I fought the law, and my app won. Here is my story.
For many years now, there have been systems in place in many cities allowing you to pay for a parking spot using an iPhone app. I live in New Orleans, and the system that we use here is called ParkMobile, which operates in 350 cities in the United States. It is convenient that you can pay for a parking spot before you even leave your car, it is helpful to see how much time you have on the meter even when you are far away from your car, and perhaps best of all, you can add more time to the parking meter no matter where you are. There have been multiple times when I have been in a deposition or a meeting which ran long and I was able to quickly add more time to the meter without having to go all the way back to my car. The system works so well that it has almost seemed too easy, making me wonder if simply using the app really would protect me from getting a parking ticket.
On September 25, 2018, I met my wife for lunch at a great restaurant called The Rum House on Magazine Street (a street with tons of fantastic restaurants and shops) and I parked between Seventh and Eighth Streets, right in front of a place called Sucré — which, by the way, makes amazing chocolates, macarons, and other sweets which are available for mail order. I used the ParkMobile app to pay for parking for 46 minutes ($1.55 plus a $0.35 transaction fee), knowing that if I needed more time than that I could add it from the restaurant. When lunch was over, it was raining, but I got back to my car with about three minutes left on my parking. I jumped in the car, turned on the windshield wipers, and then saw underneath a wiper an orange parking ticket envelope with a ticket inside. Ugh!
I opened up the ParkMobile app, and I saw that I still had about a minute left before my parking would expire. So I took a screenshot, just in case that might help down the road.
In retrospect, what I wish I had also done was get out of the car and take a picture of my car and the surroundings to show where I was parked (even though I would have gotten pretty wet doing so in the rain), but at the time I didn’t realize that would become relevant. I did, however, take a screenshot of the part of the ParkMobile app that shows that I paid to park in that zone during that time period. (The black box is where I redacted my vehicle license for this post.)
After I returned to my office, I took a closer look at the ticket and I figured out what happened. The ticket was issued at 12:50 p.m., which was during my parking time of 12:22 to 1:08 p.m., so that wasn’t the problem. However, the officer who issued me the ticket apparently checked to see whether I had paid using the ParkMobile app, but by mistake thought that I was parked in 2900 block of Magazine, which is parking zone 29216. In fact, I was actually on the 3000 block of Magazine Street, which is zone 29217.
New Orleans has a system which allows you to contest a ticket online rather than show up in court. I had never used the system before, but it was pretty easy to use. You just fill out a form, explain what happened, and upload any exhibits you want to submit. I sent the above screenshot pictures, and I also took a screenshot of a part of the ParkMobile website further confirming that I paid. Unfortunately, I didn’t have proof that I was parked in the 3000 block — again, I wish I had taken a picture — but I figured that even if the judge didn’t believe me on where I parked, it might help if the judge could see that I had indeed paid to park during the time period that I got the ticket.
After I contested my ticket online, I received an email saying that I would get a decision within five weeks.
Almost exactly five weeks later, I received a letter in the mail saying that I was successful in contesting the ticket. The decision states: “Citizen’s written statement and citizen’s and City’s Park Mobile Meter Program information outweighed the prima facie case.”
It’s always satisfying to get a favorable decision for one of my clients, especially when a lot of money is at stake. Here, the amount in controversy was only a $30 parking ticket, but it still felt pretty darn good to win.
If you ever get a parking ticket after you have used a parking app, perhaps you will remember my tremendous victory using evidence from the ParkMobile app and you will do some of the same things that I did. But if you can, also try to take a picture of where your car is parked.
Late Thursday, Apple released the results for its 2018 fiscal fourth quarter (which ran from July 1, 2018 to September 29, 2018) and held a call with analysts to discuss the results. I’ve been reporting on these quarterly calls for 10 years because even though the calls are aimed at financial analysts, the Apple executives would sometimes reveal something interesting about the iPhone and iPad, and also because Apple would reveal how many iPhones and iPads were sold in the last quarter. However, that is now about to change. Although Apple revealed iPhone and iPad sales numbers for last quarter, Apple announced that starting with the fiscal 2019 first quarter (which we are in now), Apple will no longer reveal iPhone and iPad unit sales. I cannot say that I’m surprised; none of Apple’s competitors release similar numbers, and while I am not a securities lawyer, I think that as a public company all that Apple is required to reveal is certain financial information such as profits. Even so, it has been interesting to look at the data on iPhone and iPads sales over the last decade.
Apple’s fiscal fourth quarter is typically a transitional quarter; it is Apple’s fiscal first quarter which contains all of the holiday sales, so that is by far Apple’s best quarter every year. Even so, Apple announced that quarterly revenue for the past quarter was $62.9 billion, which is the best fiscal fourth quarter in Apple history. $10 billion of that was revenue on services, and that is also an all-time high for Apple. If you want to get all of the nitty gritty details, you can download the audio from the announcement conference call from iTunes, or you can read a transcript of the call prepared by Seeking Alpha, or a transcript prepared by Jason Snell of Six Colors. Apple’s official press release is here. Here are the items that stood out to me.
While the increase in the number of iPhones sold versus 2017 Q3 was modest, the increase in revenue from iPhone sales was more impressive thanks to sales of the iPhone X and the first few weeks of sales of the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max. iPhone revenue was $28.8 billion in 2017 Q4, and it rose to $37.2 billion in 2018 Q4, a 29% increase. Considering that unit sales did not go up very much, that demonstrates that people are now buying more expensive iPhones.
By my count, Apple has sold 1.468 billion iPhones since they first went on sale in 2007. And because Apple will no longer report these numbers every quarter, this is the last time I’ll be able to report a precise number of all-time iPhone sales.
iPad
Apple sold 9.7 million iPads in the fiscal third quarter. That’s not as impressive as many other recent quarters, but the introduction of the new iPad Pro last week may start to change that.
By my count, Apple has sold almost 425 million iPads since they first went on sale in 2010.
If you add all of the iPhone and iPad sales over time, it comes to about 1.892 billion devices sold. If you add in all of the sales of the iPod touch over time, another device that runs iOS, Tim Cook announced last week that Apple has sold over 2 billion devices that run iOS.
Other
Tim Cook announced that Apple Pay use has tripled since this time last year.
Cook also noted that Consumer Reports named Apple Pay Cash the highest-rates mobile peer-to-peer service, based on exceptional payment authentication and data privacy.
Cook said that it was a record quarter for revenue from wearable products, including the Apple Watch, AirPods and Beats headphones.
Apple now has about 500 Apple Stores, and almost half of those are outside of the United States.
Cook noted that healthcare is an area in which Apple has a lot of interest. “You can see from our past several years that we have intense interest in the space and are adding products and services — not monetized services, so far — to that, and I don’t want to talk about the future, it’s because I don’t want to give away what we’re doing. But this is an area of major interest to us.”
When I was younger, taking a photograph meant using film in a camera. You only had so many pictures on a roll, and you had to pay to develop every picture (even the bad ones), so you were more circumspect about pressing that shutter button. Nowadays, you can take virtually unlimited pictures for free with your iPhone. That’s great, but it also means that you end up with tons of pictures, only some of which are worth keeping. This week, California attorney David Sparks of MacSparky reviews BestPhotos, an iPhone app that helps you to pick out the photos on your iPhone that are worth keeping. The app even gives you options to quickly delete obvious errors. For example, the app can quickly find all of the videos on your iPhone that last about one second because those are videos that you likely took by accident when you intended to take a photo but instead you were in video mode. Just tap the mistakes and then tap one button to delete them all. You can also quickly add missing location information to a bunch of photos at one time, view photos side-by-side to quickly select the one worth keeping, view all of the metadata associated with a picture, and much more. I was thrilled to learn about the BestPhotos app (developer website) from David Sparks and I quickly paid the $3 to unlock all of the features. And now, the news of note from the past week:
Illinois attorney John Voorhees of MacStories writes about some of the interesting details of Apple’s October 30th announcements that you may have missed.
California attorney Jeffrey Allen recommends iPhone apps for road warriors in an article for the ABA GPSolo Magazine.
I’ve written before (1, 2) about how border patrol agents will sometimes demand the right to search your iPhone as you come into the United States, and if you decline to unlock your iPhone and let them do so, they may seize the device. Two months ago this happened to an American Muslim woman, and she retained an attorney with the Council on American-Islamic Relations to represent her in a lawsuit against the government. Cyrus Farivar of Ars Technica reported this week that the case settled and that the government returned her iPhone.
It sounds like a scene from a techno horror movie — a bunch of Apple Watches in a hospital shut down, and then a bunch of iPhones shut down, but other cellphones and electronic devices continue to work just fine. What in the world could cause that? Kyle Wiens of iFixIt reports that it turns out that there was a helium leak from an MRI machine which impacted the clocks on Apple devices, and when the clock stops working, the rest of the device cannot work so it shuts down. It’s an interesting story.
If you use the Microsoft Outlook app on your iPhone, Michael Potuck of 9to5Mac reports that a new update provides better support for the larger screens on an iPhone XS Max and and iPhone XR.
In January of 2017, Apple introduced a new power management feature for the iPhone 7 and earlier models to help to prevent a device from unexpectedly shutting down when the battery in the device gets old. Joe Rossignol of MacRumors reports that iOS 12.1 adds this feature to the iPhone 8 and iPhone X.
M.G. Siegler reviews the Apple Watch Series 4 in a post on Medium. He believes that this is the first truly great Apple Watch, and I agree.
Brent Dirks of AppAdvice reviews Name Skillz, a $5 app which helps you to remember peoples’ names.
And finally, Apple released two videos this week which show off the new features in the iPad Pro. A one minute video called Change focuses on what is different, like the larger screen. The more informative one is a three-minute introduction video, and that is the one I have embedded below:
Yesterday, Apple held an event in Brooklyn, NY to unveil the new 2018 version of the iPad Pro. The iPad Pro was already incredibly useful for attorneys, and this new version is a major upgrade. Apple has essentially taken everything that was good about the iPhone X / XS / XR and applied it to the iPad, and then on top of that greatly improved the Apple Pencil. This looks to be a fantastic new device, and I ordered one immediately.
More screen, less bezel
The iPhone X with its edge-to-edge screen and no home button was an obvious design change from all prior iPhones, and the same can be said about the new iPad Pro. For the first time ever on an iPad, Apple has removed the home button, replacing Touch ID with Face ID, and Apple also greatly reduced the size of the bezel around the iPad. As a result, the new iPad Pro looks like it is essentially all screen. When introducing the new iPad Pro, here is what Apple VP of Engineering John Ternus said: “It marks the biggest change since the original iPad, and we have made it better in every possible way. In fact, this really is the iPad we dreamed about building from the very beginning. We’ve always felt that the iPad should be all about the display. And in this new iPad Pro, we have an LCD which stretches from edge to edge and top to bottom.” He could have just as easily been talking about the iPhone X being what Apple always wanted the iPhone to be.
Apple was very smart in making this change because the approach taken was different for the two iPad Pro sizes. Let’s start with the smaller model. The original iPad Pro came out in 2015 and it was 12.9". In 2016, Apple introduced a smaller 9.7" with the familiar 9.4" x 6.67" size. In 2017, Apple took the original 9.7" iPad Pro and made the bezels smaller (but kept the Home Button) to produce a 10.5" iPad Pro which had a larger screen but approximately the same overall size as the prior iPad Pro: 9.8" x 6.8". This year, Apple has again kept the overall dimensions about the same (9.7" x 7") but reduced the bezels further and removed the Home Button, resulting in a new 11" diagonal screen. Apple made the right choice here. People have loved this size of iPad ever since the first iPad came out in 2010, but now there is more screen to use in essentially the same overall size.
For the larger model, Apple knows that folks love that larger screen. You can look at letter-sized documents essentially full-size when you are in portrait mode, and whether I am annotating briefs, reviewing exhibits, or even just surfing the web, the larger 12.9" screen helps me to be incredibly productive in my law practice. But the 12.9" iPad Pro has always been large and somewhat cumbersome. After using one since 2015 I’ve gotten used to it, but I always wished that there was some way to get that fantastic, larger screen in a smaller device.. And that’s exactly what Apple has done. Apple has kept the screen size at 12.9", but reduced the bezels around it. As a result, unlike the prior versions of the 12.9" iPad Pro which were around 12" x 8.9", the new 12.9" iPad pro is about 11" x 8.5". In other words, unlike prior models where the screen size was about the size as a letter-sized sheet of paper, now the entire iPad is about the same size as a letter-sized sheet of paper. Moreover, the depth decreases from .27" to .23" and Apple also rounded off the corners. Overall, Apple says that the 2018 version of the 12.9" iPad Pro is 25% less volume than its predecessor, an incredibly impressive change.
Because there is no button on the new iPad Pro, you use the same gestures you use on an iPhone X, such as a swipe up to return to the home screen, and a swipe along the bottom to switch between apps.
If the only new feature of this iPad Pro had been this change in size, that would have been enough for me to be incredibly excited. Having the same large screen to get all of my work done in a device which is smaller and easier to carry around from office to office within my firm, and to court, is going to be fantastic. I cannot wait to start using it when mine is delivered next week.
No. 2 Pencil
I’ve been using an Apple Pencil with my iPad Pro since 2015, and I use the Pencil almost every day. When I am reviewing a brief from an opponent, I use the Pencil to circle arguments and scribble my responses in the margins. When I am reviewing caselaw I downloaded from Westlaw or Lexis, I use my Pencil to highlight key passages and write the key holding on the first page of the case. When I am reviewing an exhibit, I highlight and markup key parts. I use the GoodNotes app to take handwritten notes in meetings and in court and to draft oral arguments. The iPad Pro is an incredibly useful device, and the Apple Pencil brings it to the next level.
As much as I have loved the Pencil, I have yearned for new features. Apple has now added all of the features I had been wishing for in the second generation Apple pencil.
• Tap to change tools. What I thought that I wanted was a button on the side of the Pencil that I could press to switch modes, such as between a pencil and an eraser. But Apple had an even better idea, adding the ability to change modes by tapping on the side of the pencil, much like you can tap on an AirPod play/pause music or launch Siri. It looks like app developers get to determine how this feature works. In Apple’s Notes app, you have a choice for a double-tap to switch between the pencil and eraser feature, or between the current tool and the previous tool, or bring up the color palette. In Photoshop for iPad (coming out in 2019), you can choose to double-tap to switch between being zoomed in and zooming out to see the entire image. This is going to be incredibly useful.
Indeed, it seems that a creative app designer could use this part of the Pencil even for an app that doesn’t involve drawing. Could a photography app take a picture every time you tap the Pencil, using it as a remote control? Could a book-reader app use this to turn the page? I’m not yet sure if Apple will allow this, but there seem to be a lot of possibilities.
• Attach to the side to charge. For the original Apple Pencil, you would remove a cap and then put it in the Lightning port to charge, resulting in this awkward looking long stick coming out of the side of the iPad. For the second generation Apple Pencil, the device attaches to the long side of the iPad using magnets and charges when it is attached. This solves numerous problems. First, it reduces the awkwardness. Second, it eliminates the chance of losing that cap while it is charging; there is no longer a cap, it is just a seamless design. Third, the Pencil attaches to the side of the iPad because there is now a flat side to the Pencil — which I hope means that it solves the problem of the Pencil rolling off of a desk. Fourth, you now always have a place to store your Pencil. Just attach it to the iPad.
Since 2015, I have been using a cheap Fisher Chrome Clip to solve two of those problems: give me a place to store the Pencil (in my shirt pocket) and stop the Pencil from rolling on a desk. My hope is that with the second generation Pencil, I can retire that clip.
One other thing I like about this new design is that we now have a proper place to store the Pencil — on the side of the iPad — and the Pencil is constantly charged while it is there. This means that whenever I pick up the Pencil, it is likely to have a full charge. This reminds me of the AirPods; I store them in a case which charges them, so when I remove them they are likely to have a 100% charge.
• Easier to hold. The second generation Pencil has a matte finish, unlike the glossy finish of the original Pencil. That, combined with the flat edge, should make the Pencil easier to hold. I’ll have to try it myself to confirm that this is true, but the initial reports from folks who got a chance to try it for a few minutes yesterday seem positive.
• Tap to wake. If the iPad display is off, you can tap the screen with the new Pencil to wake the device and launch the Notes app, ready for you to jot a note.
• Free engraving. Now that the Pencil has a flat side, there is a surface suitable for putting some words. All new Pencils have the Apple logo with the word “Pencil” next to it, and you can add up to 15 letters in ALL CAPS next to that.
• Old favorites. And of course, the second generation Apple Pencil keeps what was wonderful about the original model. Apple says that it is highly responsive with virtually no lag, perfectly precise, and pressure sensitive. And you can rest your hand on the display without your the contact between your palm and the screen creating marks.
I’ve seen reports that the original Apple Pencil won’t work with the new iPad Pro, which makes sense because there is no Lightning port to charge the original Pencil. Thus, the new iPad Pro only works with the new Apple Pencil. And given the new features, that’s what I will want to use. This new Pencil looks great. I still wish that Apple would allow third-party hardware manufacturers to create their own styluses which have the same precision and responsiveness as an Apple Pencil, because that way we would see even more innovation. Nevertheless, this second generation Pencil seems to address all of my current wishes and adds many other cool features which did not occur to me.
Face ID
As noted, the new iPad Pro does not have a Home Button or Touch ID. Instead, just like the newest iPhones, it supports Face ID. Unlike the iPhone, Face ID works no matter which way you have the new iPad turned.
Because it has a Face ID camera, the new iPad also supports portrait mode pictures (for the front-facing camera only) and Animoji and Memoji.
Flat edge
In addition to the reduced bezels, there is another design change: flat edges around all four sides. The edge reminds me of the iPhone 4 and iPhone 5, which were designs that I really liked; for an iPhone, the flat edge made it easier to grip the device. I’ll need to try it out myself to see if I like this better or not, but it is a noticeable difference.
Liquid Retina display
Apple says that the display is improved, using Liquid Retina technology, which Apple also uses in the new iPhone XR. It features more accurate colors. I believe that the brightness is the same as the prior iPad Pro.
More powerful
Every new iPad is faster than the model before it, and the new iPad Pro features the A12 Bionic chip. Apple says that it is much faster than the previous generation and faster than 92% of all of the portable PCs sold in the last 12 months. Apple also says graphics are about as fast as an Xbox One S, which isn’t quite a powerful as the high-end Xbox One X, but the fact that an iPad is even in the same league as any currently shipping game console is just bonkers. Apple showed off a demo yesterday of a basketball game (NBA 2K) and the graphics were stunning.
I don’t know if I will ever take advantage of all of this power, but I look forward to trying, and it is always better when an iPad or iPhone is more responsive.
USB-C
To the surprise of many, Apple has removed the Lightning port from the iPad, replacing it with an industry-standard USB-C port. The new iPad Pro supports USB 3.1 Gen 2 high-bandwidth data transfers, which means much faster data transfer over USB-C than the previous models with a Lightning connector. For example, this increased speed means that an iPad Pro can now support an external 5K display.
USB-C, in theory, allows for faster charging because it supports more power, but I’m not yet sure if Apple supports this. Apple did say that thanks to USB-C you can now send power out of an iPad, so you could use a USB-C to Lightning cable to use your iPad Pro to charge your iPhone.
Also, because USB-C is an industry standard, this means that there is a potential that we will see even more accessories. At this point, I’m not sure that the software will support everything that is theoretically possible. For example, there are USB-C external flash drives and even hard drives, and I don’t think that iOS 12.1 supports this, but it could in a future update.
The downside of any change like this is that you need to get new accessories. I currently use a Lightning-to-SD card dongle so that I can take an SD card out of my SLR camera and load the pictures directly onto my iPad, something that I often do when I take a lot of pictures on vacation and I am away from my computer. I’ll have to purchase a USB-C-to-SD dongle to do the same thing. I also currently use a Lightning-to-HDMI and Lightning-to-VGA dongle to connect a projector to my iPad Pro when I am giving presentations. Apple isn’t currently selling USB-C versions of these dongles, but it may be that I can just purchase an inexpensive one on Amazon. (I’m not yet sure about that, though; it may be that a DisplayPort connector is required.) Or perhaps the USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter which Apple currently sells for the Mac will work with the new iPad Pro too. I look forward to hearing more about USB-C compatibility for video-out.
Suffice it to say that at this point, I have as many questions about USB-C as I do answers. Nevertheless, Apple apparently saw some big advantages to justify giving up using its proprietary Lightning connector, so I’m very optimistic about this change.
Smart connector
Apple moved the Smart Connector, which used to be on the long edge to the back on the short edge. Apple uses the new Smart Connector with the new Smart Keyboard Folio, which is a case covering the front and back of the iPad with a keyboard built-in. You can double-press the space bar to unlock the iPad using Face ID, and you can adjust the tilt of the iPad to two orientations.
Color and capacity
The new iPad comes in two colors: silver and space gray.
You can get models with 64GB, 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB. I ordered the 256GB model, which I think will be enough for my needs now and in the future even though I carry around a large number of documents and videos on my iPad.
No headphone port
The new iPad Pro doesn’t have a headphone port. You can either use Bluetooth headphones like the AirPods, or you can get a USB-C-to-3.5mm headphone dongle for $9.
Price
These new iPads have lots of new features, but they come at a cost. Earlier this year, Apple introduced the Sixth Generation iPad, a very nice device which supports the first generation Pencil. Although I don’t recommend the 32GB model which costs $329 to any attorneys because you are unlikely to have enough space for all of your documents, you can get the 128GB model for $429.
The new iPad Pro has a 64GB model ($799 for 11" or $999 for 12.9"). That’s not enough space for my needs as a litigator with tons of documents from dozens of cases on my iPad, but for some attorneys that might be enough. The better option is the 256GB model ($949 for 11" or $1149 for 12.9").
Thus, you are paying twice as much, or more, for the iPad Pro. But you get a lot more: larger screen, support for the second generation Apple Pencil, a much faster device, and a much nicer screen. You also get Face ID and USB-C. You also get a better camera, but I didn’t even list that feature above because I don’t consider the camera on the back of an iPad important for most attorneys.
Note also that the second generation Apple Pencil is slightly more expensive at $129 versus $99 for the first generation Pencil.
Conclusion
Apple loves to tout that the iPad Pro more powerful than many computers, and that is true. Of course, it is also more expensive, so you pay for that power. For me, the larger screen size of the iPad Pro easily makes it more than twice as useful as the Sixth Generation iPad. Add the faster processor and the support for the second generation Apple Pencil, and the choice is clear. If you want to get the most out of an iPad in your law practice, the iPad Pro is the way to go.
Having said that, if you believe that you have more modest needs, the Sixth Generation iPad introduced earlier this year is much cheaper, and it also supports the incredibly useful Apple Pencil, albeit just the first generation model.
The new iPad Pro will be available starting November 7, 2018. I ordered the 12.9" space gray model with 256GB along with the new Apple Pencil. After I have had a chance to use it for a while, I’ll write a formal review. But for now, I’m very excited because this new iPad Pro looks to be a major leap forward for the iPad.
Today will be a big day for iPhone and iPad users. First, Apple is holding its October special event at 10 Eastern in Brooklyn, NY. Apple isn’t saying what will be announced, but virtually everyone expects to see a new iPad Pro with smaller bezels, no home button, and Face ID — the iPad version of the iPhone X. There are also rumors that Apple will unveil a second generation of the Apple Pencil with support for touch gestures on the Pencil. I would love the ability to tap or do something else on the Pencil to switch between a pencil and an eraser. And I’m sure that Apple has even more to unveil this morning. You can watch the presentation live by visiting this page on Apple’s website.
Second, Apple announced yesterday in a press release that Apple will release iOS 12.1 today. This .1 update will include new features, including some which were previously announced but not quite ready when iOS 12 was released last month: (1) Group FaceTime, which allows you to have private, encrypted FaceTime video conferences with up to 32 people at one time with automatic selection and focus on the person speaking; (2) the new emoji which Apple first previewed this past July; (3) for iPhone XS owners, the ability to control the bokeh effect in Portrait mode by adjusting the depth effect while you are taking the picture instead of just after the picture is taken; and (4) dual SIM support for the iPhone XS and iPhone XR. Those are the major new features, but there are sure to be many other improvements in there as well.
Do you pay much attention to the News app on iOS? In the beginning I ignored it, but then I saw that it was doing a pretty good job of telling me about the important headlines of the day, and I noticed that the articles it recommended were of pretty good quality. Yesterday, Jack Nicas of the New York Times reported that there is a reason for that. Unlike services like Facebook which use algorithms to select headlines, Apple uses a team of humans, led by Lauren Kern, an experienced journalist who was previously the executive editor of the New York Times Magazine. The article explains how the team selects the top stories from reputable sources and finds articles which do a good job reporting on each issue. By the way, if you have any interest in reading iPhone J.D. in the News app, you can search for the iPhone J.D. channel and make it one of your favorites. And now, the news of note from the past week:
The latest episode of the Mac Power Users podcast by attorneys David Sparks and Katie Floyd recommends 30 products under $30, many of which are for the iPhone. It’s a great episode.
Thomas Brewster of Forbes reports that the GrayKey device used by many government and law enforcement agencies to hack into a seized iPhone no longer works in iOS 12.
You can now get the 1Password password manager app for free if you are running for office, ensuring that elections run fairly, or are protecting people’s rights, through the new 1Password for Democracy program. That description would seem to apply to many public interest attorneys.
If you want to use AirPlay 2 to have music or other audio come out of multiple speakers in your house but you don’t need Siri and the other features of the HomePod, Zac Hall of 9to5Mac posted a favorable review of the Libratone Zipp, a portable Bluetooth speaker that works with AirPlay 2.
In an article for TidBITS, Julio Ojeda-Zapata sings the praises of using Overcast and the Apple Podcasts app on an Apple Watch Series 4. I’m a big fan too. When I’m doing errands around the house, I like being able to listen to a podcast using Overcast no matter which room I’m in without having to carry around my iPhone. When I’m walking outside, I will often have my iPhone in a shirt pocket, but sometimes it will think that I have touched the screen and it will pause the podcast as if I tapped the pause button; I have no such problems when I just connect my AirPods directly to my Apple Watch Series 4. Thanks to the new Apple Watch, I spend some time listening to a podcast on my watch almost every day.
It won’t surprise you that I vastly prefer iPhones to Android phones. But there is one part of Android that I think gives Apple a run for its money — the computational photography used in the camera. Vlad Savov of The Verge shows off Google’s upcoming Night Sight feature for Pixel phones, and it is astounding what Google is able to accomplish with very little light. I’m sure that lots of smart folks at Apple are paying attention, and I look forward to seeing something like this on the iPhone in the future.
Last week, I ended my Friday post with some of the amazing art that Apple used on the invitations for its upcoming October 30, 2018 event in Brooklyn, NY. Juli Clover of MacRumors posted a link to an Imgur album which contains all 350 of these unique takes on the Apple logo. I really enjoyed browsing through all of them.
And finally, if you visit the Visitor Center at the new Apple Park campus in Cupertino, CA, you can buy Apple-branded T-shirts that are not sold anywhere else. Michael Steeber of 9to5Mac reports that there are three new T-shirts being sold by Apple which hearken back to six-color Apple designs from the 1980s. These hit me in a soft spot because that is when I started using Apple products; I used an Apple ][+ in the computer lab of my high school, and then I purchased a Mac SE as I started my sophomore year in college. I’m glad that Apple brought back the classic logo, and I’m sure that means that Apple will soon bring back its Apple Gift Catalog with items like this:
Starting this Friday, you can purchase an iPhone XR. If you have an older iPhone and you are ready to upgrade to the edge-to-edge screen of the iPhone X-type devices, that means that you now have a choice. Do you get the iPhone XS, the iPhone XS Max, or the iPhone XR?
Apple gave review units of the iPhone XR to select members of the press, and the initial reviews were published yesterday. Interestingly, there is largely a consensus: the iPhone XR is the right phone for most folks who are ready to upgrade. Although I haven’t tried to iPhone XR myself, based on what I am reading, I think that this conclusion will also hold true for most attorneys.
Save $250 — make that $350 — with the iPhone XR
One of the most helpful reviews comes from John Gruber of Daring Fireball. He points out that the price difference is even bigger than what you might expect. I had been thinking of the iPhone XR as being a $250 discount over the iPhone XS (and $350 less than the iPhone XS Max) because that is the price difference for the entry-level 64 GB models. However, while 64 GB will be enough for many folks, if you want the ability to carry around tons of documents, pictures, and videos, it is nice to have more than that. In the iPhone XS line, the next step up is $150 more for the 256 GB model. But for the iPhone XR, the next step up is only $50 more for the 128 GB model. 128 GB is a perfect size for almost any attorney today, and $50 is a small price increase for double the capacity. As much as I use my iPhone, I only have about 140 GB (of my 256 GB model) used right now, so 128 GB seems like a very reasonable number for most attorneys.
Thus, for most attorneys, the real choice will be between the $1,150 iPhone XS 256 GB versus $800 for the iPhone XR 128 GB model. That’s a $350 difference.
More battery life with the iPhone XR
Another reason to go for the iPhone XR over the iPhone XS is battery life. The iPhone XR seems to have the best battery life of any iPhone ever sold, with performance similar to plus-size iPhones like the iPhone XS Max. Attorney Nilay Patel of The Verge got 13 hours of battery life under normal use conditions. That’s very impressive, and is around an hour more than the iPhone XS.
Colors
If you don’t plan to use a case with your iPhone, or if you plan to use a clear case, then another advantage of the iPhone XR is that it can be more colorful, coming in blue, white, yellow, coral, and red. If you want silver or gold, you need to go with the iPhone XS. Both models come in black.
The tradeoffs
So you save $350 and get more battery life. Why isn’t the iPhone XR the best iPhone for everyone? There are only a few downsides, and if these don’t matter to you, then the iPhone XR is your best bet.
• Screen size. Most obviously, if you want the very largest iPhone screen, then you will want to go with the iPhone XS Max, which Apple says has a 6.5" screen, versus 6.1" for the iPhone XR and 5.8" for the iPhone XS. John Gruber points out in his review that the actual measurements are 6.46", 6.06" and 5.85", so the iPhone XR is actually closer to the iPhone XS size than the iPhone XS Max size.
For the rest of these tradeoffs, I’ll focus on the iPhone XR versus the iPhone XS.
• Telephoto camera. I think that this is the biggest thing you miss with the iPhone XR. I didn’t have an iPhone with two lenses, one of which is a telephoto lens, before I started using the iPhone X last year. Now that I am used to this feature, I would never want to give it up. I use the telephoto lens on a significant number of the photos and videos that I take, and it results in a much better picture when people or objects are farther away. I get much better pictures of my kids and other family members thanks to the telephoto lens, and because I love taking pictures, this is important to me. If you also like taking pictures, this is a major difference.
If you like taking portrait mode pictures, you also get better results with the iPhone XS, but most of the reviewers seemed to find that the difference was typically pretty minor.
While this is the #1 reason that I know that the iPhone XS is the best iPhone for me, it is just as true that if a telephoto lens doesn’t matter to you, then the iPhone XR will almost certainly be the best phone for you. The rest of the tradeoffs listed below just are not as important, in my mind.
• Screen quality. I love the colors and deep blacks on the OLED screen of the iPhone XS. But to my surprise, the consensus among the reviewers seems to be that the LED screen of the iPhone XR is almost as good, and is close enough that it probably won’t make a difference to most people. Unless you are comparing them side-by-side, you are unlikely to notice the difference. As Raymond Wang of Mashable says in his review: “The bottom line is: The iPhone XR’s screen looks terrific and unless you’re comparing it to the iPhone XS, you’re not gonna find much to dislike. Sure, you’re giving up deeper blacks for a very dark gray, and the XR’s screen isn’t HDR-ready like on the XS, but neither of these are deal breakers.” Similarly, Rene Ritchie of iMore says that while you will notice the nicer screen on the iPhone XS if you are using virtual reality apps, “[f]or everything else and everyone else, you probably won’t notice a difference. It looks terrific and is yet another example of the overall experience being far more important than any one spec read off any one sheet.”
• Larger bezels. The iPhone XR also has larger bezels on the sides than the iPhone XS. Because the edge-to-edge screen is such a key feature of an iPhone X-class device, I thought that the reviewers would be universally bothered by this. And some were. For example, Nilay Patel wrote: “But the bezel… well, you’re going to notice that bezel every time you see an iPhone X or XS anywhere near an XR. It’s very large, and it definitely makes the iPhone XR seem less premium than the iPhone XS.” On the other hand, Matthew Panzarino of TechCrunch said the larger bezels are just “slightly less elegant” and “not a big deal.” John Gruber says: “People who use an iPhone case — which is to say the vast majority of iPhone owners — may not even notice the larger bezel. And even without a case it’s not a problem, per se, and is really only evident when compared side-by-side.” And Raymond Wong said: “They were larger than I remembered from my hands-on with them back in September, but they didn’t bother me at all. Almost all the time, you’re looking at the screen, not the bezels around it. At the same time, some people are bound to find them downright distasteful.”
• 3D Touch. I really like 3D Touch on my iPhone XS. For example, I like being able to push on the app icon for the Shortcuts app to see a menu of my top four shortcuts so that I can tap one to launch it. But if I somehow lost that feature, it wouldn’t be a major issue for me. The iPhone XR doesn’t have 3D Touch, although there are some circumstances in which you can hold your finger on the screen for a little bit and the iPhone will trigger a similar Haptic Touch feature. The reviewers generally thought that it wasn’t a big loss to not have 3D Touch, and that sounds about right to me.
• Etc. There are some other smaller differences, but the reviewers seemed to indicate that they were less important, and I agree. The iPhone XR is slightly less waterproof. If you are in an area that supports Gigabit-class LTE, you can take advantage of those faster speeds on an iPhone XS but not on an iPhone XR. And while the front glass is the same on the iPhone XR and the iPhone XS, the iPhone XR has a less durable glass on the back.
Conclusion
After reading the numerous hands-on reviews quoted above and many more, I’m still happy that I have the iPhone XS. The telephoto lens alone makes that iPhone worth it to me, and then all of the other minor differences add up to make me happier with that model.
Having said that, I think that the iPhone XR with 128 GB is the best iPhone for most attorneys. If you like a larger screen, get the iPhone XS Max. If you like taking pictures with your device, you’ll really appreciate the telephoto lens on the iPhone XS. But if those two don’t matter to you, I don’t think that the additional differences are worth the $350 you can save and the extra battery life that you get by choosing the iPhone XR instead of the iPhone XS.
I recently purchased an Apple Watch Series 4, which meant that I had an Apple Watch Series 2 that I was no longer using, and there is nobody in my family that would have a need for that device anytime soon. Thus, I decided to take advantage of the new Apple GiveBack program to trade in my old watch. My old device will be refurbished for someone else to buy, or perhaps it will be used for parts, but at least something useful will happen with it. Plus, Apple pays for many devices turned in through the program.
The program could not have been easier to use. Start by going to the Apple GiveBack page of the Apple website. Select the item you are giving back — iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, etc. It doesn’t even have to be an Apple product; Apple will also take items like smartphones made by other manufacturers. Then answer a few simple questions about the device, such as does it turn on and what condition is it in. Apple will then give you a quote of how much they will pay you for the device. For example, Apple will pay $100 for an iPhone 6s and $200 for an iPhone 7.
For some items, like the Apple Watch, Apple makes you enter the serial number of the device, a way to protect against fraud. You don’t want someone stealing an Apple Watch from your wrist and then turning it in to Apple to get money. For my stainless steel 42 mm Apple Watch Series 2, Apple gave me a quote of $125.
I completed the online form on Apple’s GiveBack webpage on October 2, 2018. Apple told me that I would hear from a company called Brightstar, and that company emailed that same day to let me know that it was sending me a box. On October 8, 2018, I received a cardboard box which was designed to hold in a secure fashion either an Apple Watch or an iPhone, along with a shipping label. There were very clear instructions on where to place my watch in the box to keep it safe during transport. (I didn’t have to return a band; just the watch itself.)
I dropped that box off with UPS on October 9, and Brightstar received it on October 12. Brightstar took a few days to check out the condition of my watch, and then on October 16 sent me an email saying that everything looked good and that I would soon get a gift card. On October 19, I received an email with my $125 Apple Gift Card, with a button I could click to add it to the Wallet app on my iPhone.
The entire process was incredibly easy. I didn’t have to worry about finding a buyer myself or dealing with an unsavory character on eBay looking to take my watch without paying me, or anything else like that.
Note that I also still have my original, first generation Apple Watch, The GiveBack program would only give me $25 for that one, and thus I decided to hang on to it. Many years for now, it should be interesting to compare that first generation Apple Watch with the Apple Watch Series 10 or whatever they are calling it in the future.
There are also some items that Apple won’t pay you for, like an old iPod, but you can still use the GiveBack program to recycle it. Also, you have long been able to walk into an Apple Store to recycle many older devices. About a year ago I turned in an old iMac that wasn’t working anymore to my local Apple Store. Apple wouldn’t pay me anything for it because the screen no longer came on, but they were happy to take it and recycle it.
If you are have an Apple Watch (or other device) that you no longer need, I encourage you to take a look at the Apple GiveBack program. You can reduce clutter in your own house, turn in a device to be reused or recycled, and you may even receive a gift card to use towards your next Apple purchase.
Apple announced yesterday that it will have a “Special Event” in Brooklyn, New York on Tuesday, October 30 at 10am EDT. Presumably, this is when Apple will announce new versions of the iPad Pro, as well as other products. The event will take place at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s 2,100-seat Howard Gilman Opera House. Apple must have a special reason for wanting to hold the event there instead of its new Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, which seats 1,000, but I’m not sure what that reason is. And now, the news of note from the past week:
Chicago Attorney John Voorhees of MacStories notes that Tweetbot version 5 was released yesterday, which numerous interface improvements. I use this app every day to read Twitter, and I like the new interface.
In another post, Voorhees shows off some possible cool Apple Watch faces that we could have if Apple were to allow third parties to create watch faces. My hope is that Apple will support this in the future, and perhaps Apple just wanted to get the larger Series 4 watch faces on the market before opening the door to developers. We’ll see.
Starting today, you can pre-order the iPhone XR. Ryan Christoffel of MacStories collected some YouTube videos prepared by folks who got a sneak peak at the new iPhone.
Apple will soon release iOS 12.1, with support for new Emoji. A beta is already available, and many folks criticized Apple’s version of the bagel Emoji. Averting this disaster, Jason Snell of Six Colors reports that Apple will include an improved version of the bagel Emoji in iOS 12.
And finally, Apple did something different in announcing its next event. Instead of designing a single graphic to go along with the invitations sent to members of the press, Apple created multiple images. Each of them is a play on the Apple logo, but each is unique. You can see some of them on the page on the Apple website associated with the event (reload the page to see different versions) and one person on Twitter, @alixrezax, said that he found 370 different versions of the art. I look forward to reading at some point the story behind the creation of all of this art. Here are just a few of my favorites. How about them Apples!
I don’t talk about music very much on iPhone J.D., but if you are looking for something truly amazing to listen to on your iPhone and you enjoy the piano, I strongly recommend that you check out the newest album by Jon Batiste called Hollywood Africans. Although Jon Batiste has been playing music his entire life — he comes from a big music family in New Orleans — I suspect that most folks simply know him as the bandleader on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. But he is far from simply a TV personality; he is a seriously talented musician, and I often find my jaw dropping as I watch him play the piano.
Before listening to the album, I recommend that you listen to the first 20 minutes of a great recent episode of NPR’s Fresh Air podcast, in which Batiste sits down at a piano with Terry Gross, plays parts of some of the songs on the album, and explains what motivated him to create this album. Click here to listen on the NPR website, or if you use the Overcast app to listen to podcasts, here is a direct link. Using just my Apple Watch Series 4 and my AirPods, I enjoyed listening to that episode last night during an outdoor walk. As I used my Apple Watch to listen to Jon Batiste, I remembered that he was actually featured in a 15 second ad for the Apple Watch in early 2016; the link in my In the news post from back then no longer works, but you can still watch the video on YouTube at this link.
As for the album itself, every song is great, but I’ll just mention the first two. The first song is Kenner Boogie (Apple Music link), an original piano song that that will make you tap your toes and smile, all the while wondering how one person can play all of those piano keys so quickly with just two hands. The second song is What a Wonderful World (Apple Music link), a song first recorded by Louis Armstrong in 1967. That song has been performed and interpreted countless times, but I’ve never heard an arrangement anything like this. Incredibly beautiful and moving.
I’ve seen Jon Batiste perform several times, and the first time I saw him was on May 1, 2005 at Jazz Fest in New Orleans, back when he was a teenager studying at Juilliard. I only know the date because I was so impressed by his performance that I bought his first album, Times in New Orleans (Apple Music link), and my wife took the picture at the right of me doing so. He was good back then; he is fantastic today.
