I hope that you are enjoying what should be called Apple Week 2023. We started the week with major updates to the operating system and apps on the iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. The Air Pads Pro, Apple TV, and HomePods also saw updates—for example, I can now talk to my HomePod mini by just saying "Siri ..." instead of "Hey Siri, ..." The initial reviews were posted on websites and on YouTube of the new versions of the iPhone and iPhone Pro, the new Apple Watch Series 9, Apple Watch Ultra 2, and new AirPods Pro. And people who pre-ordered those new devices early enough will have them in their hands today. My brand new iPhone Pro Max started in China this past Sunday, was in South Korea on Tuesday, came through Anchorage to arrive in Louisville on Wednesday, made it to Jackson, Mississippi on Thursday night, and finally should arrive in New Orleans and be in my hands at some point today. From hardware to software from Apple plus all of the third parties who are updating their accessories and apps to take advantage of the new features, it is all a bit overwhelming at the moment. With that in mind, and with full knowledge that I am skipping over lots of important details from this past week, here is just some of the news of note from the past week:
- Not only did we get a software update on Monday, but we also got another one on Thursday. As noted by Michael Potuck on 9to5Mac, iOS 17.0.1 applies three security patches. If you haven't updated to iOS 17 yet, Apple also released iOS 16.7 this week to apply similar patches. Potuck notes that if you apply the patch to your current iPhone and then receive a new iPhone 15 or 15 Pro, you'll have to update the new device to iOS 17.0.1 before you can restore from a backup of your old iPhone. I do not know (yet) if this is something that needs to be done manually or if the new iPhone will walk you through this step as a part of the migration software.
- The big new feature of the iPhone 15 Pro Max is the new 5x optical zoom lens. Why didn't Apple opt for a 10x zoom, which you can get on the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra? In an interview with Nicolas Lellouche of the French publication Numerama, Apple's VP of camera software engineering Jon McCormack explains that you get poor results with a 10x zoom unless you use a tripod to keep the phone perfectly steady, but with a 5x zoom and Apple's new stabilization method (an autofocus 3D sensor-shift module), Apple can keep the lens steady enough to get good results. If you don't parlez the Français, Joe Rossignol of MacRumors describes the article.
- Jaron Schneider of the photography website PetaPixel also interviewed McCormack to discuss the camera system on the new iPhones. It's a great interview. For example, McCormack says that while you can put your new iPhone in a mode to always take 48-megapixel photos—which you might think would be best to get more details—you are typically better off leaving it in the default 24-megapixel mode to get more dynamic range. McCormack explained: "Because when shooting at 24-megapixels, we shoot 12 high and 12 low—we actually shoot multiple of those—and we pick and then merge. There is, basically, a bigger bracket between the 12 high and the 12 low. Then, the 48 is an ‘extended dynamic range,’ versus ‘high dynamic range,’ which basically just limits the amount of processing. Because just in the little bit of processing time available [in the 24 megapixel] we can get a bit more dynamic range into Deep Fusion. So what you end up with in the 24, it’s a bit of a ‘Goldilocks moment’ of you get all of the extra dynamic range that comes from the 12 and the detail transfer that comes in from the 48."
- Chris Niccolls of PetaPixel reviews the new iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max from the standpoint of a professional photographer.
- Other than that PetaPixel review from a photographer's perspective, I wasn't as impressed by the reviews of the new iPhone 15 models this year as I have been in past years. However, another exception is that I found John Gruber's review to be excellent, so read that one if you want to learn more about these new models.
- Jason Snell of Six Colors received a review unit of the iPhone 15 Pro Max on Thursday. He posted three pictures yesterday on Mastodon to compare the 1x, 2x, and 5x cameras, and you can see that the 5x camera results in a very different picture. He predicts that the 5x lens "is gonna be GREAT for zooming in to read far away text" (as his pictures demonstrate) and notes that "the image stabilization is for real."
- Jennifer Pattison Tuohy of The Verge speculates on why there is a Thread radio in the new iPhone 15 devices.
- William Gallagher of AppleInsider notes that Apple CEO Tim Cook prefers the Natural Titanium color for his new iPhone 15 Pro Max. I've heard lots of other people say this week that they prefer this color too. I see that if you try to order a new iPhone 15 Pro Max right now, the Black Titanium and Blue Titanium are available on October 20, but the Natural Titanium and White Titanium are not available until November 10.
- Jason Cross of Macworld notes that if you want the battery in your iPhone 15 or iPhone 15 Pro to last as long as possible, there is a new setting that will stop the iPhone from charging when it hits 80%. All batteries degrade over time and thus hold less charge, but you can reduce this if you stop charging at 80%. He also notes: "Users like me who work at a desk with ready access to a charger and rarely drop below 40 percent on a typical day would be better off setting a hard charge limit of 80 percent, as long as they remember to turn it off on those days when they’re likely to have a heavy-use day away from the charger." Interesting advice.
- John Gruber reviews the new USB-C version of the AirPods Pro and the new update to all models of the AirPods Pro. One new feature is Conversation Awareness. If you are listening to something and then you start talking, the music lowers the volume of what you are listening to, enhances the voice in front of you, and reduces background noise. I was listening to my AirPods Pro in the elevator this week when someone started talking to me and I was surprised (and delighted) to see this feature work so well. I've heard reports of others having trouble in certain situations—such as chatter around you in a supermarket being mistaken for a conversation in which you are participating—but for now, I like this new feature. The other new feature is a third listening mode called Adaptive Audio Mode, which is sort of a better version of Transparency Mode: you can hear the world around you as you listen to something, but there is a small amount of noise cancellation so that the outside world is a little less distracting.
- With a new USB-C version of the AirPods Pro, what about other great iPhone accessories that should be updated from Lightning to USB-C such as the MagSafe Battery Pack? You can no longer buy the Lightning version of this fantastic device from Apple, but you can currently get it on Amazon for only $85. And because you can charge this battery pack by attaching it to an iPhone 15 and then plugging the iPhone in using a USB-C cord, you can still use this device with the latest iPhone. But John Gruber of Daring Fireball notes that when Apple first announced the product, they did so after waiting about two months after a new iPhone introduction, presumably to avoid any speculation that Apple thought that battery life was so poor that you needed a battery pack. Perhaps Apple will do the same thing this year: announce a USB-C version of the MagSafe Battery Pack in November. We'll see.
- Jason Snell of Six Colors wrote an excellent review of iOS 17. There is also a good companion article by Snell and Dan Moren that describes new features added to multiple platforms this week, not just the iPhone.
- Zachary McAuliffe of CNet describes his favorite new features in iOS 17 including StandBy, improvements to the Messages app, and more. One interesting new feature that he mentions: when you get a text message or an email with a two-factor verification code, your device can now automatically delete those messages after you get the number. Bravo.
- Dan Moren of Six Colors notes three new Apple features that he would be "lost" without (ahem): the ability to download Offline Maps in iOS 17 so that you can use a map even without a cellular connection, improved walking directions in watchOS 10, and the ability to locate a lost Apple TV remote using iOS 17 and tvOS 17.
- Griffin Jones of Cult of Mac identifies 50 iOS 17 features that you should know about.
- Apple updated its productivity apps—Pages, Keynote, and Numbers—with new features this week to work better with iOS 17 and iPadOS 17. For example, you can now work with 3D objects in USDZ format in all three apps. Zac Hall of 9to5Mac has details.
- Adam Engst of TidBITS reports on a new free app from Sebastiaan de With called Orion that turns your iPad into an HDMI monitor. If you are traveling with a Windows laptop, I presume that you could use this to turn an iPad into a second external monitor, which I could see being useful. (If you have Mac, you can already use built-in features in MacOS to extend the Mac's screen to the iPad.)
- When you install the new watchOS 10 on your Apple Watch you will see a new Snoopy watch face. I've been using it all this week, and it is delightful. Every time I look at my wrist, I see a very short (about five seconds) animation featuring Snoopy and sometimes Woodstock, and there are tons of different animations: apparently well over a hundred. Robert Leedham of GQ interviews Paige Braddock, the chief creative officer at Charles M Schulz Creative Associates who worked with Apple to create this new watch face.
- Sam Schube of GQ posted an interesting article based on a long interview with Apple VP Eddy Cue to discuss Apple TV+ and sports.
- Andrew Cunningham of Ars Technica reports that tvOS 17 adds an extra column of icons to the Apple TV.
- Juli Clover of MacRumors explains what is new in the HomePod software version 17.
- If you are running out of space on iCloud, Stephen Hackett of 512 Pixels notes that the 2 TB plan for $9.99/month is non longer the top plan, You can now also opt to pay $29.99/month for 6 TB or $59.99/month for 12 TB.
- The Steve Jobs Archive announced a new fellowship program and named the nine 2023 SJA Fellows. These are young, talented people who want to spend a year creating something at the intersection of technology and liberal arts. Each fellow receives a stipend, resources, and tools (I'm sure lots of Apple technology) to help them create something amazing over the next year. What a great idea, and a great way to honor the legacy of Steve Jobs.
- When Apple shows off the latest version of the Messages app every year, there are fake text messages showing conversations between fake people. I'm sure that most folks don't even pay attention to the words because they are essentially there for Lorem Ipsum reasons. But Max Read took the opposite approach, studying and analyzing the patterns in the fake messages over the years, and the result is this fantastic article: A literary history of fake texts in Apple's marketing materials. Well done. And also, a shout out to John Bishop, whoever you are.
- And finally, this fun and informative video from Apple provides you with a Guided Tour of the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro:
