read this post and are not impressed by these features, then the iPhone 13 is probably the best value for you.

Photography:  the 3x Telephoto lens

When Apple first introduced the “Pro” version of the iPhone in 2019 with the iPhone 11 Pro, one of the distinguishing features was the addition of a third telephoto camera.  That way, instead of cropping a photo to zoom in, which decreased quality and made the picture fuzzier, you could get a higher quality zoomed-in photograph.  For the iPhone 11 Pro and the iPhone 12 Pro, the telephoto lens was 2x.  Being able to choose between an Ultra Wide camera, a Wide camera, and a 2x Telephoto camera often gave you the ability to take three different pictures that told three different stories, as I showed in my review.

That remains true this year, as you can see from some pictures that I took this past weekend at the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans.  (I’ve compressed these pictures somewhat to make the size of this post more reasonable, so the real pictures are even better in quality than these versions.)

For example, with the Ultra Wide camera, I can take a picture that tells the story of a cool tree and its surroundings, including the path, trash can, and bench around it.

Using the standard Wide camera, the story is all about the tree itself.

Using the 3x Telephoto camera, the focus of the story is the sign on the tree.

Similarly, this Ultra Wide picture shows a round fountain.

Using the Wide camera, the focus is on the elephants in the fountain.

With the 3x Telephoto lens, the picture is no longer about the elephants; it is a peek-a-boo picture about a golf cart.

As that last photo shows, having a 3x telephoto lens gives you a pretty powerful zoom.  How does it compare to the 2x zoom from the 2019 and 2020 versions of the Pro?  I found that it made a pretty big difference.

Here is a Wide camera picture of some flamingos.  The first picture is the iPhone 13 Pro and the second picture is the iPhone 12 Pro.  Although the 13 Pro has a better quality Wide camera for low light, I didn’t notice the difference for an outside picture on a sunny day.

Here is the Telephoto camera with the iPhone 13 Pro, followed by the iPhone 12 Pro.  With the 3x zoom, the flamingos fill the screen, which results in a more dramatic picture.

The same is true for video.  Here is a short video of some sea lions playing around, first with the iPhone 13 Pro Telephoto lens, followed by the iPhone 12 Pro Telephoto lens.  (Both videos were taken at the same time.)  The 3x lens lets you get closer to the sea lions, which lets you take a more impressive video.  The 3x lens also does a better job of showing that sea lions are very funny to watch.

I had feared that using a 3x lens would mean that small shakes in my hand would be more noticeable, reducing the overall picture quality.  Perhaps that would happen with a 4x or 5x lens (if they could figure out how to fit that into an iPhone), but in my tests, I didn’t have a problem with 3x pictures.

Having a Telephoto lens is a great feature that allows you to take different types of pictures.  Even if this were the only difference between the iPhone 13 and iPhone Pro, it would be enough for me to pay more for the Pro.  Moreover, 3x is better than 2x, so if you are upgrading from a 2x Telephoto camera, you will appreciate the improvement.

Photography:  Macro lens

A second advantage of the iPhone 13 Pro is that it is the first iPhone to have a Macro lens.  When you get about 14cm away from an object (just under six inches), you will actually see the image on your screen change slightly as the iPhone switches to the Macro mode.  At that point, you can get very close to your object, and you can  even tap the 3x button to zoom in even more.  On the iPhone 13 and prior iPhone models, the iPhone would lose its ability to focus when you got that close.

Macro photography is especially useful when you are taking a picture of a flower.  Here is an example of a 1x Macro picture of a flower — which the Photos app tells me is a Ruellia.  (That’s a new feature of iOS 15, the ability to identify flowers, pets, landmarks, and more.)

Here is a 2x Macro picture of that same flower:

How much better is this Macro lens than what you could do with prior iPhones?  This past weekend I was sitting at my bar and I saw a bottle of Peychaud’s bitters (a key ingredient for a Sazerac cocktail).  This picture is taken with the normal, Wide lens:

With my iPhone 12 Pro, using the 2x Telephoto lens, this is the closest picture that I could get without the words becoming too fuzzy to read.  And the words are still a little fuzzy.

On the other hand, with the Macro feature on the iPhone 13 Pro, I had no trouble getting a much more clear image when I was close up:

And using the 3x Macro camera on the iPhone 13 Pro, I could get an incredibly clear very close picture, one in which I could see every crinkle in the paper label:

Macro photography is probably not a thing that you want to do every day.  But you’ll certainly know the times when you can take advantage of it.  When those times occur, it is nice knowing that the iPhone 13 Pro can do exactly that.

Photography:  low light

The third advantage of the iPhone 13 Pro’s cameras is that they do even better in low light.  This is great because I often want to take pictures indoors when the lighting is less than ideal.  Apple explains it this way:  “iPhone 13 Pro was made for low light. The Wide camera adds a wider aperture and our largest sensor yet — and it leverages the LiDAR Scanner for Night mode portraits. Ultra Wide gets a wider aperture, a faster sensor, and all-new autofocus. And Telephoto now has Night mode.”

Telephoto photos using Night mode are a significant improvement.  When you try to use the Telephoto lens in a low light situation using an iPhone 12 Pro, the picture quality is not great.  In this picture, the overhead lights are somewhat low, about the level that you would use for a more intimate gathering.  Using the Telephoto mode on the iPhone 12 Pro does result in a closer picture, but the words on the bottles are quite blurry:

But with the iPhone 13 Pro, Night mode on the Telephoto lens results in photos that are significantly more bright and detailed.  And at 3x, you also get closer to the objects (or the people) without having to move the iPhone closer:

For all of the times when you cannot do anything about the low light — in a restaurant or bar, indoors in a room without good lighting, etc. — the iPhone 13 Pro allows you to take better pictures.

ProMotion

Prior iPhone models, and the non-Pro models of the iPhone 13, refresh the screen at 60 Hz.  The iPhone 13 Pro can refresh the screen twice as quickly, using 120 Hz when it will improve the experience, or dialing down to 10 Hz when nothing is moving on the screen.  This makes motion on the screen seem much more smooth.  Here is a slo-mo video that Domenico Panacea posted on Twitter that shows the difference:

iPhone 12 Pro Max vs iPhone 13 Pro Max
60 Hz vs 120 Hz pic.twitter.com/1pSqqPz0d6

— domenico panacea (@domenicopanacea) September 24, 2021

In real life, it makes things seem much more smooth on the iPhone screen.  There have been numerous times over the last few days when some sort of motion has happened on my iPhone’s screen, even something as simple as returning to the home screen, and I’ve found myself amazed that the transition was so smooth.

If you are not a big tech enthusiast like I am, maybe you won’t notice this difference as much.  But I notice it quite a bit, and I really like it.  (I’ve been using ProMotion on an iPad Pro for many years now, and I really like it there as well.)

The iPhone 13 Pro screen can also be a little bit brighter.  In typical usage, the max brightness on the iPhone 13 Pro is 1000 nits, versus 800 nits on the iPhone 13.  (The iPhone 12 Pro/iPhone 11 Pro was 800 nits and the iPhone 12/iPhone 11/other models going back to the iPhone 7 was 625.)  When watching HDR content, all of the iPhone 13 models can go up to 1200 nits.

Battery life

I haven’t been using this iPhone 13 Pro long enough to provide personal experience on the battery life improvements.  But if Apple’s numbers are correct, they are pretty substantial.  For example, Apple says that an iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro can play video for up to 17 hours.  The iPhone 13 can play video for up to 19 hours.  The iPhone 13 Pro can play video for up to 22 hours.  And the iPhone 13 Pro Max can play video for up to 28 hours.

Lots of things that you can do with an iPhone will affect its overall battery life.  But when Apple announced the iPhone 13 Pro, Apple said that in typical use it will last about 90 minutes longer than an iPhone 12 Pro.  When you are having a long and busy day, having an extra 90 minutes before you need to recharge can make a significant difference in your day.

Speed

I haven’t yet noticed the speed improvements resulting from using the new A15 Bionic chip and the 5-core GPU (versus a 4-core GPU on the iPhone 13), but I’m always in favor of making an iPhone faster so that it is more responsive. And my iPhone 13 Pro certainly seems very responsive.

Conclusion

I loved the design of my iPhone 12 Pro because of the flat edges that make it easier to hold the device.  The iPhone 13 Pro takes that same great design and adds more battery life, a screen that displays movement more smoothly, and a significantly better camera.  The iPhone 13 will also give you some battery life improvements and somewhat better cameras, so it is no slouch.  But if taking pictures with your iPhone is important to you and/or if you like the idea of a premium screen, I think that the iPhone 13 Pro is easily worth the $200 premium over the iPhone 13.  If you are ready to upgrade to a new iPhone, you have some great options this year.

Click here to get iPhone 13 Pro on Amazon ($1099).

Episode 20 of the In the News podcast is now available, and there was so much to talk about this week!  We start by talking about iOS 15 and iPadOS 15, which became available a few days ago.  Then we talk about the new iPhone 13 and the new iPad mini.  Our two bonus topics are the potential EU requirements that all smartphones use USB-C and LIT SUITE. 

In this week’s In the News segment, Brett and I discuss two tips for the newest operating systems.  Brett provides tips for using the new Safari tab bar.  I discuss putting widgets on an iPad home screen.

Click here to listen to the audio podcast.  Or you can watch the episode on YouTube:

Today is new iPhone day! If you pre-ordered an iPhone 13 and you are lucky enough, you will get your new iPhone today.  Or, you can walk into any Apple Store and many other stores today and purchase a new iPhone, so long as they are in stock.  If you are still on the fence, take a look at my preview of the top new features and some of the initial reviews of the iPhone 13.  Jason Snell of Six Colors wrote a helpful article explaining what you get if you upgrade to an iPhone 13 from an iPhone 7, 8, X, XR, XS, 11, 11 Pro, and SE.  When I placed my order last Friday, I ordered both a new iPhone and a new case.  My case arrived on Wednesday, and it was immediately obvious that the square cut-out in the back of the case for the cameras is considerably larger than the cut-out in a case for the iPhone 12.  According to Apple and the earlier reviewers, this larger square allows for better cameras, and I look forward to trying them out this weekend.  And now, the news of note from the past week:

• If you are a litigator and you have used an iPad for a while, there is a good chance that you have used one or more of the fantastic apps from LIT SOFTWARE over the years:  TrialPad, TranscriptPad, or DocReviewPad.  Earlier this year, the company switched to a subscription model called LIT SUITE (my review), and offered a $100/year discount for prior customers who upgraded — a discount that you can continue to use every year for as long as you stay a subscriber, so it really adds up over time.  I mention all of this today because the company announced this week that the discount ends on October 1, 2021, so you only have a few days left to take advantage of it. 
• Jon Porter of The Verge reports that the European Commission of the European Union is considering a proposal that would mandate that all smartphones, tablets, and other devices use a USB-C connector.  If passed, that could mean the end of the Lightning port for the iPhone.
• John Gruber of Daring Fireball explains why requiring all of these devices to use USB-C is idiotic.  For example, if they picked USB 3 five years ago, we wouldn’t even have USB-C now.
• Brett Burney, my co-host on the In the News podcast, provides tips for converting almost anything to a PDF file on your iPhone or iPad.
• Matthew Panzarino of TechCrunch interviews Apple VP Kaiann Drance and Human Interface Team designer Johnnie Manzari to discuss the new Cinematic Mode on the iPhone 13.
• What do you get when you pair the great new cameras on the iPhone 13 Pro with professional photographer Austin Mann?  You get jaw-dropping video and pictures from Tanzania.  He is especially excited about the new 3x telephoto lens because “everything I shoot with the Telephoto feels naturally cinematic and has a different feel than imagery captured by previous models.”  I strongly recommend that you check this one out.
• The new iPad mini also goes on sale today.  Jason Snell of Six Colors posted this review of the iPad mini.  He found that this is an iPad that is often more useful when it is in portrait orientation, not landscape orientation.
• Federico Viticci of MacStories posted this review of the iPad mini.  He says that it “is a joy to use on a daily basis.”
• iOS 15 came out this week, and I haven’t heard of any problems with the update.  Dan Moren of Six Colors wrote a review of iOS 15.
• If you want an incredibly detailed review of every little thing that is new in iOS 15, Federico Viticci of MacStories wrote this tome on iOS 15.
• Jason Snell of Six Colors described some of the best features in iPadOS 15.
• With this update, Safari now supports extensions.  My favorite so far is 1Password, which now seems to be almost as powerful on iPad or iPhone as it is on a computer.  But there are many others that I want to try, and Parker Ortolani of 9to5Mac recommends some of his favorite Safari extensions.
• Juli Clover of MacRumors does the same thing, recommending some favorite Safari extensions.  I see that there is a free one called Super Agent that automatically fills in cookie consent forms on websites so that you never have to see them — and I’m going to start trying that one right now.
• Here is a useful blog post from 1Password explaining their new Safari extension.
• Not only does Safari add extensions, but it also works very differently in iOS 15.  Dave Mark of The Loop links to a helpful video from Apple that walks you through the new Safari.
• Patrick Holland of CNet discusses some of his favorite features of iOS 15, including focus mode and live text.
• Speaking of live text, Jason Snell of Six Colors wrote an excellent overview of what is new in the Photos app.  And there is quite a bit that is new:  a new info window for pictures, the ability to select text in images, a completely new Memories interface, and more.  Jason also explains that if you want to search for a photo that contains a word in it, you (confusingly) cannot do that from within the Photos app, but you can do so using Spotlight to search your entire phone.  This is so obviously confusing that I cannot imagine why Apple shipped the feature this way.  If you ever use the Photos app on an iPhone or iPad, I strongly recommend this article.
• Jennifer Pattison Tuohy of The Verge discusses some of the new iOS 15 features that relate to HomeKit.
• As useful as iOS 15 is today, there are some features announced by Apple that will not be available until later.  Juli Clover of MacRumors identifies all of the iOS 15 features you won’t get until later.
• watchOS 8 was also released this week.  There isn’t a ton that is new, but Alex Guyot of MacStories wrote the best review that I’ve seen of watchOS 8.  And I want to point out one specific part of this article.  If you want to take advantage of the new Portraits watch face in watchOS 8, it is confusing at first, and this article does a great job of walking you through it.
• Heather Kelly and Geoffrey Fowler of the Washington Post recommend privacy settings on popular services that you might want to change.
• And speaking of privacy, Fowler and Tatum Hunter of the Washington Post explain why iPhone apps might be able to track you even when you tell them not to do so.
• Jason Snell of Six Colors reviews the new second generation version of the iPhone Leather Wallet and explains how it can help you to find it if you ever lose it.
• Roman Loyola of Macworld explains the differences between the new Apple Watch Series 7 and last year’s Apple Watch Series 6.
• And finally, Joanna Stern of the Wall Street Journal wrote a helpful article on using iOS 15.  But even better is the video that she created with tips for using iOS 15.  I strongly encourage you to watch it; you are virtually guaranteed to learn something new:

Shortly after Apple debuted the new iPhone 13 last week, the company gave review units to select members of the press so that they could prepare independent reviews, but instructed them not to say anything until yesterday.  The embargo on those reviews is now lifted, so now we can learn from first-hand experience with the iPhone 13.  If you are thinking about getting an iPhone 13, which goes on sale in stores this Friday, these reviews may help you to make a decision.  And most of the reviews have been very positive, concluding that Apple added important improvements (battery life, cameras) to the already fantastic iPhone 12.  Here are the reviews that jumped out at me:

• Dieter Bohn of The Verge wrote excellent reviews of all of the new iPhones and also created great video reviews.  In his review of the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini, he said that the battery improvements are welcome and that the cameras are excellent.  In his review of the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max, he said that “there isn’t another phone on the market that can match the iPhone 13 Pro” cameras.  He also said that Apple “did an excellent job with” adding ProMotion to the screens on the Pro models.
• Joanna Stern of the Wall Street Journal was impressed by the macro photos taken with the iPhone 13 Pro, but she said that the Cinematic mode for videos isn’t yet ready for prime time because it makes mistakes when blurring parts of the video.  This reminds me of Portrait Mode, which was interesting when it first launched but then became much more impressive as Apple improved the feature over time.  As for the improved battery life, she said that “all four of the models lasted at least an hour longer than their predecessors.”
• Matthew Panzarino of TechCrunch took an iPhone Pro to Disneyland to test the camera and battery life.  He said that “most of Apple’s improvements actually had a visible impact on the quality of life of my trip, though in some cases not massive.  Screen brightness, the longer telephoto and battery life were all bright spots.”  He also said that tests showed that the new A15 processor is “[i]mpressive as hell, especially for more battery life not less.”
• Stuart Miles of Pocket-lint in the UK said that the “increased battery life is an obvious benefit, the smoother screen experience [on the iPhone 13 Pro] is great (and the more entry iPhone 13 lacks this ProMotion feature), and that updated notch is less noticeable too.  It’s just all-round better.”
• Patrick Holland of CNet was impressed by ProMotion on the iPhone 13 Pro.  “In use, the screen looks stellar.  Animations look smooth, graphics crisp and even mundane things like scrolling feeds look better.”

Apple didn’t send me a review unit, but according to UPS, the case for my new iPhone 13 Pro will arrive today.  So if anyone needs a review of a case without the item that goes inside of the case, let me know, because I could do that, but I won’t.

Along with the new iPhone 13 and new iPads, Apple’s other major announcement last week was the 2021 version of the Apple Watch called the Apple Watch Series 7.  Depending upon your perspective, it is either an incremental update to the Series 6 or — because of the larger screen — the first generation of a new look for the Apple Watch.  From either perspective, this should be a great version of the Apple Watch.

Larger screen

It is always useful to be able to see more information on the Apple Watch screen.  For the original Apple Watch in 2015 through the Apple Watch Series 3 in 2017, the case size was either 38mm or 42mm (measured vertically, top to bottom) and there was a relatively large black border between the usable screen space and the edge of the screen.  Because it was black it was less obvious, but it limited how much could be displayed on the watch.  For the Apple Watch Series 4 in 2018 through the Apple Watch Series 6 in 2020, Apple increased the case size to 40mm or 44mm and also somewhat reduced the border.

For the Apple Watch Series 7, Apple has increased the case size just a little bit, this time to 41mm or 45mm, only a 1mm change instead of the 2mm increase in 2018.  But Apple also reduced the borders by a substantial 40%.  As a result, the Apple Watch Series 7 has almost 20% more usable screen space than the Apple Watch Series 4 through 6, and almost 50% more screen space than the original Apple Watch through the Series 3.  It is easy to see how much more usable screen space there is in the new Apple Watch Series 7:

My hope is that the slight 1mm increase in case size won’t make the Series 7 feel too big.  Apple did mention that the new case design is softer and more rounded, which may make it feel even better.

What can you do with the increased screen size?  First, watch faces can take advantage of the additional space.  For example, the former version of the Modular watch face could only show a single long complication in the middle, with three circular complications below it.  But on the Apple Watch Series 7, the Modular Duo watch face expands to fill all of the larger screen and has space for two of the longer complications on the screen:

With the larger watch face, Apple is also, for the first time ever, adding a keyboard to the Apple Watch for entering text.  I suspect it will be difficult to tap on keys this small, but Apple says that in addition to tapping you can use QuickPath (an iPhone feature) to slide from letter to letter.  When you do so, the Apple Watch will predict the word that you are typing, which often makes it unnecessary to type every letter in a word.  If this works on the Apple Watch as well as it does on the iPhone, then this would be a great feature that will make it much easier to enter text in apps like Messages and Mail.

Here is an example from Apple’s introduction video showing the increased space for text, with less scrolling, on the new Apple Watch.  The Series 6 is on the left and the Series 7 is on the right:

I frequently use my Apple Watch for emails and texts.  I’m not yet sure if I will use the larger screen to see more text at once or to use a larger font size, but either way, the larger screen is going to improve my Apple Watch as a communication device.

In addition to allowing for more content on the screen, Apple says that the larger watch face also means that menu titles and buttons will be bigger and thus easier to tap.  And the Series 7 offers two additional larger font sizes.

Finally, note that even with the larger screen size, the Apple Watch Series 7 continues to work with all of the different bands that have worked since the original Apple Watch in 2015.  If you are upgrading to a new Apple Watch and have invested in a number of watch bands, you will still be able to use those bands with the Apple Watch Series 7.

One last thought:  the new design makes me wonder where Apple can go from here.  Will Apple ever increase the case size beyond 45mm?  Samsung sells a 46mm smartwatch, but it has a circular face so it will feel smaller, and even so, I’ve seen reports like this one from Andrew Martonk of Android Central saying that many folks will find that round 46mm smartwatch too big.  Thus, there seems to be a reasonable chance that the 41mm and 45mm sizes for the Series 7 will be the largest physical watch size that Apple ever sells.  Also, the black border is reduced so much on the Series 7 that Apple wouldn’t gain much by reducing the border even more in a future model.  This leads me to wonder if display on the Apple Watch Series 7 is not only the largest display yet, but also perhaps the largest display ever.  Only time will tell, but this is why I consider the Apple Watch Series 7 to be a pretty important upgrade for the Apple Watch.

Durability

Apple says that the Series 7 is the most durable Apple Watch ever:   it is more resistant to cracks and dust, and it continues to be swim-proof. 

It is more crack resistant than prior models because the front crystal is over twice as thick (at its tallest point) than the Series 6.  Apple says that it did this without compromising optical clarity.  Apple also says that the new shape of the crystal is sturdier and more shock resistant. 

As for dust resistance, this is often measured using the Ingress Protection scale established by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).  The first of the two digits after the “IP” refers to the protection against solid objects getting inside of the device on a 0 to 6 scale.  You can see the full scale here on Wikipedia.  Apple says that the Series 7 is IP6x.  That is the highest level of dust protection, so it provides complete protection against contact.  Feel free to roll around in the dirt or the sand; dust is not supposed to be able to enter this Apple Watch.  To my knowledge, Apple has never provided an IP dust rating for prior models of the Apple Watch, so I don’t know how vulnerable the prior models were to dust.  But this one is better.

For water resistance, Apple has not used the IP number scale since the Series 1 (which is why there is an “x” in the IP6x that Apple is advertising for the Series 7).  Instead, since the Apple Watch Series 2, Apple has rated water resistance for the Series 7 using the ISO standard 22810 (adopted in 2010), a scale typically used for watches.  According to the watch enthusiast website Hodinkee, although there are more stringent standards for watches sold as diver’s watches, for watches like the Apple Watch that are sold as water resistant under ISO 22810, watch manufacturers have a lot of discretion for how they apply the standard.  So what does Apple say?  Apple says that the Apple Watch Series 7 has a “water resistance rating of 50 meters under ISO standard 22810:2010.  This means that they may be used for shallow-water activities like swimming in a pool or ocean. However, they should not be used for scuba diving, waterskiing, or other activities involving high-velocity water or submersion below shallow depth.”  This is the same thing that Apple has been saying since the Apple Watch Series 2, so it does not appear that the Series 7 is any more water resistant than the prior five models.

Brighter always on display

In 2019, Apple made a big change to the Apple Watch when it introduced an always on display.  This meant that even if you were not using your Apple Watch, you could glance at it and see the time without having to move your wrist to wake the screen.  In 2020, Apple made the always on display 2.5x brighter in the Series 6.  This year, Apple says that the always on display is 70% brighter when indoors, making it easier than ever to glance at your watch screen to see the time or other information and complications on your watch face.

Faster charging

The new Apple Watch doesn’t have more battery life; Apple advertises the same all-day, 18-hours as before.  (Having said that, the same battery life with a brighter always on display is certainly an improvement.)  Instead, the big battery change with the new model is how long it takes to charge.  You can charge the Apple Watch Series 7 more quickly thanks to a USB-C charger, which replaces the prior Lightning charger.  For prior models, Apple said that it took about an hour to charge 80% and about 90 minutes to charge 100%.  For the Series 7, Apple says that it takes 45 minutes to charge 80% (i.e. 33% faster than Series 6).  You can also use the Series 7 with the prior, Lightning version of the Apple Watch charging cable, but if you do so you won’t experience faster charging.

If you like to wear an Apple Watch while you sleep so that it can track sleep metrics, Apple says that eight minutes of charging on the new USB-C charger is enough for eight hours of sleep tracking.  That sounds great, but after you wake up, you will probably need to find 45 to 60 minutes to recharge the Apple Watch during the day if you are not doing it at night.

New faces

With the new larger screen, Apple is introducing two new watch faces.  One of them is the new Modular Duo face, shown above.  The other one is called Contour, and it is rather trippy.  The numbers are squeezed around the edges and they change as you move the watch around.

I hope that Apple is also updating most or all of its prior watch faces for the new, larger screen, but I haven’t seen any announcement on that.

Other features

The Apple Watch Series 7 includes many other features that were first introduced with prior models.  This includes the electrical heart sensor and ECG/EKG app introduced with the Series 4 and the Blood Oxygen sensor introduced with the Series 6.

And of course, the Series 7 works with the newest watchOS 8, which came out this week and contains some new features.  For example, last week Apple mentioned how much better watchOS 8 is for folks who ride a bike.  The watch can sense when it thinks you are riding a bike (using GPS, heart rate, accelerometer, and gyroscope data) and prompts you to start an Outdoor Cycle workout if you didn’t start it manually.  And that Outdoor Cycle workout can pause and resume automatically when you stop, such as to get some water or wait at a stoplight.  Apple says that watchOS 8 is also more accurate when measuring active calories when riding an e-bike. 

Apple also said that fall detection is more accurate in watchOS 8 when you are doing any type of workout, including cycling.

Like before, every new Apple Watch also provides you with three free months of Apple Fitness+, which I reviewed earlier this year.  It is a fantastic service for staying active with your Apple Watch.  I use it several times a week, and as the service has improved, I like it even more now than I did when I wrote that review.

Colors, Materials, and Prices

The least expensive version of the Apple Watch Series 7 is the aluminum model.  It starts at $399 for the 41mm model, the same price that Apple charged for the 40mm Series 6 model.  It comes in five colors:  Midnight, Starlight, Green, Blue, and (PRODUCT)RED.

For a higher price, you can purchase a model with built-in cellular.  To use cellular, you need to pay an additional monthly fee.  I’ve owned a cellular model for a few years.  I don’t use cellular very often because my iPhone is usually so near me, but sometimes it is nice to go out without my iPhone, relying on my Apple Watch alone to stay connected or listen to a podcast.  For example, when I was with my family on a beach vacation this past Summer, it was nice to go to the pool with my kids without an iPhone while still retaining the ability to receive a text from my wife.

There is also a more expensive stainless steel model, which comes in silver, graphite, and gold steel.  I’ve been using a stainless steel Apple Watch since the very first model, in part because I prefer the look and in part because the crystal was more durable.  Apple hasn’t yet said if the crystal on the stainless steel model is more durable than the aluminum model this year.  I’ll be curious to see further details on what makes the stainless steel Series 7 different from the aluminum Series 7, other than being shinier and a little heavier.

Apple is not selling a ceramic version of the Series 7.  However, Apple is selling a titanium model, which comes in a natural color and a black titanium color.

Like before, Apple also sells Nike and Hermès models of the Apple Watch, which come with special bands and watch faces.

Other than saying that the cheapest version of the Apple Watch Series 7 sells for the same price as the cheapest version of the Apple Watch Series 6, Apple has not yet announced pricing for the new Apple Watch.  Nor has Apple announced when it will go on sale, other than saying “later this fall.”  Fall runs from September 22, 2021 to December 21, 2021, but Apple will want to have the new Apple Watch available for sale in time for holiday shopping, so perhaps that means that we will see it on sale in late October or November.

In addition to the new Series 7 starting at $399, Apple will continue to sell the Apple Watch SE starting at $279 and the Apple Watch Series 3 starting at $199.  I know that Apple wants to sell more inexpensive models of the Apple Watch, and for some users, such as a child, those models will be sufficient.  But if you are a lawyer or other professional and you want your watch to help you be more productive, I do not recommend either of those models.  They are slower than the Series 7, and that alone will make those models more frustrating to use.  (The Series 7, like the Series 6, is about 20% faster than the SE, and is more than twice as fast as the Series 3.)  They lack the always on display.  They lack the EKG/ECG and blood oxygen sensors.  They lack the larger display and durability of the Series 7.  And they have other differences which make them less powerful such as the lack of a U1 chip, lack 5GHz Wi-Fi, and lack of fall detection in the Series 3.

Conclusion

The Apple Watch Series 7 has a larger screen, it is more durable, it is brighter when it is in power-saving mode, and it charges more quickly, all of which will help you to stay connected, active, informed, and healthy.  And those new features are in addition to the features added to the Series 6 and earlier models.  If you are ready to get your first Apple Watch, you cannot go wrong with the Apple Watch Series 7.

If you are considering an upgrade from a prior model, it is always difficult to recommend upgrading from another Apple Watch that is only one year old.  But if your current Apple Watch is two or more years old, then there are enough new features to consider upgrading.  That’s what I plan to do this year.  I currently use an Apple Watch Series 5, and I put it through its paces every day, using it frequently for communication, checking information like the time and weather, and working out almost every day.  As a result, the Series 5 model that I bought two years ago no longer has an 18-hour battery life; I often get a message that I am down to 10% battery after only about 14 hours, which is a problem for me because I often work out at night.  So for this reason alone, I was thinking about getting a new Apple Watch this year even before I knew what Apple would announce.

Now that I know what is coming, I’m excited because the Apple Watch Series 7 looks like a great model.  I look forward to learning more about the prices and the release date, and I especially look forward to trying it out for myself.

Thank you to Mobile Helix, the maker of the LINK app, for sponsoring iPhone J.D. this month.  LINK from Mobile Helix is a secure system that allows attorneys to use the LINK app, available on the App Store, on either an iPad or iPhone to access email, document management systems, intranet portals, and more.  At your firm, you run LINK server software deployed on-premises behind your firm's firewall.  I've had a chance to see how LINK works, and it is quite impressive.

The main screen of the LINK app has tiles that correspond to the different resources that can be accessed from within the app.  This is something that you configure for your particular law firm.  First, there is a section devoted to Documents — your document management system.  In many of the screenshots in this post, the DMS being used is iManage, but other DMS systems are supported, such as NetDocuments and OpenText eDOCS.

The next section of the home screen provides access to email.  For example, you may have a tile on the home screen that can be tapped to view your Outlook email:

The third part of the home screen provides access to Intranet resources, which can be used for access to time and billing systems, expense systems, firm-specific knowledge management intranets, or any other firm software that has a browser interface.

Attorneys using LINK will commonly want to access documents from a DMS.  Here is an example of looking at a list of documents in the iManage document worklist from within the LINK app:

The LINK app works well in a split-screen mode so that you can see a list of documents on one side of the screen while you view a specific document on another part of the screen.  You can split the screen 50-50 or use a slider to make one part bigger or smaller.

When working with a PDF document, an attorney can annotate from within the LINK app itself.

When working with a Microsoft Office document, an attorney can view the document within LINK.  LINK even has a built-in document comparison system so you can create a redline of different versions of a document.  You can also use the Microsoft Office app (sold separately) to edit the document.

You can also take a file that is on your iPad or iPhone and import it into LINK to add it to your firm's document management system.

The above screenshots show LINK being used on an iPad, but it also works on the iPhone.  Here are some examples of what that looks like:

 
The default setting is that all documents and email stay within the LINK app itself.  That provides the most security.  But for your particular law firm, you might decide to allow attorneys to take documents out of LINK so that documents can be used with another app on the iPhone or iPad or exported off of the iPhone or iPad.  That reduces security somewhat, but you can make the decision that is right for your law firm.  You can also decide whether you want to let attorneys use AirPrint or disable that feature to keep the documents safely within the LINK app.

The LINK app has been available since 2014, and the app has seen numerous updates since its original release.  The LINK app is currently in use at law firms as small as 30 attorneys and as large as the Top 20 of the AmLaw 100.  The pricing is per user, per year, and a free trial is available so that you can easily see how the LINK app works in your own law firm environment.  The iPhone and iPad apps are available now, an Android client is in beta, and Mobile Helix also has plans to develop clients for the Mac, Windows, and Chromebook.

Thank you to Mobile Helix for sponsoring iPhone J.D. this month and for developing powerful software that lawyers can use to protect confidential information on their mobile devices.

Click here to learn more about LINK from Mobile Helix

Episode 19 of the In the News podcast is now available, and we have a big episode this week!  We start by discussing the new iPhone 13, which you can now pre-order and which goes on sale this Friday.  Then we discuss the amazing new iPad mini (6th generation) which is one of the most powerful iPads that ever has ever sold — and arguably was the biggest announcement by Apple this past week.  After that, we talk about some of the other significant announcements from Apple this week.  Next, we have some bonus topics including my thoughts on Sir Clive Sinclair, a computer pioneer who passed away this week. 

In this week’s In the News segment, Brett shares a great tip for determining whether or not each of your Apple devices is ready for iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and the other big software upgrades that Apple will release on Monday, September 20, 2021.  And I explain why the Apple Store app on your iPhone is the best way to purchase a new Apple product.

Click here to listen to the audio podcast.  Or you can watch the episode on YouTube:

There are lots of new Apple products to be excited about this week, but before I discuss those, I wanted to say thanks to Sir Clive Sinclair, who died yesterday.  In the 1970s and 1980s, this British entrepreneur invented lots of products in the earliest days of the computer age, including the ZX computers in the 1980s:  the ZX80, then the ZX81, then the ZX Spectrum.  As Haroon Siddlique of The Guardian wrote in this tribute, “[m]any modern-day titans of the games industry got their start on one of his ZX models.”  The Sinclair ZX81 was my first computer.  The computer itself had only a membrane keyboard and 1K of RAM, but that made it inexpensive and accessible to anyone, including kids like me.  I added an external keyboard, a 64K expansion pack, a thermal printer, a voice synthesizer, and a tape cassette drive.  I wrote lots of programs in the BASIC computer language, and I devoured issues of SYNC magazine to learn everything that I could do with Sinclair’s creation.  I eventually moved on to the Commodore 64 and then the Mac, but it was the Sinclair ZX81 that sparked my original interest in technology.  So I guess you could say that Sir Clive Sinclair’s creativity played an indirect role in me eventually launching this website in 2008 and the In the News podcast with Brett Burney a few months ago.  May he rest in peace.  And now, the news of note from the past week:

• Apple started taking pre-orders for the new iPads a few days ago, and Apple announced this week that pre-orders for the iPhone 13 start at 5am this morning, with delivery a week from today.  (I’ll be getting an iPhone 13 Pro, 256GB.)  Apple also announced a new Apple Watch Series 7 this week, but Apple has not yet announced when that device goes on sale or when it will be available.  (Next week, I’ll share some additional thoughts on the newest Apple Watch.)
• Illinois attorney John Voorhees of MacStories wrote excellent overviews of two sets of the new Apple products announced this week.  Here are his articles on the iPhone 13 and the new iPad and iPad mini,
• California attorney David Sparks recommends an app called Breathable for checking air quality.
• Ben Lovejoy of 9to5Mac discusses all of the new announcements from Apple this week and then concludes that the coolest new product is the iPad mini.  He makes a good argument.
• Jason Snell of Six Colors provides some interesting overall thoughts on the Apple product announcements.
• One change coming to the new iPhone is a smaller notch in the iPhone 13.  Michael Simon of Macworld prepared a diagram to illustrate the difference.
• Alex Guyot of MacStories discusses the new Apple Watch Series 7.
• José Adorno of 9to5Mac explains the new features coming to the HomePod and HomePod mini when Apple provides an update next week.
• Adorno also notes some of the smaller tidbits about the iPhone 13 that you might have missed.
• Adorno also discusses another new product announced by Apple this week:  a new MagSafe wallet that attaches to the back of your iPhone.  The new feature announced this week is that after your wallet is disconnected from your iPhone, your iPhone can tell you that location, which may make it easier to retrace your steps and find a lost wallet based on where it was when it came disconnected from the iPhone.
• Apple announced new features coming to its Fitness+ service.  As Tim Hardwick of MacRumors explains, this includes new workout types (like pilates) and guided meditations. 
• Mitchell Clark of The Verge notes that another new feature coming to Fitness+ is the ability to connect remotely to up to 32 people so that you all do a workout together at the same time and see each others’ faces on the side of the screen.  I’m sure that some folks will find this feature inspiring.  However, I think that I prefer doing my workouts on my own so that nobody else needs to watch me sweat.
• Although Apple announced a new Apple Watch this week, it will continue to work with all of the same bands that we have been using since the very first Apple Watch.  That’s good news.  Nick Guy of The Wirecutter identifies a few of his favorite third-party Apple Watch bands.
• Some changes may be coming to the App Store after the district court decision in the Apple v. Epic lawsuit as well as other actions in Japan and South Korea.  App developer Marco Arment provides his thoughts on what will likely change.
• Attorney John Voorhees of MacStories provides this analysis of the 185-page decision in the Apple v. Epic trial.
• Roman Loyola of Macworld notes that if you mount an iPhone to the front of a motorcycle, Apple is now recommending that you not do that.
• Eric Slivka of MacRumors discusses the CarPlay system in the Acura MDX which takes an approach that is new to me:  you cannot touch the screen.  Instead, the car has a touchpad near the gear shift.  It is an interesting approach that supposedly keeps the screen closer to the driver’s line of sight and limits the time that the driver spends not looking at the road.
• Lesley Goldberg of The Hollywood Reporter says that the folks behind Ted Lasso on AppleTV+ are negotiating sizable pay increases given the popularity of the show.  My hope is that they find a way to make more than three seasons even though the creators of the show had previously announced that limitation.
• Comedic actors Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell are currently filming a Christmas musical coming to Apple TV+ in December called Spirited.  How do they sound when singing together?  Here’s one clue.
• The Chattanooga Times Free Press announced that it is ending its paper publication, telling folks to read the newspaper on an iPad instead.  The twist here is that the newspaper is giving out thousands of iPads to subscribers so that they have a way to read the new digital newspaper.
• Here is a new type of HomeKit product.  Bradley Chambers of 9to5Mac discusses the Yale Smart Cabinet lock, which keeps a cabinet locked shot unless you use your iPhone to unlock it.
• In an almost complete break from all of this week’s Apple news, California attorney David Sparks writes about the experience of using Windows 365, a virtual form of Windows that you can access from almost anywhere.  He accessed it from an M1 Mac mini and an iPad.
• And finally, I really enjoyed this video from Justine “iJustine” Ezarik in which she interviews Apple CEO Tim Cook to discuss the announcements this week:

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When Apple releases a new product that will be particularly useful for attorneys (and other professionals using the device to get work done), I often write a post called “Why lawyers will love….”  Yesterday, for example, my post was titled Why lawyers will love the iPhone 13.  But when I think of the new sixth generation of the iPad mini that Apple announced this week, part of me feels that a more appropriate title for this post would be “Why lawyers will lust after the iPad mini.”  I say that because I’m only partially convinced about how useful this device will be to get serious work done.  But I am positive that this device is incredibly sexy and that many will want one, notwithstanding its limitations.  This is a powerful iPad packed into a package so small and light that you can easily hold it in one hand and you can take it anywhere.

The size

The marquee feature of the iPad mini is its size, so let’s start there.  If you have never held an iPad mini before, I’m sure that you have come across a 5×7 photograph at some point in your life.  That’s a nice size for a photo because it is larger than the standard 4×6 size, but it is not so big that you have to get a huge frame for it.  The iPad mini has always been close to 5 inches x 8 inches, so only slightly taller than that 5×7 photo — or wider if you are holding it in landscape mode.  The first-generation iPad mini was 7.87″ × 5.3″ × 0.28″.  This latest version is 7.69″ x 5.3″ x .25″.  The first version weighed 0.68 pounds and this latest one weighs 0.65 pounds.  In other words, this is the familiar iPad mini size that has been around since 2012.

When I reviewed the original iPad mini in 2012, I noted that this small size makes a “drastic impact on how you use the device” because it is so small and light that you find yourself wanting to carry it around much more frequently.  And I noted that it weighs so little that you can hold it in your hand for a long time and your hand doesn’t get tired and distract you from the content of the screen.  Plus, you can fit it in many pockets, making it even easier to carry around.

The small size is a disadvantage if you are trying to read documents or other exhibits.  Indeed, that is the reason that I love my iPad Pro with a 12.9″ screen so much — everything is big and easy to read.  But the iPad mini size is sufficient for many, many specific tasks.  I can also see attorneys using an iPad mini next to a laptop computer where most of the work is on the laptop screen but one additional window appears on the iPad mini, such as email, a web page, a business app like Slack, etc.

Design

While the size and weight have not changed much over the last nine years, the latest iPad mini is much better than its predecessors because of the design.  Much like Apple has done with other iPads and iPhones, Apple has reduced the size of the bezel so that more of the screen is usable.  Every prior model of the iPad mini has had a 7.9″ screen (measured diagonally).  But this newest model has an 8.3″ screen.

Also, this new iPad mini uses the same flat-side design used by the latest models of the iPad Pro, iPad Air, and iPhone.  I find that this makes a device much easier to hold in your hand.  It also provides a place to magnetically attach and charge the Apple Pencil 2.  The prior model of the iPad mini worked with the first-generation Apple Pencil, but the Apple Pencil 2 is a big upgrade:  it works better on the screen, it has a flat side so that it doesn’t roll off of a desk, and by attaching to the side of the iPad it is always charged and always there when you are ready for it.  Of course, the iPad mini is so small that it is almost the same size as the Apple Pencil 2.

This looks to be the best design yet for the iPad mini.

Power

Traditionally, the iPad mini was small and relatively inexpensive, but not very powerful.  That is not true this year.  This iPad mini can get real work done, as long as the screen is big enough for the task.  The new iPad mini uses the brand new A15 Bionic chip, the same one used in the brand new iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro.  It even uses the faster 5-core GPU used by the iPhone 13 Pro, not the 4-core GPU used by the iPhone 13.  I suspect that this makes the new iPad mini faster than every iPad that has ever been introduced with the exception of the latest iPad Pro models (which use the M1 chip). 

Screen

The new iPad mini uses the same Liquid Retina display with True Tone that is used by the iPad Air (4th generation) (which was introduced this time last year).  That’s a very nice screen.  It’s not as good as the one on the iPad Pro (especially the 12.9″ version of the latest iPad Pro), but nobody would expect an iPad mini to match an iPad Pro’s screen.

Other features

Like the newest iPad Air and iPad Pro models, the new iPad mini uses a USB-C connector instead of Lightning.  That is a fantastic connector and it makes it easier to find compatible third-party accessories.  It also uses Touch ID (integrated into the button), has stereo speakers, and has improved cameras on the front and back. 

For connectivity, this new iPad mini uses WiFi 6, and can optionally have 5G.

The new iPad mini comes in Space Gray, Pink, Purple, and Starlight (a color that is sort of silver or almost white).

Price

In the past, one of the things that made the iPad mini attractive was its price.  When I reviewed the original iPad mini, I noted that its $329 price made it easy to justify buying even if you were not going to use it all of the time.  The 2019 version of the iPad mini (the 5th generation) cost $329 for 32GB or $429 for 128GB. 

This 6th generation iPad mini is vastly more powerful than the prior generations, but it is also more expensive.  The 64GB model is $499 and the 256GB model is $649.

Normally, I would never recommend that an attorney get an iPad with only 64GB.  If you are going to use this iPad to store documents for work, you will easily fill up that much space with PDF files, exhibits, photos, videos, etc.  The 256GB size is much more reasonable for getting work done.

Having said that, this might be the one device that I could justify buying with only 64GB, depending upon how you are going to use it.  Because of the small screen, I can imagine many attorneys not using this iPad mini as the primary device for viewing documents.  They may instead do that on a desktop computer, laptop, or even an iPad Pro.  Thus, they might view this iPad mini as a mere accessory to those other devices, something that they would sometimes use when it is placed right next to a computer or some other device, even though other times they will just pick up the iPad mini and go sit in a chair or on a couch with it.  That’s the way that I often used the first-generation iPad mini when I used it about nine years ago, and that often worked rather well for me.  If this is how you are going to use an iPad mini, then you probably can get by with only 64GB.

Another perfect use of this iPad mini is as a reading device, something small and light — albeit bigger than an iPhone — that you use for browsing the web, text messages, light email use, ebooks, etc.  Or even watching movies or TV shows that you stream so they don’t take up space on the device.  (Yes, the screen is small for watching videos, but it is so light that you can easily just move the screen closer to your face whenever you need to see something better.)  For this use as well, 64GB is enough space.

iPad (9th generation)

Speaking of price, I’ll also mention briefly that Apple introduced another new iPad this week, the low-end model that is simply called the iPad.  The big thing that it has going for it is the price:  64GB for only $329 or 256GB for $479.  But I don’t recommend this model for attorneys unless you simply cannot justify spending over $500 on an iPad.  This new entry-level iPad uses the older A13 chip, and it only works with the first-generation Apple Pencil.  For schools and others that want the cheapest possible iPad, this is a fine option.  But I think that most any attorney would get more value out of the iPad Air (4th generation) I reviewed last year, which costs $599 for 64GB or $749 for 256GB.  Or, if you are not in a rush to buy, consider waiting for a 5th generation iPad Air, which I could see Apple introducing in Spring 2022.

Conclusion

This is the first time that I’ve ever written about a version of the iPad mini when I’ve been impressed with how powerful it is.  The small size is limiting for some tasks, but at the same time, the small size and weight makes this the best possible device to use for many other tasks.  Sometimes, less is more.  With a starting price of $499, the iPad mini is no longer cheap.  But you get so much for that price, even if it is in a small package.  If your workflow is such that you can see getting value out of using a device of this size, then I suspect that you will love the newest iPad mini because it is such a fantastic device.  Because my 12.9″ iPad Pro already has so much screen space, I don’t think that I can justify purchasing an iPad mini to have even more screen space to get work done.  But when I am relaxing with my iPad Pro on my couch on the weekends, I suspect that I will frequently find myself wondering how much more enjoyable it would be to use this powerful iPad mini instead.

Click here to get the iPad mini (6th generation) on Amazon ($499 / $649)

Yesterday, Apple introduced the 2021 iPhone line including the iPhone 13.  Just like last year, there are four models.  At the entry-level, there is the iPhone 13 and the virtually identical but smaller iPhone 13 mini.  For an additional $200, you can move up to the pro line, which includes the iPhone 13 Pro and the virtually identical but larger iPhone 13 Pro Max.  These look to be fantastic iPhones that will help lawyers or anyone else who wants to get serious work done with an iPhone.  And with the improved screens and cameras, this iPhone will be just as enjoyable when you are using it outside of work.

Build upon the iPhone 12

Before getting into what is new in the iPhone 13 line, I want to talk about three features that are the same as the iPhone 12.  I start here because while some folks (like me) get a new iPhone every year, most people wait at least two years between upgrades.  For example, if you plan to upgrade from an iPhone 11, then you will get all of the advantages of the iPhone 12 along with the iPhone 13.  So here are three highlights from the iPhone 12 that I love and which remain in the iPhone 13.

Design.  I raved about the design of the iPhone 12 when Apple first showed it off last year, and for the past year, I have loved it.  The flat sides on the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 make the iPhone so much easier to hold in your hand.  Before the iPhone 12, I always had to keep my iPhone in a case; otherwise, with the curved sides, it was too easy to drop.  But thanks to the flat edges, I always feel like I have a much better grip on my iPhone 12.  I still own a case, but I probably only use it about 10% of the time.  Most of the time, I can avoid the extra bulk of using a case.  Also, I like that it is easier for me to slip an iPhone in and out of a pocket without a case.

Note that there is one minor difference in the design of the iPhone 13 versus the iPhone 12:  the notch at the top of the screen is somewhat smaller.  I suppose that is nice, but I’ll have to try one for a while to decide if this slight increase in usable screen space is noticeably better.

More screen.  The new design also means smaller bezels and more usable screen space. 

5G.  Although Apple heavily promoted 5G in last year’s iPhone, the reality is that 5G only rarely makes a difference, for the reasons that I discussed last year in this post.  Having said that, there were definitely times during the past year when I appreciated having 5G.  For example, just a few weeks ago when I was struggling to get a cell signal after Hurricane Ida in New Orleans, I often found that the 5G network was easier to access than the LTE network.  Moreover, while one of my main criticisms of 5G last year was that it wasn’t widely available, I know that is starting to improve.  Thus, while 5G was somewhat of a gimmick last year, this year I think it will start to make a difference.  And if you plan to purchase an iPhone 13 and use it for two or more years, it makes sense to get 5G now so that you can use it even more as the service improves in the future.

So those are the features from last year that will be just as impressive this year.  Here are the new features in the iPhone 13 that I think that professional users will really love.

Faster

The first new feature in the iPhone 13 is the feature that we see virtually every time that a new iPhone is announced:  a better processor.  This year, Apple introduced a chip it is calling the A15 Bionic.  Yesterday, Apple gave lots of technical details on why this new chip is better, discussing things like the billions of transistors, the 6-core architecture, and the neural engine.  Suffice it to say that it is faster.

This matters for two reasons.  First, a faster iPhone is a more responsive iPhone, so you can get work done on an iPhone without feeling like you are waiting for it to catch up with you.  Second, the better processor allows Apple to introduce features that couldn’t exist in the past because it would have been too slow on the prior versions of the chips.  (This includes, for example, some of the camera improvements discussed below.)

Battery life

Every iPhone 13 model provides better battery life than the similar model of the iPhone 12.  In part, this is because the physical battery is larger.  In part, this is because the more A15 Bionic processor is more efficient.

Specifically, the iPhone 13 mini and the iPhone 13 Pro get an extra 1.5 hours of battery life versus the iPhone 12 mini and the iPhone 12 Pro.  The iPhone 13 and the iPhone 13 Pro Max get an extra 2.5 hours of battery life.  These are substantial improvements that should come in handy whenever you have a long day, when you are taking lots of video with your iPhone, or if you forget to recharge your iPhone overnight and are trying to stretch a second day of life out of the battery.

Note that the iPhone 13 models are slightly heavier and thicker than the iPhone 12 models, although I’m not yet sure how noticeable that change is.  Those increases may be necessary to support the larger battery.

Better camera

Apple knows that while “phone” may take up five of the six letters in iPhone, for most folks, it is the camera, not the phone, that is the most important part of the iPhone.  As a result, Apple tries to improve the camera every year by using both better hardware and by using smarter software that takes advantage of the improved processing power.  This year, it looks like Apple has made some great improvements to the camera.

First, the rear-facing camera has been improved to allow 47% more light to reach the image sensor, and the image sensor itself is larger.  This helps make all pictures better, but it especially helps when lighting conditions are not perfect, such as when you taking a picture inside or at night.

Apple also has a new software feature called Photographic Styles that takes advantage of the A15 Bionic to let you select a look that you prefer for the pictures that you take.  I’ll need to try this out to really understand it, but here is how Jason Snell of Six Colors described this new feature:  “Think of Photographic Styles this way:  Apple is opening up its image-capture pipeline and making it adjustable for the first time.  It offers four different presets that capture images in different ways, creating different styles.  You can pick which one you want to use, and then all your previews and photos will use that style.  Like warm images?  Set a style, and everything you shoot on your phone will be that warm.”  Additionally, improved High Dynamic Range (HDR) makes pictures look more lifelike.

A particularly impressive new software feature for taking video is called Cinematic mode.  This creates a depth effect in your video so that your subject is in focus but items in the background are slightly out of focus, just like in a movie.  Better yet, the iPhone can automatically change the focus when appropriate.  Apple showed a demo in which the video was focused on a person in the foreground, but that person then turned their head to look at a second person in the background, and that caused the video to automatically switch the focus to the person at the rear.  Also, Apple says that you can adjust the focus after you take the video – a truly impressive feat that I cannot wait to put through its paces.

Pro models

Last year, there were two primary differences between the “regular” iPhone and the Pro iPhone.  First, there was a size difference.  If you wanted the smallest model, that was one of the non-Pro models, the iPhone 12 mini.  If you wanted the largest model, that was one of the Pro models, the iPhone 12 Pro Max.  Second, you got a third camera with the Pro models, a telephoto lens.  Those two differences remain true this year, but this year there are even more additional features in the Pro models.

This year, the telephoto lens on the Pro models is even better.  On the iPhone 12 Pro, the telephoto lens allows you to do a 2x optical zoom.  Apple calls this a 4x zoom range because you have the Ultra Wide lens for wide-angle shots, what Apple calls the Wide lens for regular shots which is 2x the Ultra Wide lens, and then the telephoto lens that is 2x the Wide lens.  On the iPhone 13 Pro, the telephoto lens allows you to do a 3x optical zoom.  Thus, Apple says that the iPhone 13 Pro line gives you a 6x optical range because you get 2x going from the Ultra Wide to the Wide and then 3x going from the Wide to the Telephoto.  This new telephoto lens is also the first to support Night Mode.

Another camera improvement only for the Pro line is a new Macro mode.  This mode uses the Ultra Wide lens with the autofocus system so that you can magnify a subject as close as two centimeters away.  I suspect that we are going to see some really neat close-up pictures of bugs, flowers, etc. with this new Macro mode.  Perhaps it will also help attorneys read the small print in contracts. 

The Pro models also do a better job with Night Mode photography.

Another difference in the Pro models is an improved screen.  The Pro models feature what Apple calls a Super Retina XDR screen featuring ProMotion.  ProMotion allows an iPhone to refresh the iPhone screen at up to 120 Hz when it will make a difference, but then dial down to 10 Hz when nothing is moving on the screen.  As a result, anything moving on the screen should look incredible.  Also, the screen brightness increases from up to 800 nits max on the iPhone 13 / iPhone 13 mini to 1000 nits max on the iPhone 13 Pro / iPhone 13 Pro Max.  If ProMotion and 1000 nits sounds familiar, it should.  Apple added ProMotion to the iPad Pro back in 2017, and Apple added 1000 nits max brightness with 1600 nits peak brightness (for up to 40% of the screen) to the iPad Pro 12.9″ model earlier this year.  The display technology for the iPad Pro and the iPhone Pro are different.  Nevertheless, the 2021 model of the 12.9″ iPad Pro has an absolutely stunning display and I have loved using it for the last four months.  I have no doubt that adding some of this same technology to the iPhone 13 Pro will result in a stunning iPhone screen.  It’s the sort of thing that you don’t explicitly notice very often, unless you are looking at a dynamic photo or video that pushes the display to its limits, but it makes the overall experience of looking at the screen much better.  And that’s all that the iPhone and iPad really is — a screen that you look at and touch — so it is nice to have a premium experience on the screen.

The Pro line uses the same A15 Bionic, but uses a 5-core GPU instead of the 4-core GPU used in the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini.  Thus, graphics performance should be somewhat better on the two Pro models.

Cost

If you want the entry-level 128GB model, you can get the iPhone 13 mini for $699, the iPhone 13 for $799, the iPhone 13 Pro for $999, and the iPhone 13 Pro Max for $1099.  For an extra $100, you can double the memory to 256GB.  Or for an extra $300, you can go up to 512GB.  On the two Pro models, you can also pay an extra $500 for a 1TB model.  I’m glad that the cheapest iPhone now has 128GB instead of 64GB; 64GB was pretty limiting.  For most attorneys, I think that the 128GB model is a fine option.  If you plan to take and store a lot of pictures and video on your iPhone, then the larger sizes make sense, and the 256GB size will be the “just right” size for many.  (For me, 256GB is the right size for my iPhone, but I have 512GB on my iPad because I store so many large documents on that device.)

Note that you can save money on a new iPhone by trading in your old iPhone to Apple at the same time that you buy a new iPhone.  Apple will pay up to $790 for an iPhone 12 Pro Max, up to $640 for an iPhone 12 Pro, and up to $530 for an iPhone 12, which drastically reduces the overall price of updating from last year’s model to the year’s model.

The iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 mini come in five colors:  (PRODUCT) RED, Starlight, Midnight, Blue, and Pink.  Midnight is a shade of black.  Starlight looks like sort of a silver or white color.

The iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max come in four colors:  Graphite, Gold, Silver, and Sierra Blue.

Conclusion

The iPhone 13 is a very nice improvement upon the already great iPhone 12.  Start with the same fantastic design and then make it faster and more powerful with a meaningful increase in battery life and better cameras.  That’s a winning combination.  And the Pro model is an even better step up this year than it was last year, with an improved telephoto camera and other camera improvements, a much nicer screen, and a better graphics processor.  You get a lot for the extra $200.