5G is one of the marquee features of the latest models of the iPhone and iPad, but I often find myself wondering how much of an improvement it really is. Here in New Orleans, I get good 5G download speeds (typically 50 to 100 Mbps). But I get similar speeds on 4G LTE, so I wonder how much of an advantage it is to keep 5G turned on. Nicole Nguyen of the Wall Street Journal (who lives in San Francisco) reported that she also sees similar speeds on 5G and LTE, but she also ran some tests and noticed that devices ran an hour or two longer when 5G is turned off and the device uses only LTE. So 5G provides no speed increase but it does drain your battery longer? John Gruber of Daring Fireball suggests "try turning off 5G to save battery life and see if you miss it at all." That's not a bad suggestion. I rarely have low battery problems with my iPhone 13 Pro, so for now I'll probably keep 5G on just in case I am ever lucky enough to be in one of the rare locations that uses the incredibly fast version of 5G. But if you are ever looking to extend the battery life on your device, switching from 5G to LTE seems like one of the steps you should take, along with reducing the screen brightness. And now, the news of note from the past week:
- I mentioned last week on the In the News podcast that I've been enjoying the new Universal Control feature, and at that time all I discussed was using my computer keyboard and mouse to control my iPad. But another advantage of this feature is that you can drag files between a Mac and an iPad. The Lit Software blog provides a great explanation of this feature and shows off in a video how you can select a bunch of documents on a Mac and simply drag them into TrialPad on an iPad. I couldn't help saying "wow" out loud when I saw that video. This works with other apps too. I had a digital notebook open in GoodNotes on my iPad, and I drug a picture from my Mac over to the iPad and dropped it in the middle of my notes, and it appeared there. Very cool. I can also drag a PDF file from my Mac to PDF Expert on my iPad and it copies the file over so that I can annotate it using my Apple Pencil and my iPad Pro. That feature makes me wish that I was still using a Mac in my law practice because I would be using that one all the time. (My law firm switched to PCs about 20 years ago.) As I continue to discover new things that can be done with Universal Control it is truly the gift that keeps on giving.
- Josh Centers of TidBITS offers great advice on using Universal Control.
- California attorney David Sparks reviews MaskerAid, an app that can hide a face in a picture by covering it with an emoji.
- Massachusetts attorney Bob Ambrogi of LawSites reports that Hawaii is now the 40th state to adopt a duty of technology competence for lawyers.
- On June 22, 2020, Apple announced that iOS 14 would allow you to store a digital car key in the Wallet app on an iPhone. That feature did come out in 2020, but it has only worked with select BMW models. Joe Rossignol of MacRumors reports that the feature now works with certain car models from Kia and Genesis. (Both Kia and Genesis are owned by Hyundai.)
- A more recent addition to the Wallet app is the ability to store a digital driver's license. Rossignol also reports that Arizona is now the first state to support this feature. In Louisiana, where I live, we have a great app called LA Wallet that stores a digital driver's license, COVID vaccination status, and a wildlife/fishing license. There have been many times when I have gone out with just my iPhone, knowing that it contains both my license and my credit cards (thanks to Apple pay), and that's really nice. It definitely feels like living in the future. I hope that every state has a digital license soon, whether it be via Apple's wallet app or some other solution.
- David Price of Macworld reviews the new iPad Air (5th generation), and he says that there is a lot to like about it, calling it Apple's best iPad.
- I'm also a fan of the new iPhone SE because it is the right iPhone for many mainstream users, even if it is not the right iPhone for me. Jason Snell of Six Colors wrote a useful article explaining what is new if you are considering upgrading to an iPhone SE from an iPhone 6, iPhone 6s, iPhone 7, iPhone 8, or one of the prior generations of the iPhone SE. Whether you use this information yourself or share the relevant part of the article with a friend, this is a very useful guide.
- Bradley Chambers of 9to5Mac reviews the Eve Motion Blinds, window blinds that work with HomeKit so that you can have them raise or lower automatically plus you can control them with your Apple devices.
- The newest version of Wi-Fi is Wi-Fi 6E. In an article last year in Macworld, Jason Cross explained why Wi-Fi 6E is faster and more reliable. The iPhone and iPad do not yet support Wi-Fi 6E, but I expect that they will soon—perhaps later this year. I mention all of this because I see that the eero now includes Wi-Fi 6E support in the new eero Pro 6E ($499 for a 2-pack; $699 for a 3-pack). I purchased an eero Pro almost two years ago and I have been incredibly happy with the purchase. I no longer have problems with Wi-Fi anywhere in my house or my backyard. But if I was upgrading my home Wi-Fi today, I would get this new 6E system to have something that is great today and will be even better whenever the iPhone and iPad add support for Wi-Fi 6E. If you don't need the fastest possible speeds and just want a solid system, the new eero 6+ looks to be an excellent option ($299 for 3-pack).
- Wendi Lane of ABC Action News in Saint Petersburg, Florida tells the story of 71-year-old Raylene Hackenwerth. She fell down and become nearly unconscious, but fortunately her Apple Watch called 911. Not only did that cause paramedics to rush to her house, but once she got to the hospital, the doctors discovered that she has lung cancer, so now she can start treatment before it is too late.
- And finally, here is a cute new video from Apple called Election in which the new iPad Air plays a role in a high school campaign.
