Today is the first day of Apple’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference (WWDC), and it gets started with a Keynote address from Apple. At 10 Pacific / 1 Eastern, Apple CEO Tim Cook and other executives will give a preview of software, and perhaps hardware, that Apple plans to release later this year. For example, I’m sure that Apple will debut iOS 15 and iPadOS 15, both of which should be final and ready to use this Fall.
Episode 4 of the In the News podcast is now available. In this week’s episode, Brett Burney and I discuss what we hope to see Apple announce at the WWDC conference, which starts on Monday. We also discuss the AirTag, including an update that enhances privacy and some of the initial stories of using an AirTag to track a stolen item. Then we discuss USB-C hubs for the iPad Pro. Finally, in our In the Know segment, Brett recommends the Walkie-Talkie app on the Apple Watch, and I discuss the 2021 Apple Design Award Finalists.
In just a few days, on Monday, Apple will begin its 2021 Worldwide Developers Conference, WWDC. Like last year, the conference is online-only due to the pandemic. The conference begins at 10 Pacific / 1 Eastern with a Keynote address by Apple, and Apple always uses this opportunity to announce new products. I’m sure that we will see previews of new features coming this Fall to the next version of the iPhone and iPad operating systems, iOS 15 and iPadOS 15. I’m especially hoping that we see some iPadOS advances that allow the new 2021 version of the iPadPro to take full advantage of the power of that hardware. I’d also like to see full support for widgets in iPadOS15 so that we can place widgets anywhere on the large screen, not just on the left side. Apple always previews new software at WWDC, but Apple sometimes uses the opportunity to introduce new hardware as well. Parker Ortolani of 9to5Mac did a good job of discussing the important announcements at prior WWDC events. For example, iPhone home screen widgets were introduced in 2020. I’m very excited to see what surprises Apple will reveal next week. And now, the news of note from the past week:
The TranscriptPad app from Lit Software is an essential app for me whenever I am working with deposition transcripts in the discovery and motion stage of litigation. I most recently discussed that app as a part of my review of LIT SUITE earlier this year. This week, the app was updated to add the ability to share an annotated transcript with another TranscriptPad user. That way, another attorney working with you on a case can easily take advantage of your work product. Click here to learn more about this feature in a recent post on the Lit Software blog. I’ve been using TranscriptPad for almost a decade, and I love how much the app has improved over the years. (Here is my January 18, 2012 review of the first version of the app.) Ian O’Flaherty, the CEO of Lit Software, mentioned to me earlier this week that more cool features are coming to TranscriptPad over the next few months. I can’t wait to find out what comes next.
Illinois attorney John Voorhees of MacStories reviews the new 2.0 version of the HomeRun app. I’ve long enjoyed the original iPhone app because it has allowed me to customize an Apple Watch app with buttons that I can press to control the HomeKit device in my home. The new 2.0 version adds support for widgets on the iPhone and iPad. It is not an automatic upgrade; you need to download a new app and either pay $5/year or $20.
Will Apple announce something called homeOS next week? Hartley Charlton of MacRumors notes that Apple posted up a job listing looking to hire someone to work on homeOS, but has since revised the job listing, and Charlton wonders if this might possibly signal a replacement for HomeKit.
When Apple first released the AirTag, the company emphasized the built-in privacy features and noted that it could adjust these features through software upgrades over time. Apple has now done that, as first reported by Ian Sherr of CNet. If someone tries to use an AirTag to track another person’s location (for example by slipping the AirTag into a purse or briefcase), the original version of the AirTag would start to beep after three days. Apple is now releasing firmware version 1.0.276 to change that to a random window between 8 and 24 hours. (The AirTag shipped with firmware version of 1.0.225.) The update happens automatically when an AirTag is near an iPhone. If you want to see what version of the firmware you are using, open the Find My app, tap on Items at the bottom, tap on the entry for an AirTag, and then tap once on the name of the AirTag to reveal two lines of information that is normally concealed: the serial number and the firmware number.
Speaking of the AirTag, a Reddit user posted an interesting story of how his wallet, containing an AirTag, was stolen at a gym and he tracked the thief through the New York subway system.
If you want to attach an AirTag to a bike but don’t want it to be obvious to a bike thief, Killian Bell of Cult of Mac discusses a mount from Device Therapy that hides an AirTag holder in a bike reflector. That seems like a great idea.
Luke Dormehl of Cult of Mac shares the tale of Frederik Riedel, who had a friend that dropped an iPhone into a canal (ugh!) but then used a magnet on a fishing rod to retrieve it thanks to the MagSafe connection (yeah!).
And finally, here’s a video from Apple promoting the durability of the iPhone 12, including how it can stand up to spills. I don’t encourage you to do anything in this video, but if something like this happens anyway, hopefully an iPhone 12 will be okay.
Wikipedia tells me that SongPop has released a series of music trivia games since 2012. However, I did not learn about this franchise until the newest version of the app, SongPop Party, was recently released as a part of Apple Arcade. If you already pay for Apple Arcade, or if you already pay for an Apple One subscription which includes Apple Arcade, then you can now play this game at no extra charge. I rarely review games on iPhone J.D., but I consider this one to be incredibly fun for anyone who enjoys music — and, hopefully, that includes you. I mentioned this game last Friday at the end of Episode 3 of the In the News podcast, and since then I’ve had a chance to play it more, including playing games with other members of my family. I’m now a big fan of this game, and I encourage you to check it out.
The gameplay is simple. It’s a version of name that tune. The game plays about 10 seconds of a song and gives you four buttons. The buttons either show four different artists or four different song titles. You press the button that corresponds to the artist or song title of the song being played.
You compete against others to see who can press the correct button as quickly as possible. The faster that you press the correct button, the more points that you get.
After ten rounds, the person with the most points wins.
As you win games and earn other achievements, you receive keys. You can use the keys to unlock additional characters.
Better yet, you can use keys to unlock different playlists. Here is how the playlists feature works. When you start a game, you select a music category. The categories include decades (1960s to 2020s), genres (pop, rock, R&B, hip hop, country, dance), and special categories (top hits, family, mixtape, love, soundtrack). Whatever category you pick, you will play against other people within that category.
Within each category, there are multiple playlists. There is always one standard playlist that anyone can select, plus you can use your keys to unlock additional playlists. For example, for the category of the 1980s, the playlists are Essential 80’s, 80’s Breakup Songs, Cheesy 80’s Fun, 80’s Mixtape Rewind, 80’s Hair Bands, New Wave, 80’s Movie Songs, 80’s Night Out, 80’s Music Expert, 80’s Exercise, and then “best of” lists for each year from 1980 to 1989.
When you play in Arena mode, your iPad or iPhone connects you randomly with three other people. Each of you selects a playlist within the same category, and one of the four is randomly selected. For example, I may pick the 1980s as a category because I grew up with the music in that decade and know it pretty well, but if the playlist chosen is Hair Bands, I often confuse the different heavy metal artists and I find it harder to win. But pick 1987 when I graduated high school, and I’m pretty good.
I celebrated Memorial Day by taking a beach vacation with my family, and during some downtime one night, we played this game in Party mode. That mode works the same way as Arena except that one player is the host and the host can invite other players. Thus, I invited my wife, my son, and my daughter. Playing against your friends and family in the same room can be much more fun than Arena mode because you are all cheering or booing for each other. (I recommend that different players use headphones because the music doesn’t sync 100% for each device so you get an echo effect.) In my family, there was a fairly direct relationship between how new the song and who won. I think I won a single round in the 2010s, but otherwise, my kids dominated for the last two decades. But select the 1980s or 1990s, or even 1960s, and my wife or I would always win. As much as I enjoyed Party mode, I also like Arena mode because I am more likely to compete against people with similar music knowledge.
You can also play the game on an Apple TV. Instead of tapping on a button, you swipe in the direction of a button to select it. And you can play on a Mac, where the arrow keys on the keyboard correspond to the four buttons.
If you don’t subscribe to Apple Arcade, you can instead download the app SongPop 3. That game is from the same developer and features the same name that tune premise, but a different interface. Unfortunately, that game frequently urges you to pay $10 a month for a premium subscription. Trying that version reminded me that one of the things that I like about Apple Arcade is that the games never pressure you into paying for in-app features or subscriptions and don’t include any advertisements. I always feel better about my kids playing Apple Arcade games because I know that the games won’t include any of that nonsense.
SongPop Party is a fun game that I recommend. With both Arena and Party mode, you can play a quick game yourself or compete against friends and family. And I was amazed how many times the game would remind me of a song that I like but haven’t listened to in a long while. I even created a new playlist in Apple Music to keep track of many of the songs I hear in this game that I like, and it is turning into a pretty good playlist.
Click here to get SongPop Party (free with Apple Arcade):
The third episode of the In the News podcast is now available. Brett Burney and I discuss three topics in the episode. First, we discuss the new iPad Pro, which I’ve now been using for a week. Second, we discuss the update to the CardHop app, an app that you can use for working with your contacts entries. Finally, we talk about the new flagship Apple Store in Rome and Apple Stores in general.
In the “In the Know” portion of this episode, Brett recommends the Measure app. I recommend a new game available to subscribers of Apple Arcade called SongPop Party, a fun game in which you compete with others to identify a song artist or title after listening to just a few seconds of the song.
I have now had a week with the new 12.9" iPad Pro, and I am enjoying this new iPad even more today than I was when I wrote my review a few days ago. Because it has been a busy week, I haven’t had the chance to take advantage of the incredible screen by viewing additional HDR content. But as I have been using this new iPad in my law practice, I’m appreciating the speed even more. There have been dozens of instances in which I have been amazed how quick everything is and how smooth the experience is — from working with large PDF documents to surfing complex web pages to loading and saving documents. It is really impressive. I’ll talk about this more in today’s edition of the In the News podcast, which will be the first new episode since Brett and I introduced the podcast a few days ago. Thanks to all of you who have already subscribed in your podcast player of choice. (So far, the Overcast app has been the most popular app used to download episodes.) And now, the news of note from the past week:
Massachusetts attorney Bob Ambrogi has a great video that shows off the LINK app from Mobile Helix, an app that allows attorneys to use their traditional law firm software such as email and document management within a secure environment on an iPad. This is part of Bob’s “How it Works” series, which I believe means that it is a sponsored post, but it is still really interesting to see Seth Hallem, the CEO of Mobile Helix, show off the app.
Fantastical has long been my favorite calendar app on the iPhone and iPad. I last mentioned it almost a year ago when the app was updated to support videoconference calendar entries, a feature that I have used countless times during the pandemic. Although you can use many features of Fantastical for free, for $40 a year you get access to premium features. This week, Flexibits, the company behind that app, updated another one of its apps called Cardhop. Cardhop makes it easier to work with all of your contacts entries by using natural language to search and work with that information. This week, the app was updated to add some new features, and the same subscription that gives you access to the advanced features of Fantastical also gives you access to all of Cardhop’s features. California attorney David Sparks of MacSparky explains what is new, some of which he shows off in some videos created for Flexibits.
David Sparks also reviews the new remote for the Apple TV. And his last two sentences say it all: “Now I need to order a second one for the bedroom TV. There is no way I can go back after just 30 minutes with this new one.”
The Ford F-150, the most popular motor vehicle of all time and the best-selling vehicle in the United States for the last 30 years, has been in the news lately because of its upcoming Lightning electric truck, which President Biden recently test drove. But the current Ford F-150 also has some tech changes, including a new SYNC 4 system that works with both wired and wireless CarPlay. Eric Slivka of MacRumors shows off the new SYNC 4.
Sebastiaan de With is part of the team that makes the impressive Halide app, a full-featured camera app. He does a great job looking at all of the changes in the camera on the new iPad Pro. For example, the new iPad happens to do a great job with close-up pictures, which is not something that I expected.
Apple has a new Pride Edition band for the Apple Watch, and it comes with a new Apple Watch face. In this post on Twitter, kevinv posted a GIF that shows off this interesting new band.
The YouTube channel Adam’s Tech Life shows off some neat Shortcuts that you can use to speak a command to a HomePod mini and then have your Apple TV and the lights in your house do a bunch of things.
And finally, let’s talk about the newest Apple Store. Some Apple Stores are relatively small, in a mall, and — except for during a pandemic — busy and crowded. But a few Apple Stores are flagship stores with lots of space. For those flagship stores, Apple often devotes serious attention (and money) to restoring a historical venue. This week, Apple opened its new flagship store in Rome, located in the historic Palazzo Marignoli. Apple itself has a webpage that shares some images of the new store and includes a great video. But even better is the discussion of the store and amazing photographs by Federico Viticci and Silvia Gatta of MacStories, who got early access to the store and took some pictures (using the iPhone 12 Pro Max). Here is one of the photos of the store provided by Apple, taken in the Genius Bar “where a team of conservators have worked thousands of hours to restore the exquisite, geometrically patterned, hand-painted ceiling.” This place is impressive.
I’ve been working on something in secret for the past few weeks, and I’m thrilled to finally share it with you: the In the News podcast. On Friday, April 10, 2009, I debuted the first In the News post on iPhone J.D., taking a look back at the news of note from the prior week. There have been many more since then; this past Friday, I published the 578th such post.
The new In the News podcast builds upon that idea. Every Friday, after my weekly post is published on iPhone J.D., Brett Burney of Apps in Law and I will discuss three of the top stories in the news that are significant for attorneys and other professionals who use Apple mobile technology, such as the iPhone and iPad. Often, those will be three of the topics addressed in my Friday post, but that might not always be the case. At the end of the podcast, we have a segment called “In the Know” in which Brett and I each share one pick of the week: an app, a technique, a website, etc.
The podcast will typically run about 30 minutes or less, and the plan is for the podcast to be published in the middle of the day on Friday. Thus, each new episode should be ready for you to listen to it during your commute home on Friday or over the weekend.
The episode that will come out this Friday is actually our third episode because we recorded test episodes on May 14 and May 21. The first two episodes are now available if you want to turn back the clock and listen to them. For example, during the second episode, I mentioned that my new iPad Pro was out for delivery, and then it showed up at the very end of the podcast. Of course, you now know what I think about that new iPad because it was the subject of the review I posted on Monday.
The website for the podcast is inthenewspodcast.com. You can listen to episodes on that website if you want, but I believe that you will enjoy the podcast more if you subscribe using your podcast player of choice on your iPhone, such as Apple’s own Podcasts app, the Overcast app, the Spotify app, etc. Here are links that you can use to subscribe in many popular podcast apps:
I suspect that most people will listen to the audio version of this podcast. That’s how I myself listen to most podcasts. But sometimes, when I listen to an audio podcast and there is also a video version available, I will switch from the audio to the video when I want to see what the hosts are talking about.
You can do the same thing with the new In the News podcast because Brett is creating video versions of each podcast. And he is doing an amazing job with them. Brett has been producing videos for his Apps in Law website for a long time. He has also published numerous video tutorials over the years, such as his iPractice on an iPad course back in 2017 and his more recent TextExpander for Lawyers course. Brett knows so much more than I do about creating excellent (and fun!) video content, so I love that he is doing this.
For the video version of the podcast, you can see both me and Brett on the side of the screen. In the main part of the screen, Brett shows off webpages or other content, giving you the chance to see what we are discussing.
There is a link to each video podcast on inthenewspodcast.com. Also, you can find the video episodes on the YouTube page for the In the News podcast. I suspect that some folks will want to watch the videos every week, and others will listen to the audio podcasts every week and then look at the videos from time to time. However you want to do it, both versions will be available for every episode.
In addition to subscribing in a podcast client or on YouTube, you can follow the In the News podcast on Twitter and Mastodon to get updates of new posts.
As you can probably tell, I’m incredibly excited to launch this podcast. In part, that is because I always enjoy discussing these topics. But what makes me most excited about this podcast is the opportunity to team up with Brett. We’ve given numerous CLE presentations together over the years, so I know that we will be great co-hosts. Both Brett and I have a long history with technology, especially legal technology. We both started using computers in the 1980s — I used the Sinclair ZX81 and then the Commodore 64 before I purchased a Mac Plus in college, and some of Brett’s earliest computers were the TRS-80 and Compaq computers. Brett did tech support during college and got involved with legal technology when he was in law school in the late 1990s. He loved doing that so much that he pivoted from practicing law to becoming a legal technology consultant in 2002. Thus, Brett has been helping lawyers to get the most out of their technology for about two decades, and he was even Chair of the 2015 ABA TECHSHOW. And finally, while both Brett and I know lots about using PCs and Macs in a law practice, we both love using Apple mobile technology, especially the iPhone and iPad.
Whether you have been listening to podcasts every day for years or you are new to the world of podcasts, I encourage you to subscribe to this new podcast and watch episodes on YouTube. I think that you will enjoy what we are doing.
Apple has lots of great mobile devices — the iPhone, AirPods, and now the new AirTag. But for me, it is the iPad that is truly special. It has become an integral part of my law practice, and it is the #1 reason that I virtually never use paper and I virtually always have the document that I need at my fingertips. This has been especially true since 2015 when Apple introduced the first generation of the 12.9" iPad Pro. The large screen is fantastic for viewing documents such as the brief filed by opposing counsel, exhibits, transcripts, etc. And the Apple Pencil, also introduced in 2015, makes it so easy to annotate those documents. The 12.9" iPad Pro took a big step forward in 2018 when the third generation was introduced. The much smaller bezels meant that virtually all of the screen was usable for viewing content, and the flat sides work great with the second generation Apple Pencil 2. Because the fourth generation introduced in 2020 was a minor update, I know a large number of attorneys who, like me, skipped that model and continued to use the fantastic 2018 model.
The fifth generation 12.9" iPad Pro is now available, and I’ve been using one since this past Friday morning. Unlike the 2020 update, this 2021 update is substantial because of two key advances: the much better screen, and the faster M1 processor. Plus it contains everything that I have loved about the 12.9" iPad Pro since it was introduced in 2015, including the great design introduced with the third generation in 2018.
Overall
The look of the 2019 fifth generation 12.9" iPad Pro is virtually the same as the 2018 third generation and the 2020 fourth generation. The fifth generation is a tiny bit thicker (0.25") than the prior generations (such as the 0.23" third generation). It is also slightly heavier (1.5 pounds) than prior generations (such as the 1.39-pound third generation). However, I did not notice these changes in normal use of the fifth generation. The only way that I could tell the difference is if I switched back and forth between the third and fifth generation, and even then, the difference was minor, although I could notice it.
Battery life seems unchanged from prior models of the 12.9" iPad Pro. (Apple says 9-10 hours.)
The 12.9" comes in Space Gray and Silver. Storage sizes are 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, and (for the first time ever) 2TB. The models come with 8GB of RAM, except that the 1TB and 2TB models come with 16GB of RAM. I purchased the 512GB version, which is a step up from the 256GB models that I’ve used since 2017. I purchased the Wi-Fi model (no 5G) and it costs $1,399.00. However, Apple is paying me $535 to trade in my third generation 12.9" iPad Pro, so that reduced the overall cost to $864 for the upgrade from the device I’ve been using since 2018.
There is also a new 11" model, but I’ve been using the 12.9" model since 2015 and that is what I prefer. Also, the 2020 11" version of the iPad Pro does not have the new mini-LED screen discussed below.
Better screen
In 2017, Apple introduced the iPhone X with an OLED screen. OLED screens are great for contrast because when a portion of the screen is supposed to be black, it is truly black — no light is used for that part of the screen. And that was part of the reason that The iPhone X brought support for HDR (high dynamic range) to increase the contrast between parts of the screen that are supposed to be dark and parts of the screen that are supposed to be bright. HDR support has improved from the iPhone X to the current iPhone 12, but if you are using any of those models of the iPhone, then you have a sense of what HDR can look like on a mobile device.
For a number of technical reasons, Apple has opted not to use OLED for an iPad screen, so it has instead used LEDs. LED screens are good — you probably also use one on your computer monitor — but they don’t have the contrast of OLED and typically don’t support HDR. But in the newest 12.9" iPad Pro, Apple is using a new display technology called mini-LED. And it is a big step forward over the display technology that Apple previously used with the iPad.
First, the dark colors are very dark. It is not quite as good as the OLED screen on a modern iPhone, but it is darn close. In the past, when your iPad was supposed to show an all-black screen — such as the night sky or space in a movie — what you instead saw was just a very dark gray. It is easy to see this if you are using an iPad that has a black bezel. Compare the true black of the bezel to what is on the screen when your iPad is trying to display black and you can see the difference. But with the mini-LED display on the new 12.9" iPad Pro, there is almost no distinction between the black bezel and the screen. You can still see it if you look for it, so it is not quite the pure black that you get with the iPhone’s OLED screen, but it is a huge improvement over the previous display technology.
Second, the bright colors are very bright. Brightness is measured in nits — or, if you want to be more technical, candela per square metre. The first model of the 12.9" iPad Pro supported 400 nits. The fourth generation model supported 600 nits. (The current version of the iPad Air supports 500 nits.) This new fifth generation 12.9" iPad Pro will typically work in a 600 nits mode, which is plenty bright when you are working with documents or surfing the internet. But when you display HDR content, the entire display can go up to 1,000 nits. And better yet, Apple can highlight up to 40% of the screen up to 1,600 nits. That’s better than even the OLED screen on the iPhone 12 line, which goes up to 1,200 nits.
Put these two together and you get quite an impressive result. If a part of the screen is black but there is also something bright taking up 40% of the screen or less, the contrast is outstanding and life-like. And it is not just about brightness; it is also about color. Colors on the mini-LED display can really pop. The pictures in my Photos app have never looked better. And speaking of pictures, I hate that I cannot put a picture of the new screen that I have taken myself in this section of my review. Although I tried, I just don’t have a way to capture how good it looks in a way that you will be able to see it on whatever screen you are using right now. You need to see it with your own eyes to see how good it looks.
Having said that, if have a recent iPhone, you can get a sense of what this all looks like by viewing an HDR video on YouTube such as this one by Jennifer Gala. When I watch that video on my third generation 12.9" iPad Pro, or even the nice 27" screen of my 2019 iMac with Retina 5K (which goes up to 5oo nits), it looks good. But on the OLED screen on my iPhone 12 Pro, the image quality is jaw-dropping. And even though the blacks are a little better on the OLED screen of my iPhone 12 Pro, the image is even more impressive on the fifth generation 12.9" iPad Pro — not just because it goes up to 1,600 nits instead of 1,200 nits, but also because the 12.9" screen is SO MUCH BIGGER. There is a limit to how much you can be impressed by a smaller iPhone screen. But a big, beautiful, 4K HDR image on a 12.9" screen is really something.
When you are looking at HDR content, the fifth generation 12.9" iPad Pro is stunning. Movies and TV shows look fantastic in 4K Dolby Vision HDR, whether it is space battles in one of the Star Wars movies or even just incredible color on the soccer field during an episode of Ted Lasso. But over the last few days, some of my favorite content has been content that I created myself. The iPhone 12 line of phones can record in HDR with Dolby Vision, up to 30 fps (frames per second) on the less expensive models and up to 60 fps on the iPhone 12 Pro. All of the videos that I have taken with my iPhone 12 Pro for the last seven months have been in HDR Dolby Vision 60 fps, but up until now, I could only appreciate that quality on the iPhone itself. (The TV at my house is only 1080p, so it is not 4K and does not support HDR.) Those videos look amazing on this new iPad. For example, in a video I took a few weeks ago when my daughter competed in her middle school track and field championship, the video quality is so amazing that I feel like I am there again, cheering her on again as she earned the gold medal in one of her events. I now wish that I could go back in time and re-record 4K HDR video of my kids when they were younger.
So this new screen is very impressive when you are viewing 4K HDR content. If your job involves creating the next Star Wars movie, that would be a reason to use this iPad. But what if your job is just to be a lawyer: reading and annotating PDF files, composing emails, using websites, etc. Does this new screen make a difference?
It does make a difference but in a more subtle way. You are not going to be experiencing 1,600 nits when you look at a PDF document. But you will still experience a better screen. The prior models of the iPad Pro (and even the newest 11" iPad Pro model) use 72 LEDs to light the screen. The fifth generation 12.9" iPad Pro uses over 10,000 LEDs, grouped into 2,500 different local dimming zones that can brighten or dim based on what is being shown on that zone of the display. There have been many times during the last few days when I have looked at this screen — even something as mundane as my home screen — and I found myself pausing to appreciate that the screen looks so much richer. Black looks really black. Colors pop. Everything looks its best. And while I cannot tell you that using this iPad will improve the quality of your legal work — a lot of smart lawyers have drafted impressive legal briefs using crappy computer displays — it can help you to have a nicer, more enjoyable experience. Indeed, considering that an iPad is all about the screen — that is what you look at all the time, that is what you touch, that is what you hold in your hands — a significant improvement to the quality of the screen is easy to enjoy.
You don’t need to eat at a good restaurant, drive in a premium car, or live in a nice house. Unless you are lucky enough to be in a situation where money is no object for you, you need to pick the parts of your life where you consider it worth it to pay for nicer experiences. But if you decide that you want a premium screen on an iPad, this new iPad Pro really delivers.
Faster
This new iPad is faster for three reasons. First, it uses Apple’s M1 processor, the same chip that Apple is currently shipping in its newest iMac and MacBook computers. According to tests run by Jason Snell of Six Colors, the M1 processor helps this fifth generation model to be up to 60% faster than the fourth generation model (which was, for most tasks, very close in speed to the third generation model). And it’s not like the third and fourth generation iPad Pro models were slow.
Second, the storage on this new iPad is faster. It can read and write from the internal SSD memory about twice as fast.
Third, the new iPad has more RAM. The 2018 third generation 12.9" iPad Pro had 4GB of RAM, unless you purchased the 1TB model which had 6GB of RAM. The 2020 fourth generation used 6GB of RAM for all versions. The 2021 fifth generation uses 8GB of RAM for most models and 16GB of RAM for the models with 1TB or 2TB of storage. With more RAM, there is a greater chance that information that you need will already be in memory, so the iPad can display it even faster. when you switch between applications, or switch between tabs within an application, this can make a difference.
Put it all together and this new iPad is definitely faster. I have the 512GB model, so mine has 8GB of RAM. Most of the time that I am using the iPad, the experience is similar to my third generation model. But then I will do something like launch an app, open a new PDF file, load a webpage, and I am amazed how quickly it lunges forward. Have you ever experienced the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster at Disney World? Unlike a typical roller coaster that starts slowly, the first thing that happens when that ride begins is that you accelerate from 0 to 57 mph in less than 2.8 seconds. I found myself thinking of the beginning of that ride when I started using this new iPad because there so many times when an action would suddenly occur so quickly when I expected it to take longer. Many of these actions would typically take less than a second anyway, so the speed jump was noticeable but over quickly. Nevertheless, I’ve also noticed that apps like PDF Expert start-up and display PDF files much faster than before.
There are a few apps available now, and more coming in the future, that take advantage of the M1 speed not in just a burst mode, like I’ve described above, but also for performing long, complex tasks such as working with video. I can’t wait to see what both Apple and third-party developers do to push the limits of the impressive speed of the M1 processor.
For now, most of the time, the speed of this new iPad is similar to the third and fourth generation. But then from time to time, especially when I am changing what I am doing, this new model is much more responsive. It’s a nice improvement.
Center Stage
Another significant change in this new iPad is the introduction of something that Apple calls Center Stage. The front-facing camera on this iPad uses an ultra-wide lens so it can see a broad area. When you are using that camera, and when you have Center Stage enabled, the iPad will crop to focus on faces. If you move around, the cropped area will move with you. If a second person enters the camera’s field of view, the cropped area will open so that both of you are on screen. It makes it appear that a professional camera operator is panning left or right and zooming in or out.
I had fun playing with this feature with my son. The best way for you to see how it looks is to look at the short videos embedded in this section of the review of this new iPad by Federico Viticci of MacStories. He used a special app that was developed specifically for him for the purpose of showing off how Center Stage. Click that link, and you will have a great sense of how the feature works. Or, here is a short video from when Apple debuted this feature last month:
The feature is neat, and I suspect that I will use it when my family videochats with other friends and family. But I don’t expect to use it much at work. Even though I do participate in quite a few video conferences in my law practice, and even though I use my iPad Pro for some of them, I always try to stay in one place, looking directly into the camera. Thus, I don’t need a virtual camera operator to follow me moving left and right or in and out.
Having said that, it is a pretty impressive demonstration of the power of artificial intelligence. Apple did a great job with this feature, so I wanted to devote some attention to it in this review. I expect that Apple will add Center Stage to other products in the future.
Etc.
The improved screen and speed are the reasons that I am very happy with this new iPad. But there are two other features worth mentioning.
Although prior models of the iPad Pro supported USB-C, this iPad has a USB‑C connector with support for Thunderbolt / USB 4. This allows accessories, such as an external drive, to communicate with the iPad much faster. Although I don’t have a current reason to take advantage of this, I like having it there because I might have a need to use it in the future. I have often purchased a computer that had a new type of port that I wouldn’t use at all for the first year or so, but then I would purchase some sort of external device that takes advantage of the port, and I’d be happy to have it there. I could see that happening for this new and very fast port. The port is also compatible with regular USB-C, so my existing accessories work just fine.
You can buy a version of this new iPad with 5G cellular support. I purchased the Wi-Fi model; if I need to access the Internet when I don’t have access to Wi-Fi, I can just take the time to tether to my iPhone. But if you use cellular data with an iPad much more frequently than I do, it is nice to have this built-in. And as 5G continues to roll out across the country, it is nice that you have the ability to connect to a super-fast network if you find yourself close to a 5G microcell.
Conclusion
In light of both the features and the price, there is no question that that is the top-of-the-line iPad. The large mini-LED screen is the best screen that I’ve ever seen on an Apple device. Frankly, it is better than any screen that I’ve ever seen in person. (There are of course better screens on high-end TVs, but I haven’t actually used one of those before.) And while the last two generations of the iPad Pro were fast, I frequently notice the bursts of speed with this new model. Moreover, as good as this iPad is today, I suspect that we will see it get even better in the future as Apple and other developers come up with ways to make the most of the additional speed of the M1 processor, the extra RAM, and the faster disk access.
If you enjoy using an iPad and you want to get the very best, this premium iPad has a lot to offer. Or, if you feel that this new iPad is too much for you, that’s fine because the iPad Air that came out in late 2020 is also a great iPad and it costs hundreds of dollars less.
The first Apple Store opened 20 years ago this week, and Charlotte Henry of The Mac Observer takes a walk down memory lane to note that anniversary. The first store was located in the Tysons Corner mall in Virginia, just outside of Washington, D.C. Twenty years later, it is obvious that the stores have been a huge success for Apple. I was living in New York City for a while after Hurricane Katrina, so I was able to attend the opening of the iconic Apple Store on Fifth Avenue on May 19, 2006. That store soon became the highest-grossing retailer on Fifth Avenue. For those who live close to an Apple Store — whether it is one of the huge flagship stores or just a smaller store in a mall — it is nice to have a place where you can see and try out the latest products. And on days like today when Apple introduces new products, the stores can be a great way to get a new product on Day 1 even when online orders won’t ship for weeks or months. (Some models of the iPad Pro are currently not shipping until mid-July.) Michael Steeber of 9to5Mac shows off what some of the window displays look like in Apple Stores today. And now, the news of note from the past week:
Of the three major new products that Apple is releasing today, the one that I am most interested in is the new iPad Pro 12.9". The one that I pre-ordered should be delivered to me today: 12.9", Wi-Fi only, 512GB, Space Gray. As I look forward to using that new device, I’ve been reading reviews from members of the tech press to whom Apple provided early review units. The consensus seems to be that the new screen is amazing and the device is very fast, but the hardware is now better than the iPad OS software. I agree with a lot of what California attorney David Sparks wrote about this situation. If you want more information on the new iPad Pro, here are the five reviews that I found the most valuable.
Harry McCracken of Fast Company says that “this new iPad Pro is a good-size leap beyond its 2018 and 2020 predecessors,” and he says that the signature feature is the new display. “But while the previous iPad Pro screen was illuminated by 72 LEDs, the new one increases that by almost 14,000%. Behind the screen, there are 10,000 tiny LEDs arranged in 2,500 zones, giving Apple the ability to boost or dim the brightness with pinpoint precision. That allows for blacker blacks and more accurate reproduction of a broader range of colors.”
Daniel Bader of iMore says that thanks to the M1 chip in the new iPad Pro, the new iPad Pro “flies through whatever you need it to do,” although he also notes that the last two iPad Pro models were also quite fast.
Dieter Bohn of The Verge wrote an excellent review, along with a great video review. He says that the 2018 iPad Pro was so fast that he couldn’t perceive much of a speed increase in the apps that he used on the new iPad Pro. However, he says that the new display is so good that it is “the best thing for watching movies that isn’t a high-end television,” adding (jokingly) that “the display is so good that Tenet actually makes sense when you watch it on this iPad Pro.”
Jason Snell of Six Colors wrote that “watching HDR video is an eye-popping experience. Live-action movies have some very bright explosions and very dark undertones, and they all looked great.” He also ran lots of tests of the speed increase thanks to the M1 chip, and concluded that while the new hardware is fantastic, Apple desperately needs to update the iPad OS software to allow users to do more with this powerful hardware. As Snell notes, Apple’s WWDC developer conference is just a few weeks away, and fingers are crossed that Apple will preview some notable iPad OS improvements coming in iOS 15 later this year.
The most comprehensive review of the new iPad Pro 12.9" comes from Federico Viticci of MacStories. His review also does the best job of explaining and then showing off the new Center Stage feature, which makes it appear that a camera is following you as you move around during a videoconference on FaceTime, Zoom, or other platforms.
Another new Apple product being released today is a new 24" iMac. I don’t really discuss Macs on iPhone J.D., but this does look like a really nice device, and it makes me look forward to later this year (or next year?) when Apple should announce the next high-end version of the iMac. The new iMac released today looks like a big iPad on a stand, as you can see in this review by Jason Snell of Six Colors.
Another new product that Apple is releasing today is the new Apple TV 4K. The consensus seems to be that one of its best features is the new remote. I have an Apple TV HD, which seems sufficient for me because I don’t even have a 4K television in my home theater room; I use a 1080p plasma television. The review of the new Apple TV HD by Jacob Krol of CNN disagrees with me, concluding “If you have an Apple TV HD (yes, the one from 2014), now is a perfect time to upgrade. You’ll see tvOS in a much more dynamic way, lock in support for 4K streaming and get improved internal hardware and a great new remote.” But after reading his review, the only real advantage that I see if you have a 1080p TV is that apps and streaming services will work a little faster with a faster Apple TV. I’m going to stick with my current Apple TV HD for now and wait to upgrade until I get a new TV — which I don’t see happening any time soon.
John Gruber of Daring Fireball reviews the new Apple TV remote, which costs $59 if you purchase it on its own. It works with the Apple TV 4K (2nd generation), Apple TV 4K (1st generation), and the Apple TV HD.
This week, Apple previewed some upcoming software updates that are designed for people with disabilities. There are some interesting announcements, such as SignTime, the ability to use sign language to communicate with AppleCare and Retail Customer Care representatives. But the coolest update looks to be AssistiveTouch for Apple Watch, which lets a person interact with an Apple Watch screen even if they only have the ability to use the arm/hand that the watch is on. How? Using a series of gestures such as pinch or clench. Sarah (@sarahyuui), an intern currently working for the Apple Accessibility team, tweeted this short video to show how it works and the technology looks amazing. Bravo to Apple.
I wrote earlier this week about the upcoming updates to audio quality on Apple Music. User mrsidnaik on Reddit posted this excellent explanation of lossless audio.
If you are interested in using PopSockets with your iPhone but don’t want to use adhesive to make something stick to the iPhone or a case, there are now three products that you can use without adhesive, two of which use magnets to work with MagSafe on the newest iPhones. Juli Clover of MacRumors reviews the new PopSockets devices.
José Adorn of 9to5Mac notes that Microsoft Teams now lets users create a free personal account for 24-hour videoconferences with up to 300 people. It’s not a new app; it’s the same Teams software that you may already be using on iOS, Mac, and Windows for your work, but now you can also have a personal account.
Bradley Chambers of 9to5Mac reviews the Chipolo ONE Spot, a tracker that works with Apple’s Find My system. He says that it is a cheaper alternative to the AirTag — not so much for the price, which is virtually the same, but because it has a hole on it so you don’t need to purchase a separate adapter to put it on a keychain. The Chipolo unit lacks the precision finding feature of the AirTag, but it can play a noise, and that might be all that you need to find it.
In an article for Macworld UK, David Price argues that it is a good thing that the iPhone has a notch at the top. He actually makes a pretty compelling argument.
Apple’s AirPlay 2 technology is nice because you can have stream audio to multiple devices at the same time. But what if the music in one of your rooms comes from an old stereo that doesn’t support this new technology? Chance Miller of 9to5Mac notes that Belkin unveiled the Soundform Connect, a $99 product that adds AirPlay 2 to any speaker with a 3.5mm input.
And finally, the latest version of the iOS operating system adds App Tracking Transparency to reduce the ability of one app to invade your privacy when you are using a different app. Apple came up with a pretty clever video called Tracked that shows, in a humorous way, the privacy control that this new feature puts into your hands:
Yesterday, Apple announced that its Apple Music streaming service will add two new features next month. One of them will be a nice improvement and is likely to improve your experience listening to music. As for the other addition … well, there is a good chance that you won’t notice it at all. Fortunately, there is no extra charge for either of these additions.
Spatial Audio with support for Dolby Atmos
Spatial Audio is the name that Apple gives to certain surround sound technology. Apple first announced Spatial Audio when it previewed iOS 14 on June 22, 2020. iOS 14 was released on September 17, 2020, and it brought support for Spatial Audio on the AirPods Pro. I’ve been using it since that time, and I’ve been very impressed. Unlike stereo, where you just hear things on the left or right, when you listen to something with Spatial Audio enabled, you can hear sounds coming from specific locations around you. It is very neat, and it works with many major video streaming services including Apple TV+. The AirPods Max, which was introduced on December 8, 2020, also supports Spatial Audio. Videos with Spatial Audio can do a decent job of replacing a home theater experience.
Yesterday, Apple announced that it is bringing Spatial Audio to Apple Music next month, with support for Dolby Atmos. Thus, instead of just listening to traditional stereo music, you will be able to listen to songs in which specific instruments or other sounds appear to be located in specific places all around and above you. And while Spatial Audio for movies currently requires the AirPods Pro or AirPods Max, Apple announced yesterday that you will able to listen to Spatial Audio/Dolby Atmos songs “on all AirPods and Beats headphones with an H1 or W1 chip, as well as the built-in speakers in the latest versions of iPhone, iPad, and Mac.”
Songs need to be remastered in Spatial Audio. Apple says that there will be thousands of songs at launch, with more added over time.
What will it sound like? Apple hasn’t released any samples yet, but if you have used Spatial Audio with AirPods Pro to listen to a movie or TV show, you already have some sense of it. But perhaps a better way to get a sense of how it will sound is to go to this page on the Dolby website while you are using AirPods or other headphones with your iPhone. They have some great samples on that page, including songs where you can switch between stereo and Dolby Atmos. The difference is pretty stunning.
I’m looking forward to this addition. I don’t often listen to music with my AirPods Pro. I’m more likely to listen to music in my car or using a HomePod mini. But when I do so, for a song that supports Spatial Audio/Dolby Atmos, I expect the song to sound much richer.
Lossless Audio
I remember the days when folks would download very low bitrate songs from questionable services like Napster, and the audio quality was rather poor. Nowadays, the songs on streaming audio services such as Apple Music sound quite good. But what if they sounded even better, with even fewer compression artifacts? Apple says that with lossless audio, “Apple Music subscribers will be able to hear the exact same thing that the artists created in the studio.” Okay, but will it actually make a difference? I have doubts.
Lossless audio is nothing new. Back in 2014, Neil Young was involved in a Kickstarter campaign for the PonoPlayer, a device that used 20x more data than a normal MP3 file. It was supposed to provide a superior listening experience. But when David Pogue, who at the time was writing for Yahoo Finance, ran a blind test between the PonoPlayer and normal MP3 files, he couldn’t tell the difference. And Pogue is a former professional musician. He then had others test a PonoPlayer versus an iPhone, and they couldn’t tell a difference either. In the many years since that 2015 article, I’ve seen countless others say that most folks simply cannot tell the difference between modern MP3 music (or the similar AAC system that Apple uses) and songs with a higher bit rate. Jason Cross discussed this a few weeks ago in an article for Macworld where he concluded that almost nobody can hear the difference. His article includes a link to a website where you test to see if you can hear the difference. I could not.
But even if you are one of the rare people who can hear the slight difference, you will need to use different equipment to experience Lossless Audio. Chris Welch of The Verge reports that none of Apple’s current wireless products support Lossless Audio, so you cannot use this with AirPods, AirPods Pro, HomePod, HomePod mini, etc. Filipe Espósito of 9to5Mac explains why, and it has to do with the current limitations of Bluetooth technology.
So you need to use wired headphones, or an Apple TV or Mac connected to nice speakers. And to use the highest quality that Apple will offer — Hi-Resolution Lossless at 24 bit at 192 kHz — you will need to add external equipment, such as a USB digital-to-analog converter (DAC).
So why is Apple even offering Lossless Audio? I think the reason is that, later this year, Spotify is offering a premium service called Spotify HiFi, which also includes lossless music. By offering Lossless Audio at no extra charge, Apple probably hopes to avoid people picking Spotify over Apple Music because of this difference — even if it is a difference that most folks won’t be able to notice.
Are all of these lossless music formats just snake oil? Perhaps. But having said that, I’ve been to dinner at fancy restaurants when people have ordered very expensive bottles of wine, and I’ll admit that I’ve enjoyed that wine. Was I actually tasting the difference between a very expensive bottle of wine and a good, but less expensive, bottle? I doubt it, but there is something to be said for the experience. And if the experience of listening to lossless music makes you feel better about your music, while then I say, go for it. Especially if you don’t have to pay extra for it. But just be aware that if you were to listen to a blind test, you might not be able to tell the difference.
Conclusion
Lossless Audio is not going to make much of a difference for me, and I doubt it will make a difference for most of you. But I think that Spatial Audio music with support for Dolby Atmos will be a nice upgrade to Apple Music, so I was happy to see that announcement yesterday. Plus, it is something that no other music streaming service is offering — at least, not yet. Sometimes I listen to Jazz music without lyrics when I am getting work done, and if I find myself immersed in what seems to be three-dimensional jazz music, perhaps that will help me to get even more into the groove while I am writing the next brief. And I suspect that Spatial Music will cause me to listen to more music on my AirPods Pro instead my HomePod mini when I want a superior listening experience.
