If you enjoy listening to classical music, you are going to love being an Apple Music subscriber in just a few weeks. Back in 2021, Apple acquired a classical music streaming service called Primephonic that had a large collection of classical music and had search features customized for that genre of music—such as searching music not just by artist (like Bach) but by composer, conductor, soloist, etc. On March 28, Apple will launch Apple Music Classical, a service provided at no additional charge to Apple Music subscribers. To use the service, you will use a special Apple Musical Classical app. Hartley Charlton of MacRumors created a good list of the features and limitations. For example, while an Android app is promised, there is no iPad app—which seems odd. But if you have an iPhone and you use Apple Music, you can prepare to get Hooked on Classics in just a few weeks. And now, the rest of the news of note from the past week:
- Hello, yellow! This week, Apple introduced a new color for the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus: yellow. You can see some high-quality pictures of the yellow iPhone in the official Apple press release, and you can watch a video of Jason Snell of Six Colors with the new yellow iPhone.
- New color is not reserved for just the iPhone. Oliver Haslam of iMore reports that Apple has also released new colors and styles for Apple Watch bands and iPhone cases to complete the new Spring collection. Apple Watch bands from Apple can be tricky because, as I've learned in the past, if you find a color that you like and then you need to replace it a year or two later, you are likely to find that the color you purchased is no longer available. Or to look at it from a more glass-half-full angle, if the currently available Apple Watch band colors don't appeal to you, give it a few months and you'll likely have more options.
- What were the best smartphones in 2022? Pretty much just the iPhone, assuming that you want something nice. Chance Miller of 9to5Mac reports on research by Counterpart Research that concludes that the best selling smartphones in 2022 were: (1) iPhone 13, (2) iPhone 13 Pro Max, (3) iPhone 14 Pro Max, (4) Samsung Galaxy A13, (5) iPhone 13 Pro, (6) iPhone 12, (7) iPhone 14, (8) iPhone 14 Pro, (9) iPhone 13, and (10) Samsung Galaxy A03. It is interesting that there are no high-end Android phones on that list. The Galaxy A13 is only $249, and Allison Johnson of The Verge calls it a "fine budget device that makes sense for those who are more concerned with day-to-day performance and long battery life than a high-quality screen or a versatile camera." The Galaxy A03 is only $160; Melanie Pinola of Consumer Reports says that it "ranks near the bottom of CR’s smartphone ratings" and it is "the least expensive phone in Samsung’s Galaxy series, so you can expect some compromises."
- José Adorno of BGR reports that the iPhone 14 Emergency SOS via Satellite feature is expanding this month to Austria, Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, and Portugal. The service already works in the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, and the UK.
- Philip Michaels of Tom's Guide explains that you can now use the Google Magic Eraser feature to delete unwanted people and objects from photos by just tapping them. I've heard that this feature works well, so I downloaded the Google Photos app to try it out, but I haven't yet seen the Magic Eraser feature as an option. Apparently, it is supposed to show up if you tap the edit icon and then tap tools. Maybe it needs time to analyze my library first? Well anyway, this feature is supposed to be out now, or soon, I guess.
- I've always known of a small number of people who like to set a watch or an alarm clock ahead by a few minutes to help them stay on time. I didn't realize that you could do that with an Apple Watch, but Ankur Thakur of iDownloadBlog explains that it is pretty easy to do.
- Bradley Chambers of 9to5Mac explains why the Level Lock+ may be the best smart lock that works with Apple's HomeKit technology.
- A little show called Ted Lasso—perhaps you have heard something about it?—returns to Apple TV+ for its third and last season on Wednesday, March 15. New episodes will come out every Wednesday through May 31, a total of 12 episodes. To celebrate, Apple announced that you can come to an Apple Store and participate in a Today at Apple program in which you make your own Ted Lasso poster using an Apple Pencil and an iPad. Seems like a quick project since you only need to write one word.
- Rosy Cordero of Deadline interviews Jason Sudeikis to discuss the final season of Ted Lasso.
- And finally, as much as I've loved using an iPhone since 2008, the piano is one of my first loves. Thus, I was thrilled to see that Canadian pianist Tony Ann turned the Apple ringtone called "Opening"—trust me, you know it—into a short piano ballad. Take it away, Tony...
