This week, the European Parliament voted 602-13 (with 8 abstentions) that by the end of 2024, all mobile phones, tablets, and cameras sold in the EU must use a USB-C charger. Natasha Lomas of TechCrunch reports that there are a few more steps before this law is official, and devices that are already in the market when the change becomes official in 2024 can still be sold. But because Europe is such a huge market, the sense is that this will force all device manufacturers, around the world, to shift to USB-C. The rumor is that Apple was moving towards USB-C on the iPhone anyway, as it has already done on many of its other products, so as a practical matter, this law may not change things in the short run. The goal of the law is to reduce waste by encouraging a single charging standard for all devices. That’s a good goal. But considering how many different types of USB-C there are (with more coming in the future), I question whether this will actually result in a single charger that you can use with all of your devices. Moreover, if Apple or someone else comes up with a better charging cord solution—much like when Apple introduced Lightning as a much better alternative to 30-pin—this law would prohibit that new product from coming to market. Sure, a company like Apple could lobby to change the law, but who knows how long that would take, and that process makes it impossible to surprise and delight customers with a better interface on a new product, which discourages development of the superior product. Imagine that the EU had passed this law 10 years ago. Would they have required USB, and would we be stuck with that now instead of USB-C? And what if there had been an even earlier law, banning the use of bulky albums and instead requiring cassette tapes; would such a law have prevented the introduction of CDs? I have trouble believing that legislators are the best people to decide what technology should be used and how many people should use it. I hope that my concerns are wrong and that this will turn out to be a good thing for consumers. We’ll see. And now, the news of note from the past week:
One of the improvements in the Apple Watch Ultra over prior models is a better GPS, one that uses two frequencies instead of just one. How much more accurate is it? Zac Hall of 9to5Mac shares the results of Reddit user suburbandad1999 who compared an Apple Watch Ultra to an older Apple Watch to mow the grass and had each watch record what it thought was the path. He shares pictures of the results, and this is an example of a picture—or more precisely, two of them—speaking 1,000 words. It is immediately obvious how much more precise the GPS is on the Apple Watch Ultra.
Mark Gurman of Bloomberg wrote one of the best Apple Watch Ultra reviews that I’ve read, and he also offers some good suggestions for improvements in future generations of this watch.
In a detailed review, Andy Boxall of Digital Trends reviews the Apple Watch Ultra, calling it a “rugged smartwatch that non-rugged people will want to own — and they’ll be very pleased with it when they do.”
Last week, linked to a report from Juli Clover of MacRumors reports that, based on the latest beta of iOS 16.1, the first generation AirPods Pro will also gain the new Adaptive Transparency feature in the second generation AirPods Pro. It turns out … not so much. A follow-up article from Clover notes that, as reported to Mark Gurman of Bloomberg, that was just a bug in a beta of iOS 16.1. If you want the enhanced version of Transparency mode that lets you hear the outside world while also reducing the volume of annoying sounds that are over 85 dB, you need to purchase the second generation version of the AirPods Pro, presumably because the new H2 chip is required for this feature to work.
The iPhone 14 Plus was announced with the other three models in the iPhone 14 line, but today is the first day that it is officially available. Filipe Espósito of 9to5Mac reports that those who pre-ordered are now starting to get their devices.
Allison Johnson of The Verge reviews the new iPhone 14 Plus and says that it has the best battery life of any iPhone and has a large display that many people will love.
Apple’s MagSafe Battery Pack has been out for over a year. I reviewed it three months ago and explained why it is a fantastic product. Wesley Hilliard of AppleInsider has been using this product for over a year and explains why it is still a fantastic product.
This has no connection to Apple products, but this week, I read what may be my all-time favorite legal brief, an amicus brief in favor of granting a writ of certiorari filed by The Onion. It has been making the rounds this week because it is so well done, but if you haven’t read it yet, you should do so. This post by Kevin Underhill of Lowering the Bar gives you a little background, or you can just jump right in and read the brief from the Supreme Court website (PDF). Eduardo Medina of the New York Times wrote about the brief too, explaining why The Onion decided to file it.
I take that back, I may be able to come up with a way to connect this brief to Apple products. The Onion’s brief will be read by the Justices of the Supreme Court. The newest is Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. And as noted by Steven Mazie, according to pictures from her investiture ceremony, Justice Jackson wears an Apple Watch with a white band. (She wore the same Apple Watch when she was sworn in a few months ago.) That connection isn’t enough for you? How about this one: when the iPhone was introduced and for a number of years later, in Apple’s advertisements, the time on the iPhone was always 9:42—the time that Steve Jobs first introduced the iPhone. When the iPad was introduced, they changed that to 9:41. If you zoom in on Justice Jackson’s watch in those pictures posted by Mazie, although some of the watch face looks to be blurred out, you can see that the time is 9:42—an obvious homage to the iPhone. This is just the sort of hard-hitting reporting that you will only find here on iPhone J.D.
And finally, Joanna Stern of the Wall Street Journal has a reputation for going above and beyond in the videos that she creates to accompany her tech articles. To test Apple’s claims that the new iPhone 14 and new Apple Watch models can detect a car crash, she worked with a demolition-derby drive to crash cars. The result was the video posted below, and this article. What I found particularly interesting is that when a car was just sitting there and then was suddenly crashed into, an iPhone in that car did not call 911. It turns out, this is by design. Apparently, the iPhone needs to think that someone is driving the car, even if it is temporarily stopped (like at a traffic light). The iPhone looks at things like whether it is connected to CarPlay or a car via Bluetooth, how much the iPhone has sensed a change in distance prior to the crash that would indicate driving, etc. It is nice to learn more about when this feature works and how it works, so bravo to Joanna Stern for this video:
I had a great conversation with Brett Burney in this week’s episode of the In the News podcast about Apple’s three new products because Brett recently purchased all of them! We start by going deep on the new Apple Watch Ultra, and Brett answers a lot of questions that I (and perhaps you as well) had about this new device. Then we both talk about the features that we are both using in the new second generation Air Pods Pro. We also talk about new features in the iPhone 14 Pro, including the improved camera.
In our In the Know segment, Brett shares a tip for how you can use that word “Search” that started appearing at the bottom of the iPhone Home Screen in iOS 16. My tip is to check your Wi-Fi calling status because it may have turned off if you upgraded to a new iPhone or you updated to iOS 16.
Over the last few weeks, we have seen major releases from Apple. All versions of the iPhone 14 (except the iPhone 14 Plus) are now available and have been in peoples’ hands for a while. The new second generation AirPods Pro have been out for a week, as has the Apple Watch Ultra. The Apple Watch Series 8 has been out for more than a week, as has iOS 16 and watchOS 9. With all of these new hardware and software products in folks hands for a little while, we are starting to see lots of interesting reports about how people are taking advantage of these new devices. It’s an exciting time in the world of the iPhone and related technology. Whether you are using new hardware or just the latest operating systems, I hope that you are experiencing the delight that comes along with great new features. And now, the news of note from the past week:
This is your last chance to donate to St. Jude before the September fundraiser ends. It will take you about 10 seconds, and it will help make a huge difference for kids with cancer. No donation is too small, and all of the money raised goes directly to St. Jude.
Lit Software, which is sponsoring iPhone J.D. this month, shares a great story on its blog from Los Angeles attorney (and iPhone J.D. reader) Tom Vidal who used the ExhibitsPad app in a jury trial, so each juror had an iPad on which they could view all of the evidence.
There is an interesting article on Apple’s website about how archaeologists are using the iPad Pro’s LiDAR sensor and other features to explore the ancient history of Pompeii. According to Dr. Allison Emmerson of Tulane University, the iPad has revolutionized the field.
I’ve seen countless reports about how the battery life on the new Apple Watch Ultra is amazing. Now we know a big reason for that. Sam Goldheart of tech repair company iFixIt opened up an Apple Watch Ultra and discovered that the Apple Watch Ultra has a 2.1 Wh battery, almost twice as much as the 1.19 Wh in the Apple Watch Series 8. You can also see that the speakers are much larger on the Apple Watch Ultra.
David Smith, the developer of fantastic apps such as Widgetsmith and Sleep++, took a multi-day hike through the Scottish Highlands with the Apple Watch Ultra. He prepared a fascinating video along the way, showing many of the strengths and weaknesses of this device. He made a good argument that an Apple Watch Ultra is like a pickup truck: you can use it for regular life, like taking the kids to school and driving to the mall, but it also has the extra power and strength you need to head offroad or carry gravel from the garden store.
When I reviewed the second generation AirPods Pro, I said that one of the new features is the Adaptive Transparency feature, which lets you hear the outside world while also reducing some loud, obnoxious sounds (sounds above 85 dB). Juli Clover of MacRumors reports that, based on the latest beta of iOS 16.1, the first generation AirPods Pro will also gain this feature soon.
Jason Snell of Six Colors wrote a good iPhone 14 Pro review with a great title: No phone is an island.
Ben Lovejoy of 9to5Mac explains why the camera on the iPhone 14 Pro is good enough to use as his only travel camera. I’ve been thinking about that topic a lot lately. The Nikon DSLR camera that my wife and I have used since 2005 is having some issues. But do we replace it? Nikon and most other camera manufacturers don’t even make new DSLR cameras anymore. I can get a very good mirrorless camera for around $1,000, but I suspect that in many circumstances, the iPhone 14 Pro can take pictures that are as good or better. It’s fascinating that the iPhone camera has gotten so good that we even have this debate.
An upcoming feature of the iPhone 14 phones is the ability to connect to a satellite in an emergency. Felipe Espósito of 9to5Mac explains that the iPhone will have a satellite demo mode so that you can see what it is like to connect to a satellite without actually calling for help.
Apple CEO Tim Cook and other Apple executives have been visiting Apple campuses and stores throughout Europe. Chance Miller of 9to5Mac shares a number of pictures from some of the places they visited. That included the set where they film Ted Lasso; there is a great picture of Apple executives Tim Cook, Eddy Cue, Lisa Jackson, Diedre O’Brien, and Kristin Huguet Quayle cheering for AFC Richmond along with actors Jason Sudeikis (Ted Lasso), Juno Temple (Keeley), Hannah Waddingham (Rebecca), Brendan Hunt (Coach Beard), and Jeremy Swift (Higgins).
One of Cook’s stops in Italy was a university, and as Sami Fathi of MacRumors reports, Cook said that in the near future, people will wonder how they led a life without augmented reality. That’s an interesting comment because at the present, Apple sells almost now augmented reality products—aside from some isolated things you can do on an iPhone or iPad. But many have reported that Apple is also working on some sort of augmented reality headset or glasses, and surely Cook himself knows what Apple is working on. As Cook speaks more freely on this topic, I wonder if that signals that we are getting even closer to Apple announcing its first augmented reality product.
One of the selling points of a smart thermostat is that by turning down the AC or heat when you are not home you can conserve energy. In an article in The Atlantic, Ian Bogost reports that this might not really be true because the savings that you might get when you are not home are often outweighed by the increased use of the thermostat when you are home. If you are in bed at night and you find it a little warm, you probably won’t get up out of bed to turn up the AC. But if you can do so from your iPhone or Apple Watch, you are more likely to do so, using more energy. It’s an interesting argument (and one subject to critique, as noted in the article) that I hadn’t contemplated yet. As a former high school and college debater, I’m always intrigued by a “turn”: an argument that something designed to do X would actually result in the opposite of X.
And finally, I loved this video from Marques Brownlee in which he discusses why he is so impressed with the second generation AirPods Pro. He even includes an interesting suggestion: if you are at a live concert and close to a speaker, you can wear the AirPods Pro in transparency mode and you will hear everything but the super-loud noises that could otherwise hurt your ears will be reduced somewhat. Interesting suggestion:
This has been a busy month on iPhone J.D. with all of the new Apple product announcements, and this month’s coverage has been brought to you by LIT SOFTWARE. If you are an attorney and you own an iPad, LIT SOFTWARE should be a name that you know well. Ever since 2010, when Apple first came out with the iPad, LIT SOFTWARE has been coming out with the best apps designed for lawyers: TrialPad, TranscriptPad, DocReviewPad, and ExhibitsPad. These apps have made a huge difference in my own law practice, and I have long lost count of the number of attorneys who have shared stories with me about the great things that they have done with these apps over the years. TranscriptPad is an essential app for reviewing and annotating deposition transcripts, and this app makes it so much easier for me to prepare pre-trial motions and prepare for trial. When you are in trial, TrialPad is the best way to present evidence from your own iPad so that you can show things to the jury at the same time that you are telling the jurors about the evidence. TrialPad also works well in mediations, presentations, and any other time that you want to present and annotate documents to an audience. DocReviewPad is great for reviewing documents on an iPad for a document production. With ExhibitsPad, the company’s newest app, each juror can hold an iPad in their hands and view the evidence. I have written about these apps, and provided tips and tricks for doing so, many times over the last dozen years, including: 1/13/11, 1/18/12, 7/25/13, 7/16/14, 11/18/14, 1/6/15, 6/11/15, 7/7/15, 9/1/15, 10/27/15, 5/19/16, 8/31/16, 9/19/16, 11/28/16, 3/9/17, 9/5/17, 4/5/18, 2/24/21, 5/11/21, 10/13/21, and 7/12/22.
Last year, I announced that the LIT SUITE apps are coming to the Mac. A beta version has been available for a few months, so I and many others have been kicking the tires to see how these apps run on a Mac. And I’m happy to report that the apps should be coming out of beta for the Mac very soon. (I’ll post on iPhone J.D. as soon as it happens.) You get the Mac apps included as a part of every LIT SUITE subscription, so it won’t cost you extra to take advantage of these apps. Just download the apps on your Mac and get to work.
Considering that the LIT SUITE apps were originally developed for an iPad with a touchscreen, when I first heard about the Mac apps last year, I wondered how the apps would translate to a traditional computer environment. Now that I have used the beta versions, it is obvious that this is a great development. Yes, for some functions, these apps work best on the iPad. But for other functions, it is better to use the apps on a Mac. Having the ability to use the best tool to get the job done is the best of both worlds.
Let me give you an example. Because the largest part of my practice is being an appellate lawyer, and because that role frequently involves me working with trial counsel on critical pre-trial motions that can win (or lose) the case, preparing pre-trial motions is a large part of my law practice. When I read a deposition transcript for the first time, I prefer to do so on the large screen of my iPad Pro using my stylus. I can get comfortable in a chair, analyze the testimony, and assign issue codes to each bit of testimony that is important. Later, when I am ready to prepare a motion on a specific issue, I tap the report button to see all testimony from all witnesses on that specific issue.
When I’m reviewing a deposition for a second time to prepare the motion, I am often in front of a computer. It is great to be able to run the TranscriptPad app on the large screen of my iMac and have easy access to all of the annotated deposition testimony in the case. When I open a case file using TranscriptPad on the Mac, I can see folders for each witness in the case.
I can click on a witness to take another look at any deposition. Sometimes, on a second review, I will see additional testimony that I can use in a motion, so I can perform additional annotations or edit prior annotations. And of course, any changes that I make on the Mac are available when I go back to my iPad.
To make a case file available on both the iPad and Mac, so that both devices can see and edit files, you need to store the case file in iCloud. The LIT SOFTWARE website has a help page that explains all of this, not that there is really anything complicated about storing a file on iCloud.
One of the best features of TranscriptPad has always been the reporting feature. After you have reviewed the transcripts and identified which testimony is important for which issues, you can create a report in PDF format containing all of the key testimony on that issue from all of the witnesses. With TranscriptPad on the iPad, you can review that testimony on the large screen of your Mac.
One thing currently limited in the Mac version of TranscriptPad is the ability to copy a designation so that you can paste it elsewhere, such as in a Microsoft Word document. Currently, you can share selected testimony to an email or a Note, and then once it is there, you can copy it and paste it into Word. That works, and I’ve done it many times. It would be better if you could share from TranscriptPad directly to Microsoft Word. Ian O’Flaherty (Founder the CEO of Lit Software) told me that the current Mac share sheet provided by Apple is more limited than what is available on the iPad, so they are looking for additional solutions to work around Apple’s limitations for iPad apps that are brought over to the Mac. I have no doubt that all of the LIT SUITE apps will gain more features in the future as Apple provides better tools to developers who are moving apps from the iPad to the Mac.
As much as I love TranscriptPad, I suspect that TrialPad is the most famous of the LIT SUITE apps. With TrialPad on a Mac, you now have another tool that you can use to connect to a screen or projector to share evidence. Although I haven’t yet used it myself, Ian O’Flaherty told me about an attorney who used the beta version of TrialPad on a Mac in a two-week copyright trial to play videos for a jury, and it worked well. [UPDATE: Read the comment to this post to hear from that attorney!] Any attorney who uses beta software in a jury trial is more brave than I am, but I guess the brave attorneys are the ones who get to tell the better stories afterwards.
One of my favorite things about the LIT SUITE apps is that while each app was immediately useful on the day it debuted, the apps have been updated countless times over the past 12 years to add new features. Being able to use the apps on a Mac is just the latest new feature, although it is an important one, yet another tool in your litigation toolbox. Those of us who have been using these apps for over a decade have been delighted over the years by all of the improvements. If you are new to the LIT SUITE apps, you are lucky to be able to take advantage of all of these new features today … but I have no doubt that even more improvements are in the pipeline.
If you are an attorney and you have not yet started using the LIT SUITE apps, this is a perfect time to do so. And if you also use a Mac, with the final versions of the Mac apps just around the corner, you are about to be able to use these great apps on even more devices.
On September 7, 2016, Apple introduced the world to AirPods. It was another four months before most folks could start to find them in stores, but for over five years now, AirPods have been a sensation. I frequently hear people say that AirPods are their favorite Apple product, and there are certainly times when I agree. Apple has added lots of new features since 2016 including better battery life, the ability to just say “Hey Siri” out loud, Qi charging, and the force sensor button, but I think that the biggest improvement was when Apple added noise cancellation in the AirPods Pro. I will admit that when Apple first introduced the AirPods Pro on October 28, 2019, I was not very enthusiastic. I thought that noise cancellation was only useful when you are on a long plane flight. But two months later, I started using AirPods Pro myself, and I quickly became a convert. Reducing the noises of the outside world makes listening to anything much more enjoyable. It doesn’t have to be the white noise on a plane flight. It can be the sound of a treadmill, the sound of air conditioning in a building, or the sound of other people around you. Any time that you can reduce that noise, it is much easier to appreciate the music or voices that you are trying to listen to.
A few days ago, Apple started selling the second generation of the AirPods Pro. The new model takes everything that you already love about AirPods and AirPods Pro, and adds many more features to make everything better. Apple sells them for $249, but you can often find them cheaper elsewhere. (They are currently $239.99 on Amazon.) I love them and recommend them, and this review explains why.
Improved noise cancellation
There are two ways that earphones can reduce noise from the outside world. One way is to block the outside noise from coming in, which is passive noise cancellation. Over-the-ear headphones with lots of cushions around your ears aim to do that. The other way is active noise cancellation, which works by using a microphone on the outside of the headphones to listen to the outside world. Virtually immediately, the headphone then produces the equal but opposite sound waves inside of your ear canal to cancel the outside noise. Bose pioneered this technology, and it released the first consumer active noise cancellation headphones in 2000.
Active noise cancellation relies on not only microphones but also computing technology. The computer chips need to listen to the outside world, figure out how to produce the opposite sound waves, do so incredibly quickly, and do so in a chip so tiny that it can fit in a device small enough to fit in your ear. You know what company does an excellent job creating small and powerful computer chips? Yep, that would be Apple. Apple is replacing the H1 chip used in prior AirPods with a brand new H2 chip. And many of the advantages of the second generation AirPods Pro are due to this chip. For example, Apple says: “Featuring up to two times more noise cancellation than their predecessor, the H2-powered AirPods Pro are built to let you listen in peace. With control over what you hear—and don’t hear—you’ll be immersed in songs and podcasts like never before.”
Noise cancellation on a first generation AirPods Pro is very good. But with the second generation model, the noise reduction is noticeably better. It’s a substantial improvement. This is nice because it further reduces the distractions of the outside world. It is also nice because I can more easily focus on the music or podcast or audio portion of a movie or whatever else I am listening to.
Do you want to see how much the noise is being reduced? If you have an Apple Watch, you can do that. I played a loud video on a computer using the computer’s built-in speakers and then opened the Noise app on my Apple Watch. My watch warned me that because the noise was over 80 dB, it could be dangerous if I was exposed to it for a long period of time. But then I put my second generation AirPods Pro in my ears (connected to my iPhone, not the computer), and the Noise app showed me that, because of noise reduction, I had reduced the noise from the computer by about 20-25 dB such that I was now in the safe zone.
Improved Transparency mode
As nice as it is to block out the outside world, sometimes you want just the opposite. You want to pay attention to the world around you, but you want to listen to something on top of the outside world. Transparency mode does this, taking the sounds from the outside world and playing them inside of your ear, along with whatever is playing from your iPhone or other audio source. I probably use Transparency mode almost as much as I use Noise Cancellation mode.
The second generation AirPods Pro adds an (optional) mode called Adaptive Transparency. It works like the normal Transparency mode, but thanks to the H2 chip, it can also minimize the intensity of outside loud noise like a siren or power tools so that you can listen to all of the outside world except the truly annoying parts.
Better sound quality
Yet another advantage of the H2 chip is that is helps the AirPods to have even better sound quality. When I first read about this feature, I thought that this would be great for other folks but probably not relevant to me. I don’t find that I’m all that discerning when it comes to listening to music; as long as the sound is decent enough, I tend to enjoy it.
Having said that, even I can hear that while the first generation AirPods Pro sound good, the second generation AirPods Pro sound better. For example, this weekend I was listening to a new album from New Orleans legend Dr. John. He passed away over two years ago, and the album that he was working on when he died is finally out. (There have been many interesting reasons for the delay; music reporter Keith Spera of the Times-Picayune has an interesting article on the drama.) It is a great album with lots of good songs, both originals and covers. I especially love that the first line in the first song on the album is: “Well, hello there. My, it’s been a long, long time.” Yes, Dr. John, it is indeed nice to hear your voice again. Anyway, I mention this album because it includes a great version of the song “End of the Line” originally recorded by the Traveling Wilburys. This version features Dr. John, Aaron Neville, and the new singer-songwriter Katie Pruitt. This is an excellent arrangement, and it sounds noticeably better using the second generation AirPods Pro versus my first generation AirPods Pro. Each voice and instrument seems more distinct. The sound is slightly crisper and more precise. I noticed the same thing on many other songs.
I don’t mean to make too much of a fuss over this. I’ve enjoyed listening to music on every version of the AirPods. If I’m not paying close attention and going back and forth between different headphones, I probably would never notice the difference. But I’m certainly in favor of music sounding even better, so it is nice to see Apple using the new H2 chip to provide a better listening experience.
Battery life
Allowing AirPods to recharge when they are in their storage case was a great idea. It means that most of the time, you’ll never have to worry about battery life. It’s only an issue if you are listening for four or five hours in a row. Nevertheless, there have been times when I’ve used AirPods with very long videoconferences, such as a deposition that goes all day long, and in those circumstances, battery life is an issue.
With the first generation AirPods Pro, Apple advertised about 4.5 hours of battery life. Apple says that the more efficient H2 chip provides six hours of battery life. I haven’t yet kept a pair in my ears for six hours straight to test this, but I’m sure that there will be times when I will appreciate the additional power.
Volume control
Let’s now discuss some changes that are not directly related to the H2 chip. One change is the ability to change the volume on the AirPods themselves. In the past, you would have to do this on your iPhone (or whatever device was playing sound) or with your Apple Watch. But sometimes it is not convenient to reach for your iPhone. And even if you are wearing an Apple Watch, you need to first go to the Now Playing screen and then change the volume, which takes a few steps.
With the second generation AirPods Pro, you can slide a finger up or down the touch sensor to increase or decrease the volume. It takes a few tries before you figure out the right way to do it. I recommend putting your thumb behind the stem to give it support while you use your pointer finger to swipe, and a larger swipe motion works better than a smaller motion. The volume does not gradually change as you are swiping up; a single swipe-up motion tells the iPhone to increase the volume, in both ears, by the amount that would occur if you pressed the volume up button on the side of the iPhone. And to tell you that you did the swipe motion correctly, you hear a tiny sound to confirm that the swipe was recognized.
Adding a volume control to the side of AirPods is a fantastic idea. I’ve seen a few reviewers write that they found the feature hard to use and that sliding a finger can cause the AirPod to come out of an ear. I thought that at first too, but now that I have gotten used to the gesture, it is working well for me just about every time. Michael Potuck of 9to5Mac has some good suggestions on the way to change volume successfully.
Volume control has become one of my favorite new features of the second generation AirPods Pro.
Skin detection
When Apple introduced the third-generation AirPods a year ago, it added a skin-detection sensor. This sensor helps the AirPods detect when they are in your ear so that when removed from an ear, the music can pause. (And when put back in your ear, the music resumes.) The first generation AirPods Pro, and earlier models of the AirPods, used an optical sensor, which can get confused and think that they are in your ear when they are instead in a dark pocket. It is annoying to resume a podcast and find out that it had been playing, without your knowledge, so you have lost your place. This didn’t happen to me very often, but it has happened more than once. Thus, I’m glad to see Apple’s skin-detection sensor added to the AirPods Pro.
MagSafe charging—even with an Apple Watch charger
When Apple introduced the second-generation AirPods in 2019, you could get the regular version for $159 or, for an extra $40, you could get a version that supported a wireless Qi charger. Nowadays, with the third-generation AirPods, it costs only $10 more to get a case that supports a wireless Qi charger.
With the third generation AirPods, Apple added another advantage: MagSafe charging. Not only can you charge the case without using a cord, but if you use a MagSafe-compatible charger, the AirPods case will attach magnetically to the charger so that you can be assured that there is a good connection; plus, the case is less likely to slide off of the charger by accident. The magnetic part of MagSafe charging is a big advantage over regular Qi charging.
With the second generation AirPods Pro, Apple has added yet another advantage. Not only do you get MagSafe charging, but you get MagSafe charging that works with an Apple Watch charger. I’ve only been using the Airpods Pro for a few days, but I’ve already found this feature rather useful. I have Apple Watch chargers in various places in my home or office, and I love that if I find myself near one, I can just put the AirPods case on there to recharge it.
Find My AirPods Pro
Before the second generation AirPods Pro, you had some options for trying to find your AirPods if they were lost, but they were limited. With prior models, you can see the location on a map of where they were last connected to your iPhone. That could be helpful if you cannot find them at your house and the Find My app reminds you that you left them at your office. But it doesn’t help if you are in the same building where your AirPods are located and you cannot find them.
If AirPods are outside of their case, you can use the Find My app to play a sound. The sound is not very loud since the internal speaker is designed to play sound directly into your ear canal not to fill an entire room. But this can be helpful if you are in a very quiet room and an AirPod slips between the couch cushions.
But what if your AirPods are in the case and you cannot find them? With the second generation AirPro Pro, you finally have options. Two of them, in fact. First, you can use the Find My app to locate the case. The new case includes Apple’s U1 chip so it works like it has an AirTag built-in. Walk around your house and the Find My app will tell you how far away you are from the case and whether you need to go left or right. This makes it incredibly easy to find the case.
Second, this is the first AirPods case that has a built-in speaker. Thus, you can tell the case to play a tone, and hunting down that tone makes it easy to find the case even if it is covered up by something else.
For me, when my AirPods leave my ear, they go directly in the case, and I suspect that many folks work the same way. Thus, being able to find the AirPods case is huge. I’m very happy to have this as a new feature.
Speaker on the case
Having a speaker on the case is great if you lose the case. According to Hunter Fenollel of Popular Mechanics, the speaker has a peak volume of 67 decibels when on a table 10 feet away. It is certainly easy to hear.
The speaker on the bottom is one of the ways that you can distinguish this new case. In the following photo, the first generation case is on the left, the second generation on the right:
The speaker is used for other purposes as well. When you put AirPods in the case to charge, once they are recharged to 100%, the case plays a short ding to alert you. If you put the wrong AirPods into the AirPods case, the case will make noise to warn you. The case will also ding when it is running low on battery power.
When you put the case on a charger, it will ding to tell you that it has started charging, a nice way to get confirmation that the case is in the correct position for charging. It also plays a ding when you connect a Lightning cord to charge the case. If you don’t like these charging sounds, you can turn them off. Go to the Settings app on your iPhone, select your AirPods Pro, make sure that at least one AirPods Pro is out of the case, and then turn off the switch next to Enable Charging Case Sounds.
Ear tips
Unlike regular AirPods, AirPods Pro has replaceable tips. With the second generation AirPods Pro, the product comes with a new tip, a new XS size, plus the traditional S, M, and L sizes.
For my ears, I’ve always had a mixed experience with the tips provided by Apple because I often feel like they are going to come out of my ear. Thus, for most of the past year, I’ve been instead using the COMPLY Foam Apple AirPods Pro 2.0 Earbud Tips (available on Amazon for $24.99.)
If you purchase replacement tips from Apple, you will see that Apple has different listings for the first generation and second generation tips. Apple explains the difference this way: “AirPods Pro (1st generation) ear tips have noticeably denser mesh than AirPods Pro (2nd generation) ear tips.” But even if the tips have changed, the way that the tips attach to AirPods does not appear to have changed. Accordingly, these COMPLY replacement tips work just as well on the second generation AirPods Pro as they did with the first generation AirPods Pro. Thus, I suspect that other third-party tips already on the market will continue to work just as well.
I haven’t yet decided if I’m going to continue with the COMPLY ear tips or give the Apple tips another try. Nevertheless, it is nice that you can take advantage of existing third-party tips with the second generation AirPods Pro.
Personalized engraving
For a while now, Apple has given you the option to personalize an AirPods or AirPods Pro case with engraving. This year, there are some changes.
First, the engraving itself is different and larger. In part, that is because you are RESTRICTED TO USING CAPITAL LETTERS, which seems like an odd restriction. But the letters are also larger, in a more pronounced font that reminds me of engravings on AirTags. Instead of letters, you can also use a (limited) selection of emoji characters. In the following picture, the engraved first generation case is on the left, second generation on the right:
Second, the engraving is not limited to the physical case; it also appears on the virtual representation of the case that shows up on an iPhone when you first pair and when you open the top and see an indication of the remaining battery life:
By the way, Apple is now letting you use Memoji for the engraving on any AirPods case. To do so, you need to order using the Apple Store app on an iPhone.
Lanyard loop
I carry my AirPods Pro case in my pocket, but if you prefer to carry it or attach it to something via a lanyard, you can now do so. The right side of the case now has a lanyard loop. In the following picture, the first generation case is on the left and the second generation case is on the right:
Apple does not make its own lanyard, but you can easily buy them from third-parties.
Windows
In my opinion, AirPods Pro is the best earphone to use with the iPhone or iPad. But they also work very well with Windows, which is the computer I use in my office in my law practice. I’ve used my first generation AirPods Pro for years to listen to audio on my Windows computer and to participate in videoconferences. They work great. The first time you do so, you need to open the lid and hold down the button on the back to put the AirPods Pro into pairing model. But after that first time, you can just put the AirPods in your ears and use the Settings app in Windows to connect them.
I’ve tested the second generation AirPods Pro with Windows, and everything continues to work as expected. Noise cancellation and Transparency Mode work. You can hear everything, and others on a videoconference can hear you via the built-in microphone. You can squeeze on the tips of the AirPods to play/pause video. You can use the new swipe up / swipe down gesture to instruct the Windows computer to increase or decrease the volume. Everything just works as you would expect.
Conclusion
The second generation AirPods Pro looks somewhat similar to the first generation, and that is a good thing. The first generation model was great, and all of that greatness continues forward in the new model. But on top of that, there are substantial improvements. The H2 chip improves active noise reduction, Transparency mode, music quality, and battery life. The volume controls are a great convenience. Better skin detection, lanyard support, and MagSafe charging on even an Apple Watch charger are small but nice changes. The U1 chip and the speaker help you to find AirPods when they are lost and in the case, and the speaker is useful in other circumstances too. And even the engraving is nicer. Add all of this together, and the second generation AirPods Pro is a substantial upgrade.
Brett Burney was in Chicago when we recorded this week’s episode of the In The News podcast, and shortly after we finished recording, he got to see all of the shiny new toys from Apple at the beautiful Apple Store on Michigan Avenue. We talked about those devices during this week’s episode. First, we talked about the iPhone 14 Pro and some of the new features I’ve discovered since I wrote my review earlier this week. Next, we talked about the fascinating Apple Watch Ultra, which went on sale yesterday. We also discussed the new second generation AirPods Pro, which also went on sale yesterday. (Mine arrived just a few minutes after we finished recording, and I’ll have more to say on this product soon.) Finally, we discussed even more useful iOS 16 tips.
In our In the Know segment, Brett discusses seeing full-size cover art on your lock screen in iOS 16, a great new feature. I talk about all of the different status icons that appear at the top of the screen and recommend that folks check out this page on Apple’s website to learn about the ones that they don’t already know. (If any of you out there can honestly say that you already know about every single one of those icons, then I tip my hat to you.)
Today, the new Apple Watch Ultra goes on sale in stores. Folks who pre-ordered will start to receive their deliveries today. Although I doubt I will ever own one, I am fascinated by this version of the Apple Watch. It offers lots of features that I’d love to see on a regular Apple Watch like the action button, longer battery life, and some interesting sensors. And it includes lots of features that belong only on an Apple Watch Ultra, and I’m interested to see how people use those. The initial reviews are now out from members of the press who got a pre-release units, and the reviews have been overwhelmingly positive. The consensus seems to be that it can do most but not all of what a high-end sports watch sold by companies like Garmin can do, so it will be perfect for some sports watch customers but not quite enough for high-end users. But unlike those other watches from Garmin and similar companies, the Apple Watch Ultra is the best ever Apple Watch, so it will have a broad appeal to those who might not have purchased a sports watch before. I think it is great that Apple is now selling this model, and I suspect that it will make a lot of folks happy. And now, the news of note from the past week:
As we near the end of September, Childhood Cancer Awareness Month is coming to a close. Right now would be a great time for you to do something that will make you feel great: donate to St Jude. A big thank you to those who have already donated.
There are lots of Apple Watch Ultra reviews that are worth reading if you are interested in this product. I’ll link to some of my favorites. Amy Eisinger of Self reports that the larger screen makes tapping the screen mid-run even easier, the Action button is one of the best features, and it greats battery life. She also said that the bulkiness might be a drawback for some, and the watch is so large that it invited several unprovoked comments. She includes a comment about the temperature sensor for fertility tracking that I did not realize: “Temping is persnickety because, in order to get an accurate reading, you need to take your temperature immediately upon waking—before you even sit up in bed. The watch solves this. While Apple is quick to point out that this is not a true basal reading, it comes close.”
Liz Plosser, the editor-in-chief of Women’s Health, says that if you were already thinking of getting an Apple Watch Series 8, the Apple Watch Ultra is a better purchase for many. She liked the Action button “to turn on the stop watch in a flash, which was great for cooking, and to instantly begin a workout.” She notes that the 86-decibel siren may be designed for hikers, but “it’s also going to give peace of mind to everyday, recreational adventurers like you and me.”
John Gruber of Daring Fireball says that thanks to the big display, loud speakers, and long battery life, an Apple Watch Ultra could almost replace an iPhone, except that you lose the camera.
Lexy Savvides of CNet concludes that if you want “a true hybrid smartwatch and sports watch, the Ultra is the one to beat.”
Leon Poultney of The Gear Loop wrote a comprehensive review for an extreme outdoor enthusiast and concludes that “the Apple Watch Ultra does most things very well but never quite goes to the lengths real outdoors enthusiasts want and often need in the wild. However, the same cannot be said for its quality as a smartwatch, where it is still undeniably one of the best around.”
Michael Frank of Men’s Journal notes that a key advantage of the Apple Watch Ultra over other sports phones is that the Apple Watch Ultra contains a phone and does a great job with text messages.
Victoria Song of The Verge wrote that even though she has small wrists, the Apple Watch Ultra felt light for its size, and she loves the large screen. She also notes that when attorney Nilay Patel was wearing the watch at home and not pushing it too hard, he got 56 hours on a single charge.
There are also many video reviews of the Apple Watch Ultra, and I thought that the one by iJustine was the best.
Another new Apple product that goes on sale today is the second generation AirPods Pro. Mine should arrive later today, so I’ll have more to say about them next week. As Joe Rossugnol of MacRumors noted in a review roundup, the initial reviews from folks who have been using them for a while indicate that while they look about the same, they sound better, have better noise cancellation, gain the useful ability to adjust volume, and are easier to locate if you misplace them because the case now has a built-in speaker to make noise.
If you use an iPhone 14 Pro, you should download iOS 16.0.2 (released yesterday), which fixes a bug that could cause the camera to shake when taking videos, fixed a bug that could cause lots of prompts to appear when you copy-and-paste between apps, and fixes other bugs.
Mike Wuerthele of AppleInsider reviews the iPhone 14 Pro and concludes that anyone considering an iPhone 14 should get the iPhone 14 Pro instead.
Rajesh Pandey of Cult of Mac notes that Apple is using a better modem in the iPhone 14 Pro that can provide up to 38% faster 5G data speed, depending upon the network that you are using. This is just one data point, but I just ran a few tests on my iPhone 14 Pro in New Orleans on AT&T and saw that I was consistently getting about 50 Mbps on LTE but 250 Mbps on 5G, which is a big increase for 5G speeds since the last time that I paid attention to it on my iPhone 14 Pro. I see that I’m on AT&T’s 5G+ network—which, confusingly, can mean two different things on AT&T: C-Band spectrum or millimeter wave spectrum.
I agree with Stephen Hackett of 512 Pixels that it makes no sense that when you transfer data to a new iPhone your CarPlay settings do not transfer, which means you need to go back and re-order your apps again. It baffles me that Apple hasn’t fixed this yet.
Jason Cross of Macworld recommends some iOS 16 features that you might want to use, such as locked folders in Photos, the ability to see a wi-fi password after you are already connected, landscape Face ID, and more.
Allison Sheridan of Podfeet shares some favorite iOS 16 features, including dictation improvements.
If you enjoyed the show Better Call Saul like I did, you will be pleased to learn that Nellie Andreeva of Deadline reports that co-creator Vince Gilligan and star Rhea Seehorn (who played Kim Wexler) are going to do a new drama on Apple TV+.
And finally, I figured it would be just a matter of time before someone would post a YouTube video of a car crash performed for the sole purpose of determining whether crash detection in the iPhone 14 works. TechRax did just that and … spoiler alert … it works. In all seriousness, it is useful to know how this feature works before you get in a car crash. When the iPhone senses the change in motion, it first waits about 10 seconds (I suppose for the crash to end), and then it beeps and starts a 10-second countdown timer with an alert that it is about to call emergency services. You can cancel it during those 10 seconds. Otherwise, it makes the call. If you have both a new iPhone and a new Apple Watch that both have crash detection, they talk to each other to determine which devices will make the call (so it doesn’t dial 9-1-1 twice):
Apple has been releasing a new iPhone every year for 15 years. Each year, the newest iPhone always offers something more than its predecessors, but some years, the improvements are more impressive than others. This is a good year for the “Pro” version of the iPhone. The iPhone 14 Pro offers numerous improvements over older models, most of which are also improvements over the brand new iPhone 14, and any one of these additions would have made for a nice upgrade. Put them all together, and you get an iPhone that is significantly better. If you are in the market for a new iPhone this year, the iPhone 14 Pro is fantastic.
Life is better when you have your own island
Five years ago, Apple introduced the iPhone X with an edge-to-edge screen. The ability to see even more on the screen of a device that was roughly the same size as its predecessor was amazing. The drawback was that there had to be a notch at the top to house cameras and sensors, but fortunately, it didn’t take long to get so used to the notch that you rarely paid attention to it. On the iPhone 14 Pro, the notch has turned into the Dynamic Island. That’s a radical name for a terrific new feature. Instead of being something to ignore, that area at the top of the screen is now something that you want to pay attention to: a valued feature, not a necessary compromise.
The term “island” typically makes me think of a beautiful beach with white sand and blue water where I relax and enjoy doing nothing. That’s not what we have here. The Dynamic Island is all about utility and productivity. It is a form of multitasking, allowing you to do more things at the same time. There is nothing unusual about that on a computer, where you can have several overlapping windows open at once so that can go back and forth and be productive. The iPad also offers split screen and other multitasking solutions that boost productivity. I always thought that the iPhone’s screen size was too small to offer any sort of usable multitasking, other than notifications that would briefly appear and then disappear from the top of the screen. But it turns out that multitasking is possible and useful on the iPhone when done the right way.
The Dynamic Island takes key information about one app running in the background—or sometimes, two apps—and places it in the same area of the screen that was previously just dead space that we learned to ignore for the last five years. Thus, the portion of screen real estate that it uses was previously wasted space, so you don’t lose anything on the main part of the screen. And what you gain in the Dynamic Island is the key information that you need about another app and the ability to interact with that other app without leaving the app that is occupying the primary portion of the screen.
If Apple had just created an Island, that alone would have been pretty neat. But the “Dynamic” part of Dynamic Island makes it infinitely better than a dedicated area of a fixed size. It allows the island to get longer or shorter to display more information as needed. You can even hold down a finger on the Dynamic Island to enlarge it, providing space for more buttons and information. If you have two apps that can use the Dynamic Island, they each get their own island: one larger, and one very small. And you can do all of this without leaving the primary app that is on your screen.
For example, if you are playing a song in the Music app and then switch over to the Mail app, the Dynamic Island shows the album art for the song that is playing and a (true) waveform. If you want to control the music, there is no need to go back to the Music app. Just press on the Dynamic Island for a second and the island grows to show a lot more information and lots of controls. As an alternative, you can use the Dynamic Island to go back to the Music app if you want—just tap it quickly to launch the Music app—but you probably won’t need to do so because all of the most important controls are shown on the larger version of the Island. This means that you don’t lose your focus on the emails that you are reading in the main portion of the screen just because you want to make a quick change like jump to the next song track.
Other apps that use Apple’s built-in controls for playing sound, such as the Overcast app that I use to listen to podcasts, work the same way. So you can listen to and control the In the News podcast—or, I suppose, some other podcast—while you are using another app on your iPhone.
If you have a second app that wants to visit Dynamic Island, the island splits. One app gets a longer island on the left. The other island gets a small round island on the right. For example, in the following picture, music is indicated and controlled on the left while a timer indication is on the right. If I hold down on the timer for a second, it gets large for just a second or two so that I can see the time remaining, and then it becomes small again.
There are already tons of built-in apps and services that support Dynamic Island. Jacob Siegal of BGR compiled this list of them. For example, the Dynamic Island can hold timers:
However, since the Dynamic Island was a surprise when Apple announced it, third-party app developers are just now starting to come up with ways to integrate it with their apps. As they do so, the Dynamic Island will become even more useful.
Even better, when Apple releases iOS 16.1, the Dynamic Island will support Live Activities. Live Activities are sort of like notifications, except that they can keep up to date—always showing you, for example, the latest sports score, new message count, Lyft status, etc. And of course they are also interactive, just like the Dynamic Island is now. Live Activities in the Dynamic Island will mean that you can do one primary thing on your iPhone while keeping tabs on something else at the same time.
And perhaps best of all, the graphics used for the Dynamic Island are incredible. Because the Dynamic Island animations run as 120 FPS, they are super smooth and feel alive. The way that they bounce as they transform size is fun to watch.
The team at Apple that invented and implemented Dynamic Island are geniuses. This is a cool and useful feature today that is going to get dramatically better in the future as developers come up with new ways to take advantage of it. I love it. Every other iPhone, including the brand new iPhone 14, is missing something special by not having this feature.
Impressive camera improvements
The Dynamic Island was unexpected. But when Apple said that you can take better pictures with the iPhone 14 Pro, many may have been tempted to yawn. Apple says the same thing every year. But some years, the camera improvements are larger than other years, and this year, we have more substantial improvements.
New hardware seems like the main reason that the iPhone 14 Pro cameras are so much better. Both the ultrawide camera and the 3x telephoto camera have improved lenses that take better pictures. But the standout is the main lens. It can now take 48 megapixel photos with more detail than ever. Or, it can take a standard 12 megapixel photo, but use four hardware pixels to create a single pixel in a 12 MP image, a process called binning that selects the best information from multiple pixels to create a single great pixel that is better lit and more precise. The result is pictures are are more detailed and more true to life.
I’m sharing some sample pictures below, but note that all of these pictures are not at their original size. Sharing those pictures would make this post far too big. Instead, I’ve scaled and compressed the pictures in a way that reduces the file sizes while still presenting the differences.
For the times when the light is good and you want to get pictures with better details, the 48 MP camera can make a big difference. For example, I took a picture out of my office window on Friday (I’m on the 46th floor), looking towards the Warehouse District section of New Orleans where the National World War II Museum is located. Here is an overview, to show you everything that was in the full frame when I took the picture at my window.
The World War II museum recently added a huge canopy on top of the buildings that is lit up at night but can also be seen during the day. I was taking the picture during the day, so there was plenty of light. First, I took a picture using my iPhone 14 Pro’s main camera, a normal 12 MP picture. Second, I took a picture with the same Main camera but tapped the RAW button to switch to a 48 MP picture. Third, in both pictures, I zoomed in to the part showing the canopy. In the following image, the left side reflects what I took with the 12 MP camera and the right side reflects what I took with the 48 MP camera:
As you can see, the 48 MP picture contains much more detail. You can see the red-and-white stripes on the flag. The canopy is much more detailed. And while the words THE NATIONAL WWII MUSEUM are almost impossible to make out in the left side of the picture, you can barely read them on the right side of the picture.
When you don’t have lots of light, the new camera is also useful because it uses binning to take each of the four pixels that would be used for a 48 MP photo and turn them into the best and brightest single picture of a 12 MP photo. For example, the new iPhone produced a much better version of a piece of artwork. Just for context, here is the overall picture, captured using the iPhone 14 Pro’s camera, but again note that this version is scaled and compressed:
In the next picture, I’ve zoomed in on the full-quality versions of two pictures, on the left using the iPhone 13 Pro’s camera (12 MP) and on the right using the iPhone 14 Pro’s camera (12 MP). As you can see, the version on the right is brighter and shows a lot more detail. Indeed, on the right side, you can even see the brush strokes:
Zooming in on an image amplifies the effect, but even when you are looking at the image at normal size, you can often tell that the iPhone 14 Pro image is crisper and more precise—especially if you are using a larger screen. The difference is also more noticeable if you crop a photo, which is something that I do frequently to change the focus of the picture and/or to make the picture more dramatic. Whenever you crop, it helps to start with a higher-quality image.
I’ve taken some other comparison pictures of my kids over the weekend. In some cases, both the iPhone 13 Pro and the iPhone 14 Pro took pictures that were equally excellent. In other cases, the iPhone 14 Pro pictures were better, especially if you zoomed in. As iPhone 14 Pro devices have gotten into more reviewers’ hands, I’ve seen other post similar results in articles in which they shared some sample pictures that show off what the iPhone 14 Pro can do. For example, check out this review by Raymond Wong of Input and this article by Patrick Holland of CNet.
Something else that I really like about the new cameras is the return of a 2x optical zoom. When Apple first introduced an iPhone with three cameras, the iPhone 11 Pro, there was a 0.5x camera for ultrawide shots, a 1x camera for normal shots, and a 2x camera for zoom shots. In my review of the iPhone 11 Pro, I provided lots of sample pictures showing how those three different sizes allowed your pictures to tell three different stories. Last year, in the iPhone 13 Pro, Apple replaced the 2x telephoto camera with a 3x telephoto camera. As I noted in my review, that 3x lens allowed you to get closer to the subject of your photo, and in some circumstances, that is great. But 2x is also a very nice zoom ratio, and I missed it. It is roughly similar to a 50mm camera leans, perhaps one of the most popular lenses. Sure, I could just take a 1x picture and crop to fake a 2x zoom, but then I was sacrificing some detail.
This year, the main camera has a trick up its sleeve: it can be turned into a 2x telephoto camera. When you tap the 2x button in the Camera app, the iPhone 14 Pro takes a 48 MP image with the main camera and then crops it to a 12 MP image, which results in a 2x image as compared to what you would have gotten if you took a normal picture in 12 MP mode. So in other words, this is a true optical zoom, not a digital zoom that sacrifices quality for size. In a low light situation, a 2x photo might not come out quite as good as a 1x photo for which the iPhone 14 Pro can use binning to use four different pixels to produce each final pixel, resulting in a brighter and more clear photo. But if you have decent light, then you won’t notice the difference in quality—you will just see that you have a great 2x picture.
Thus, with the iPhone 14 Pro, and for the first time ever in an iPhone, you have four choices for picture size. You can take a 0.5x photo using the ultrawide lens. You can take a 1x or a 2x photo using the Main lens. And you can take a 3x photo using the telephoto lens. You can also use a digital zoom up to 15x, but that just means that you are making everything bigger and reducing picture quality as you do so.
Another way to look at it is that the new Main lens on the iPhone 14 Pro has three different roles. If you take a normal 12 MP photo, at 1x, each of the final pixels will be created by looking at four different pixels. If you take a 48 MP photo, you get a ton more detail, albeit without the extra light. If you take a 2x photo, then you get the center portion of the 48 MP image. Which mode you select for the lens will depend upon what kind of picture you are trying to create.
The front-facing camera on the iPhone 14 Pro is improved in two ways. First, unlike the camera used for the last two years which was f/2.2, the iPhone 14 Pro uses f/1.9, so it lets in more light. Second, this is the first time that the front-facing camera has used autofocus. In my tests over the weekend, these changes made a noticeable difference. If you take lots of selfie pictures, or if you use the front-facing camera for videoconferences, you will see an improvement.
Those are just the hardware improvements, but there are software improvements as well. Apple uses a new technique called the Photonic Engine to improve the detail in light-light. Apple also has something called Action Mode to reduce shakiness in handheld videos. I haven’t had a reason to use either yet, but I look forward to doing so.
Another change is that you can use Cinematic mode for videos in 4K and HDR. I prefer to take my home videos in 4K HDR because I know that, years from now, that quality difference will be appreciated. Thus, I didn’t try out Cinematic mode during the past year because I didn’t want to have to take videos at 1080p. With this improvement to Cinematic mode, I’m more likely to use it in the future, but I haven’t done so yet.
All of these changes add up to an incredibly impressive camera. If taking pictures with an iPhone is important to you, then you will love the iPhone 14 Pro.
The iPhone that can save your life
Sure, we all like better photos and a funky little island at the top of the screen, but wouldn’t it have made more sense for me to start this review by shouting that the iPhone 14 Pro can save your life in two different ways: crash detection and Satellite SOS? You could make a good argument for that, especially if you happen to be the person who was saved by one of these two new features. Nevertheless, I don’t have too much to say about these features beyond what I said in my preview about two weeks ago because I haven’t tested these features. First, I’m happy to report that I wasn’t in any car accidents over the weekend. Second, the satellite features don’t go live until November.
A screen that doesn’t sleep
When iOS 16 was released on September 12, I installed it on my iPhone 13 Pro and used it all week. I enjoyed the new ways to customize the lock screen, especially the ability to have different photos show up at different times, but I didn’t do much with the lock screen widgets. Instead, I would typically pick up my iPhone to do something specific, so I only saw the widget for a fraction of a second before I unlocked my iPhone.
With the iPhone 14 Pro, the screen can stay on all of the time, albeit in a dimmed mode. The screen does go completely off sometimes, such as if the iPhone senses that it is covered or face-down on a table or in a pocket. It will also go off completely if you are in a sleep focus mode. But if your iPhone is just on a desk, you will see the screen dim, but you will still be able to see things on the screen. For this iPhone, lock screen widgets make more sense, although for my eyes, they are still a little small to see when I just glance at my iPhone on my desk. It is clear to me that lock screen widgets are better when you have an always on screen. But it is not yet clear to me how much I will care about this feature.
On the other hand, the clock on the always-on screen is large and clear enough that I can always easily see it. And that feature is nice. I like that whenever I glance at my iPhone I can see what time it is. Sure, I could do the same thing by glancing at my Apple Watch (which also has an always-on screen), but now I have more clocks to catch my eye.
The lock screen photo is dim when my iPhone is just sitting on a table without being used, but it is typically just bright enough that I can see what the picture is. Is this important? No. Is it nice? Yes.
For now, the main reason that I find the always on screen useful is the clock. It’s the same reason that I prefer the always on screen of the Apple Watch: I can see the time without having to raise my wrist.
Etc.
The Dynamic Island, cameras, ability to save my life, and always-on screen were the most obvious changes with the iPhone 14 Pro, but I noticed other things as well.
First, the iPhone 14 Pro can have a brighter screen. In normal use, both the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro use a 1,000 nits screen, and they look the same. (The iPhone 12 Pro used a 800 nits max screen.) When looking at an HDR (high dynamic range) photo, such as one taken by an iPhone, the iPhone 13 Pro can go up to a peak of 1,200 nits while the iPhone 14 Pro can go up to a peak of 1,600 nits. If you have an outdoor photo where one part of the photo is especially bright, it looks more lifelike if you compare the iPhone 13 Pro to the iPhone 14 Pro side-by-side. But it is a subtle difference, and unless you are doing a direct comparison, you won’t notice. When you are outside, the peak HDR on the iPhone 14 Pro is 2,000 nits. In my tests, there was a more noticeable difference between the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro when outside and looking at an HDR photo with a part of the photo especially bright. But how often will this be an issue for most folks? Perhaps at the beach? Most of the time that I am looking closely at photos, I am unlikely to be in direct sunlight. I’m glad that Apple continues to push the limits, but this isn’t a feature that you will notice unless you go looking for it.
Second, the iPhone 14 Pro uses the latest-and-greatest chip from Apple, the A16 Bionic. According to some initial speed tests, this new processor is 10% faster than last year’s iPhone. That all sounds great, but that much of a speed increase wasn’t something that I could notice in everyday use. Having said that, I’m sure that the processor works closely with the camera when taking photos, and if part of the reason that I was so happy with the new camera is attributable to the A16 Bionic chip, well then I guess I’m a fan.
Third, the new iPhone 14 Pro uses an eSIM with no option for a physical SIM for the United States model. I didn’t notice any difference when using the phone portion of the iPhone. If you are the sort of person who travels internationally and likes to purchase SIM cards in other countries, you should look into whether getting an eSIM is an option for those countries, and if not, this change can have an effect on you. But for most folks, I don’t think that they will ever notice the lack of a SIM tray port.
By the way, I’ve heard that in the iPhone 14 Pro, Apple isn’t do anything to take advantage of the extra space that comes along with not having a SIM card tray. That makes sense since Apple still supports SIM cards in the international version of the iPhone 14 Pro. My guess is that Apple is making this a transitional year. Perhaps next year, there will be no SIM tray port in any iPhone sold anywhere, and at that time we will see how Apple uses that space. Perhaps it will result in extra battery life.
Conclusion
The iPhone 14 Pro gives you the delightful and useful Dynamic Island, plus it takes noticeably better pictures, plus it has features that can help to save your life. Any one of those three would be a compelling reason to upgrade from an iPhone 13 Pro, and getting all three of them makes this feel like a substantial upgrade over last year’s iPhone. I consider the always on display a less important new feature, but it is something else to put in the “plus” column. Moreover, if you are upgrading from something older than an iPhone 13 Pro, then you will get even more great features that will be new to you, like the 3x telephoto lens and macro lens that were both added last year and the fantastic design with flat sides that was introduced two years ago. Suffice it to say that anyone who purchases an iPhone 14 Pro will find something new to love. The iPhone 14 Pro is an amazing device that gets my highest recommendation.
This week’s episode of the In the News podcast is jam-packed with tons of great information for anyone who uses an iPhone. We share tons of tips about iOS 16, addressing small but incredibly useful features that you might want to use in the Photos, Mail, and Settings apps. We also talk about the iPhone 14 Pro, including the impressive camera improvements. We discuss the new Apple Watch Series 8 and some cool features in watchOS 9 that you can use even if you don’t have a new Apple Watch.
In our In the Know segment, Brett and I each pick one of our favorite features of iOS 16.
Finally, Brett and I encourage folks to donate to the fundraiser for St Jude, and thank those of you who were generous enough to donate already.
Today, the new versions of the iPhone go on sale. Well, at least three of the four models do; the iPhone 14 Plus won’t be available until October 7, but the iPhone 14 and both sizes of the iPhone 14 Pro are available today. If you pre-ordered early enough last week, UPS or FedEx may have one on the truck just for you. (At least, I hope so; Chance Miller of 9to5Mac notes that some folks who were supposed to get their new iPhone today will now have to wait.) If you did not pre-order, you can sometimes find a few of the new models at the local Apple Store in your mall on the first day, if you are lucky. But even if you don’t have new hardware, you can refresh the look and feel of your older iPhone by installing iOS 16, which came out earlier this week and has lots of great features. And now, the news of note from the past week:
A number of you have donated to the fundraiser I am promoting this month for St Jude, and if you did so already, you are so awesome! If you haven’t done so yet, there’s still time. Don’t feel bashful to toss in something small like $20. Any amount that you contribute will go directly to St. Jude and make a big difference for kids with cancer. That’s a pretty great way to start your weekend on the right foot.
A small number of professional journalists have been testing the new iPhones since last week, and the embargo on those reviews lifted on Wednesday morning. Attorney John Voorhees of MacStories does a good job of linking to some of the best of those reviews. Note that the SOS and Find My via satellite does not go live until November, so we haven’t yet seen any reviews of that interesting new feature.
For the last few years, professional photographer Austin Mann has taken the newest iPhones to exotic locations to push the camera upgrades to the limits. The pictures that he took this year with the iPhone 14 Pro in Scotland are simply stunning. He also does a great job of showing and explaining what has changed.
We were all surprised to learn about the “Dynamic Island” feature of the iPhone 14 Pro. How did Apple register that trademark without any of us knowing about it? Mark Gurman of Bloomberg explains how: Apple filed the trademark in Jamaica on July 12, and the only way to search for trademarks in that country is to go physically to that country’s trademark office.
The subject isolation feature in iOS 16 is extremely cool on its own, but it can also be used by app developers in interesting ways. John Voorhees of MacStories reviews Sticker Drop, a $2.99 app that lets you create, store, and organize iMessage Stickers using subject isolation.
Another nice feature of iOS 16 is the ability to use the Photos app to find duplicate pictures in your library and then merge them, keeping the best picture and the most metadata. Michael Potuck of 9to5Mac explains how it works.
Another nice feature of iOS 16 is the haptic keyboard. Jason Cross of Macworld explains how it works. I’ve been using it all this week, and so far, I like it.
July Clover of MacRumors notes that another feature coming to iOS 16.1 is Live Activities on the Lock Screen. For example, a sports score could include live updates.
iOS 16 on the iPhone is getting most of the press, but there is also a very important update for the iPad that came out this week. iPadOS 15.7 fixes a zero-day flaw that is being actively exploited by hackers, according to Carly Page of TechCrunch. If you haven’t updated your iPad yet, do so now.
If you have an Apple Watch Series 6 or later running watchOS 9, you can take advantage of the new Waypoints and Backtrack feature of the Compass app, a way to leave digital breadcrumbs for yourself so that you can retrace your steps later. Juli Clover explains how it works. One downside of this feature is that it completely undermines the premise of a large number of horror movie plots.
In an article for Macworld, Jason Snell notes that one common theme of Apple’s new products is that they have new features that can save your life.
Apple TV+ had a nice showing at the Emmys this year. As Chance Miller of 9to5Mac notes, Ted Lasso got lots of top awards. However, Succession beat out Severance for outstanding drama. I watched a portion of the Emmy’s in a corner of my iPad (while I was reading Federico Viticci’s excellent and comprehensive review of iOS 16), and my main takeaway is that there were lots of really good shows up for the big awards this year, any one of which was deserving to win.
And finally, one new feature of the newest iPhone and Apple Watch that you cannot really test yourself is the crash detection feature. I strongly recommend that you watch this short and informative video from Apple that explains all the details of how this feature works. If you find yourself in a crash, it will be extremely helpful to have prior knowledge of what is happening and why:
