This week, many reviews were posted of the new iPad Air 3. Here is a good one from Rene Ritchie of iMore. Nathan Ingraham of Engadget. calls it “just right.” And Jason Cross of Macworld calls it The Sweet Spot. If you want to get a lot done with your iPad in a law practice, the iPad Pro is fantastic, and I wouldn’t want to live without the 12.9" screen on the larger version. But if you don’t want to spend that much money, the iPad Air 3 looks like a fantastic product for many attorneys. I’ve already recommended it to multiple people at my law firm who were looking to upgrade from an older iPad but couldn’t justify the cost of an iPad Pro. And now, the other news of note from this week:
Brett Burney of the Apps in Law website and podcast reviews Terminology, a sophisticated dictionary / thesaurus that appears to be especially useful on an iPad.
Michael Potuck of 9to5Mac reports that Apple’s Clips app was updated this week. It now includes a fun camcorder filter, plus blue background title cards similar to what camcorders used to produce, so that you can use the latest technology to make something that looks like it was made in the 1980s.
And finally, this week Apple released on YouTube a three-minute short movie called The Underdogs. It tells the story of a scrappy team of office workers with a chance to sell their great idea. The point of the video is to show off how the iPad and other Apple products can be used to get work done, but the video itself is funny and nicely done. Worth watching:
One of the nice features of the App Store and the Family Sharing feature is that any app that you purchase can also be used, at no additional charge, by other family members. It won’t surprise you to learn that I purchase more apps than the other members of my family, but I don’t purchase every app. For example, my wife is very organized and has made good use of apps that help you to stay organized. Her current app is choice is the Things app, and after watching her use the app, I decided to start using it to keep track of my own tasks.
This past Monday morning, I arrived at the office and tapped the Things app, expecting it to launch so that I could select a task to work on first. Instead, I saw an error message: “This app is no longer shared with you. To use it you must buy it from the App Store.” After a split second of wondering if I had done something wrong to cause my wife to stop sharing an app with me, I decided that this must be some sort of error and researched how to fix it. I found a solution, and I also picked up some additional knowledge that might be useful in other situations.
[UPDATE 5/24/20: It looks like recent updates to a number of apps, such as WhatsApp and Facebook, have triggered this problem. Fortunately, this solution still works.]
Here is the fix that worked for me. Open the Settings app, tap General and then tap iPhone Storage. You will see all of your apps listed, sorted by how much space each app takes. Tap on the app at issue and then select Offload App. This allows you to remove the app from your iPhone but it retains all of your documents and data associated with the app.
[UPDATE 10/1/2019: I got the same error after installing iOS 13 on my iPhone, and this same fix still works. Note that you don’t have to go to the App Store to look for a fresh copy of the app. I found that the app icon was still on my iPhone home screen even after I unloaded it, but it had a symbol next to it indicating that I needed to download a copy from the App Store. All that I had to do was tap the app icon on the home screen and my iPhone automatically downloaded a fresh copy for me, and in the process realized that i was entitled to use the app. It was all very simple.]
I’ve had times in the past when an app has caused me problems, and as a fix I have deleted the app and downloaded a new copy. But I’ve never really focused before on this Offload App feature, which is a better way to remove an app because you retain your user data. Hopefully it will be a while before I next need to remove an app causing problems, but when I do, I’ll certainly take advantage of the Offload App feature.
And finally, if your iPhone or iPad is running short on space, you can always use the Offload App feature for its intended purpose — freeing some space while retaining the ability to restore a deleted app in the future.
Just over two years ago, I posted a review of the original version of Apple’s AirPods. My review was glowing because they instantly made the list of my all-time favorite products from Apple. They feel like they weigh nothing in your ears and they don’t fall out, they let you avoid the numerous frustrations associated with having a cord run from your ears to your iPhone, and the convenient charging case gives you an easy place to store them which also keeps them charged.
I also like being able to double-tap on each AirPod to trigger a gesture. In my original review, I noted having problems getting this gesture to work reliably, but Apple solved that with a software update. In September 2017, Apple released iOS 11, adding the ability to assign a different gesture for each AirPod. (For me, I’d tap my left AirPod to trigger Siri and my right AirPod to play/pause.)
I used my AirPods every single day, sometimes for hours each day, since early 2017. As I started to near two years of use, I noticed that the battery in each AirPod wasn’t lasting as long, especially in my right AirPod — which makes sense, because sometimes I would use just one AirPod instead of both of them, and I virtually always used the right AirPod when I was using just one. For listening to music or podcasts, my AirPods were only lasting about an hour, and for phone calls they would last about 20-30 minutes. Each AirPod is very small, which means that the rechargeable battery inside of each AirPod is tiny, and apparently after two years of recharging, the ability of each battery to hold a charge had decreased substantially. It was still fast and easy to charge the AirPods in the charging case, but having to do that much more often wasn’t any fun.
Because the batteries were starting to wear out of this device that I use every day, I was in the market for a new pair of AirPods when Apple announced the second generation AirPods. I purchased the model with the normal Charging Case (not the Wireless Charging Case — more on that below.) I’ve been using them for almost a week now, and they work great.
Much is the same
In most ways, the second generation AirPods are the same as before. The AirPods and the charging case look the same. The only real difference is that after carrying the original charging case every day for over two years, it is more scratched up and the white color is no longer quite as bright as a new pair.
Engraving
Although the case looks the same as before, you now have the option to add custom laser engraving. This is especially nice when you have multiple people using AirPods in the same household because it can sometimes be confusing to tell which AirPods belong to which person. There is no charge for the engraving. You can fit around 15-20 characters depending upon the width of the characters you use. I had no trouble fitting “iPhone J.D.” on my Charging Case.
More call time
Because the batteries in my original AirPods were starting to wear out, I knew that any new AirPods were going to last much longer for me, even new first generation AirPods. But one unique advantage of the second generation AirPods is that Apple has improved battery life when you are on a call. The original AirPods could be used for up to five hours of listening between charges or two hours of a phone call. I have had quite a few long conferences calls when my AirPods started to run out of battery. (To address this, I would take out one AirPod and charge it for a few minutes, and then replace it and charge the other AirPod, using only one ear to participate in the conference call during those times.)
The second generation AirPods can go up to three hours for a phone call. I have no doubt that the 50% increase in talk time is going to be valuable to me when I am taking long calls out of the office on my iPhone.
Speaking of using the AirPods to talk on the phone, I see that Rene Ritchie of iMore has reported that the second generation AirPods improve microphone reception during windy weather. I haven’t had a chance to test that myself, but those of you in Chicago and other windy cities will appreciate that.
Switch between devices more quickly
Although I usually use my AirPods with my iPhone, I frequently switch them to another device, such as my iPad, my Apple Watch, or the iMac I use at home. Switching with the first generation AirPods would usually take 5 to 6 seconds. Switching between devices is twice as fast with the new AirPods. Saving 2-3 seconds doesn’t sound like a lot, but I notice it, and really appreciate it, every single time I switch devices. This is a small change, but I really like it.
Hey Siri — without tapping a button
Talking to Siri with AirPods has always been useful, such as when I want to send someone a text message or initiate a phone call without having to reach for my iPhone. Thus, I assigned a double-tap on my left AirPod to initiate Siri. But with the second generation AirPods, you can just say “Hey Siri” out loud followed by your instruction.
This makes it easier to use Siri because I don’t have to double-tap an AirPod first, but more importantly for me, it allows me to use the double-tap of my left AirPod to perform a different function. I now have it assigned to Next Track, which is useful when I using the Overcast app to listen to a podcast because the Next Track function will skip the podcast forward by 30 seconds, useful for skipping a commercial that I’ve already heard and don’t need to hear again. (In Overcast, you can adjust that to 7, 15, 30, 45, or 60 seconds.)
The hinge
This may sound silly if you have never used an AirPods Charging Case before, but there is something incredibly satisfying about opening and closing the case. It just feels and sounds right, so much so that sometimes when I am fidgeting, I find myself just opening and closing the case. And I know that I’m not alone in doing that.
I can’t see, feel, or hear any difference in the second generation Charging Case, but iFixIt took the new Charging Case apart and discovered: “This machined metal hinge looks sturdier compared to the last generation’s, and it definitely has the adhesive to match.” iFixIt was reviewing the wireless version of the Charging Case so perhaps that accounts for the difference, but the hinge was such a nice feature of the first generation AirPods case that it would be great if Apple did find a way to make it more durable.
Wireless Charging Case
The second generation AirPods cost the same $159 as the prior model. However, for an additional $40, you can purchase AirPods with a Wireless Charging Case. Or you can purchase a Wireless Charging Case on its own for $79 to use them with your first generation AirPods.
I’ve now owned two iPhones that support wireless charging, and I’ve never found this feature to be all that important. I don’t find it that cumbersome to use a Lightning cord to charge an iPhone, and you can charge an iPhone much faster with a cord than with a wireless Qi charger. I understand why folks find them convenient, and I have used them from time to time, but it is just not a big deal to me.
Similarly, it has never been a problem for me to use a cord to charge an AirPods Charging Case, especially because they charge so quickly. Even though my first generation AirPods were having issues with the battery, my charging case was doing fine and continued to last a long time before needing to be recharged.
In 2016, Apple announced that it was coming out with its own wireless charger called AirPower which would be better than all of the other Qi chargers on the market because it could charge up to three devices at once (such as an iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods charging case). However, Apple announced last week that it is canceling that long-overdue product because Apple couldn’t get the engineering to work. If Apple had released the AirPower and I had purchased one, maybe I would have found a Wireless Charging Case to be more useful, but with Apple’s announcement, that will no longer be an issue for me.
If wireless charging matters to you, you may consider it worth the extra $40 when you are purchasing second generation AirPods, and I’m glad that this is now an option. It didn’t seem worth it to me, and so far I haven’t regretted that decision at all.
Conclusion
All of the improvements I described above are minor. But taken together, they make the already great AirPods even better. If you are already using first generation AirPods and they are not (yet) having battery problems, then I do not recommend that you upgrade. But if you are like me and you wore out your original AirPods, it is nice to have some new features when you get a new pair.
If you are not yet using AirPods, and if you ever use your iPhone or iPad to make sound to watch a video, listen to music, listen to podcasts, etc., then I think that you will love the AirPods. This is especially true if you own an Apple Watch because you can connect an Apple Watch to a pair of AirPods and then leave your iPhone and other devices at home, streaming music or podcasts directly from the watch to the AirPods.
Apple started shipping some of its new products this week. I’m typing this on my new iMac, the first iMac I’ve ever used without a hard drive (I have a 2 TB SSD). Also, the second generation of Apple’s AirPods are now available, and I received mine on Wednesday. I’ll post a review after I’ve used them for a little bit longer, but AirPods have always been one of my all-time favorite Apple products. California attorney David Sparks has already decided that he is a big fan, and he pointed a video review of the new AirPods which you can watch on YouTube. Federico Viticci of MacStories also posted an interviewing review. In an article for GQ, Jon Wilde interviewed Jony Ive, Apple’s chief design officer, to discuss what makes the AirPods special. And now, the other news of note from the past week:
California attorney David Sparks reviews Cardhop, an app that was previously available for the Mac and is now available for iOS. The app was developed by the same team that created the great Fantastical app, and Cardhop aims to be a better version of the Contacts app. Sparks created a series of video tutorials for the new iOS version, which you can watch at this location. I purchased the $3.99 app and I’m still kicking the tires on it, but is looks like a nice app. I like being able to see all upcoming birthdays just by tapping one button.
In an article for ABA Journal, Kate Silver asks whether court bans on litigants using an iPhone impair access to justice. Here in Louisiana, there are many courthouses which let attorneys use an iPhone but don’t allow litigants bring a phone into the courthouse, which I’ve always thought was unfortunate. There are certainly times when a litigant is in court all day and needs to stay in touch with the outside world. I know that it is a complicated issue, with judges worried about improper use within a courtroom, but it seems to me that creating policies short of an outright ban makes more sense.
Apple’s Keynote app was updated to version 5.0 yesterday, and Apple has a page on its website describing what is new. One nice new feature is that you can use the Apple Pencil or your finger to draw a path to animate an object across a slide. You can also now create a media placeholder, a defined area in a slide where you can quickly add an image or movie. It looks like a nice update to an essential app for anyone who gives presentations from an iPad.
Speaking of Keynote, while the iPad is perfect for creating a presentation, don’t forget that you can give that presentation from your iPhone. I gave a presentation at a partnership meeting a few weeks ago that was not taking place at my office. Instead of taking my iPad, which I wasn’t going to need after the presentation, I just brought my iPhone and put a Lightning-to-HDMI dongle in my pocket. That was all that I needed to give the presentation from my iPhone, and I didn’t have to worry about finding a secure place for my iPad or a computer after I was done.
Apple updated its Shortcuts app to version 2.2 this week. Federico Viticci of MacStories is an expert on using that app, and he posted a good review of the new features in Shortcuts. One new feature I like the ability to append something to a note in the Notes app. For example, this allows you to create a simple shortcut to add items to a list.
And finally, Apple posted lots of videos from its presentation which took place on Monday this week. For example, here is a teaser of some of the shows coming to Apple TV+ this Fall. Other folks posted some interesting videos too; how bizarre to see Oprah Winfrey, Reese Withersppon, Jennifer Garner, and Rashida Jones standing on the Apple campus talking about being Apple Girls. But my favorite video on Monday was the video which opened the presentation, a colorful throwback to movie openers of the 1960s with creative use of Apple’s product lineup. This is a fun video and is worth watching:
Yesterday, Apple previewed its upcoming Apple TV+ service and Apple Arcade game service (coming out this Fall) and its Apple Card credit card (coming out this Summer). Apple also released iOS 12.2, which adds immediate support for Apple’s new Apple News+ service. For a $9.99 monthly fee (free for the first month), you get access to articles from hundreds of magazines, articles from the Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times, and other sources. There are virtually no ads (for some issues of some magazines you see a PDF version of the full issue which includes ads, but for most newer articles you don’t see ads), your privacy is ensured (feel free to ready Us Weekly and Star while others assume you are reading The New Yorker), and the monthly fee covers your entire family (for up to six members). I’ve just started to try it out, and it is fun to be able to read interesting articles from magazines that I would probably never go out and purchase, even if I had a long layover in an airport.
Having said that, note that if you have a library card from your local library, you may already have free access to electronic versions of digital magazines on your iPad using an app such as Flipster. Contact your local library for more details.
iOS 12.2 also adds a useful search enhancement to Safari. In the past, as you started to type search terms in the search bar, Safari gave you suggestions of what you might be trying to find. If you saw exactly what you are looking for, you could just tap it and go. But what if the suggestion is just PART of what you are looking for? For example, let’s stay I was looking for the New Orleans Saints schedule from back in 2016. If I type New Orleans Saints one of the suggested options is New Orleans Saints schedule:
In the past, tapping on that would give me the current schedule, which is not what I want. But now, instead of tapping on “new orleans saints schedule” (which would immediately perform a search for those four words) I can tap on the arrow to the right of that entry. That adds the words to my search bar without hitting Go so that I can continue to type, in this case adding 2016 at the end. Now I can hit Go and run the search that I want. I love this feature and I suspect that I’m going to get a lot of use out of it.
If you own an iPad Pro, iOS 12.2 also adds support for the Logitech Crayon, which was introduced in early 2018. At only $69, the Crayon is much less expensive than the $129 Apple Pencil 2, and the Crayon includes much of the guts of an Apple Pencil inside of it. If you aren’t sure how much you want to use a stylus, the Crayon might be a good option for you. Having said that, note that the Crayon can’t attach to the iPad Pro using magnets, doesn’t have inductive charging, doesn’t support pressure sensitivity, and doesn’t support double-tap on the side of the stylus to switch devices.
iOS 12.2 also improves support for AirPlay 2, adds new Animoji (shark, giraffe, owl, and warthog), adds greater customization to the Downtime feature (customize based on the day of the week). There is now support for the second generation AirPods (which should be customers’ hands starting this week), and lots of other smaller improvements.
And finally, like every iOS update, iOS 12.2 enhances security in numerous ways and patches bugs — and for this reason alone you should update all of your devices.
Today at 10am Pacific / 1pm Eastern, Apple is holding an event at its Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, CA to announce its new video service, and perhaps other new services as well. (A news service and a game service are both the subject of rumors.)
You can watch a live stream of the event on this page on Apple’s website. Normally, a page like that would start showing video about a minute or so before the event starts. But this time, Apple actually turned on the camera yesterday — or perhaps, more likely, prepared something to stream so that it looks like that is what is going on. When I checked it out last night, I just saw feeds from various cameras showing a dark, empty theater, such as these:
[UPDATE: Apple finally ended the pre-event live stream at 7am Pacific / 10am Eastern. One of the last things I noticed in the stream this morning was a CarPlay screen showing someone driving to the Steve Jobs theater, arriving around 6:40 Pacific.]
For many years now, Apple has typically avoiding entering an existing market unless it could be a dominant player. I’m fascinated to see the service that Apple proposes to bring to the streaming video market today, and it will be interesting to watch over the next few years how Apple does in this market.
This past weekend, my family and I saw one of the touring productions of Hamilton while it was playing at the Saenger Theater in New Orleans. It was amazing; the best show I’ve ever seen at the Saenger, and I have seen so many over the years. We all loved it. After the show, I watched some clips of Hamilton on Broadway, and as much as I enjoyed the show that we saw, I am jealous of those who saw Lin-Manuel Miranda in the original production as he really brings something special to that role that was missing in the touring production. I was thinking about this as I read articles this week about the new iPad Air and iPad mini. If you are already using a new iPad Pro, those devices are a step down as they don’t support the Apple Pencil 2, don’t have the gorgeous edge-to-edge screen, don’t have the larger 12.9" size, etc. On the other hand, these new iPads are a fraction of the price of an iPad Pro, and they are still really, really good. Much like it might make sense for you to see the touring version of Hamilton instead of paying for the trip to New York and the high cost of Broadway tickets with the original cast, opting for an iPad Air (or if you want something really small, an iPad mini) is still a great option for attorneys using an older iPad, even if it isn’t as good as a brand new, expensive, iPad Pro. “Da da da dat da, dat da da da da ya da.” Sorry, but I can’t get that King George song out of my head. And now, the news of note from the past week:
Apple also announced some new bands for the Apple Watch and some new iPhone cases this week. Attorney John Voorhees of MacStories shows off what is new.
California attorney David Sparks may no longer doing the Mac Power Users podcast with Florida attorney Katie Floyd, but he is still producing MPU episodes with great content for lawyers. In Episode #474 and co-host Stephen Hackett discuss using an iPad instead of a laptop, and Sparks gives lots of examples from his own law practice.
President Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen used an iPhone, and Special Counsel Robert Mueller appears to have gotten access to it. Lauren Feiner of CNBC reports that a year before the FBI raided Cohen’s home and office, the DOJ requested a search warrant and court permission to use Cohen’s face or fingerprints to unlock his iPhone. The article implies that the court granted the motion, but that part of the article isn’t 100% clear.
Many journalists were given early access and posted reviews of the iPad mini yesterday. If you think that a smaller iPad might be right for you, the most helpful reviews that I saw were the review by Jason Snell of Six Colors (who says “Say hello to my little friend, again”) and the review by John Gruber of Daring Fireball (who says “[t]he iPad Mini puts the ‘pad’ in iPad.”).
In an article for Macworld, Jason Snell explains why today’s iPad lineup is the strongest in years. I fully agree. There is something for every price point, and there lots of size and feature options.
Luke Dormehl of Cult of Mac reports that according to a large study by Stanford scientists, an Apple Watch can safely identify atrial fibrillation with very few false positives.
Sarah Brown of 1Password recommends that you change your Facebook password now the Facebook admitted that hundreds of millions of passwords were stored in a plain text file. Ugh. And whether you use 1Password or some other password manager, this is yet another reminder that you should really be using a password manager, right now.
Apple’s GarageBand app is 15 years old this year. Amy Wang of Rolling Stone writes about the origins of GarageBand. I re-watched the video the other the day in which Steve Jobs debuted GarageBand, along with John Mayer, and it is a classic and fantastic Steve Jobs demo.
Just over two years ago, Apple released the AirPods, its first wireless earpods. It immediately became one of my all-time favorite Apple products. In almost every circumstance, I find AirPods to be the best way to listen to an iPhone, iPad, or other device that supports Bluetooth. My only real complaint was that after using my AirPods numerous times throughout the day, virtually every day, for over two years, my battery life decreased. Instead of being able to listen for five or more hours, I was down to less than an hour, and even less on phone calls. It’s easy enough to put them in their case for a few minutes to recharge them, but I’d rather not have to do that.
This is the week before Apple will announce its new streaming video service on March 25. Perhaps to drive-home the point that there will be no new Apple hardware announced next week, Apple has been releasing new hardware every day this week. On Monday, Apple introduced the new iPad Air and iPad mini. On Tuesday, Apple introduced new iMac computers. (The five-year-old iMac I use at home is due for an upgrade, so I ordered one of the new models, and I can’t wait to use it.) On Wednesday, Apple introduced the new version of the AirPods. Apple is still just calling them the AirPods, but I’ll call them the AirPods 2 in this post just to make it clear I’m not talking about the original model.
The AirPods 2 look the same as the original version, but add a few new features:
The (starting) battery life remains five hours for listening to audio (after which you need to put them in the case for a few minutes to charge them again), but you now get three hours of talking on the phone instead of two hours. I would sometimes run out of battery life on long conference calls, so I’m glad that this was improved.
You can now trigger Siri on the AirPods just by saying out loud “Hey Siri.” With the original AirPods, you would have to tap one of the AirPods to trigger Siri.
It is now twice as fast to pair AirPods to a new device. I frequently switch between my iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch, so I’m happy to see this.
While AirPods still cost the same $159, you can pay $40 more to get a version with a case that supports Qi charging — charging by placing it on a charging mat instead of plugging the case into a Lightning cable.
For no extra charge, Apple can engrave some letters onto the AirPods case. My wife and I frequently lose track of which case belongs to which one of us, so putting names on the case sounds like a great idea.
The idea of using a Qi charging device — so-called “wireless charging” — doesn’t appeal to me that much. I’ve had an iPhone that supports Qi for almost a year and a half and I virtually never feel the need to use that feature. But if you already own AirPods and Qi charging appeals to you, you can buy a new Wireless Charging Case that works with your current AirPods for $79.
I was looking to get new AirPods anyway because, as noted above, I’m wearing out the batteries on the AirPods I purchased over two years ago. I ordered the new AirPods yesterday (the $159 version, not the version with the Wireless Charging Case) and I’ll let you know what I think about the new features after I have had some time with them.
As for Apple’s streak of three hardware announcements in three days, I’ve seen some speculation that on Thursday Apple will start selling the AirPower — an Apple version of a Qi charger that Apple first announced back in 2017, when Apple said that it would go on sale in 2018, but Apple missed that date. We’ll see.
This time last year, Apple introduced the sixth generation of the 9.7" iPad, a device which remains on sale today. It isn’t nearly as powerful as the iPad Pro and its screen isn’t nearly as nice as the iPad Pro, but it has two things going for it: it supports the first-generation Apple Pencil, and it is cheap. I think that the $329 version with only 32 GB is too small for most attorneys, but the $429 version with 128 GB is a way to get support for the incredibly useful Apple Pencil while spending far less than an iPad Pro.
Recognizing that there was a large gap in features and price between the iPad and the iPad Pro, yesterday Apple introduced two new mid-range iPads. The names of these new devices are the iPad Air and the iPad mini, which are familiar names; the original iPad mini came out in 2012, and the original iPad Air came out in 2013. But the names are just being recycled; these devices are really improved versions of the 10.5" iPad Pro which came out in 2017. Indeed, this new third generation 10.5" iPad Air even works with the same accessories as the 10.5" iPad Pro, such as the Apple Smart Cover and the Apple Smart Keyboard. The new fifth generation iPad mini is just a smaller version of the same thing.
The new iPads are $100 apart — $399 for the iPad mini or $499 for the iPad Air, both with 64 GB; for an additional $150 you can jump from 64 GB to 256 GB, giving you much more space for all of your documents, photos, and videos. These prices — $399/$549 for the iPad mini and $499/$649 for the iPad Air — are more expensive than the $329/$429 9.7" iPad but cheaper than the iPad Pro, which ranges from $799 to $1549 for the 11" iPad Pro and $999 to $1749 for the 12.9" iPad Pro. So just from a price standpoint, these are mid-range iPads.
From a feature standpoint, these are also mid-range iPads. Like the inexpensive 9.7" iPad, you only get support for the first generation Apple Pencil, and you get a button with Touch ID instead of super-thin bezels with Face ID. But you also get a screen that is much better than the 9.7" iPad, although not quite as nice as the iPad Pro, and you get an A12 bionic chip, the same super-fast chip used in the iPhone XS albeit not the A12X used in the latest versions of the iPad Pro.
If you use an older iPad and it is time to upgrade, spending $649 for the 256 GB version of the 10.5" iPad Air is going to be very compelling to many attorneys as an alternative to spending $949 for the 256 GB version of the 11" iPad Pro. Both devices are almost exactly the same size and weight; the larger screen on the iPad Pro is a result of the smaller bezels. The second generation of the Apple Pencil is only available with the iPad Pro and it is much better than the first generation Pencil for the reasons I explained in this post. But the older version of the Pencil is still a very nice stylus, especially if this will be the first time you have used an iPad that can support an Apple Pencil. (John Gruber of Daring Fireball explains in this post the likely reasons that Apple didn’t support the second generation version of the Apple Pencil.)
As for me, I wouldn’t want to give up the fantastic large screen of my 12.9" iPad Pro. Yes, it is hundreds of dollars more than these new mid-range iPads, but that larger screen is fantastic for reviewing and annotating documents, surfing the web, looking at pictures and videos, etc. But if you want something closer to the size of a traditional iPad, now you have a choice to make.
As for the new iPad mini, I find that size far too small for most folks trying to get work done. Documents, exhibits, etc. are going to be tiny. But I used to own an iPad mini many years ago, and there is something compelling about a small iPad which feels like you are holding a book in your hands. It is still larger than an iPhone for reading emails, reading text, jotting down notes, etc. If you are looking for an electronic version of a smaller notebook, the new iPad mini with Apple Pencil support could be just what you need.
What do you use for keeping track of a grocery list on your iPhone? My wife is a big fan of the Things app for all of her lists, including groceries. Illinois attorney John Voorhees of MacStories recommends the Grocery app for keeping a grocery list. David Chartier explains why the AnyList app works well for grocery lists that you can check off using an Apple Watch. I myself often just use the simple checklist feature of the built-in Notes app. And now, the recent news of note:
Speaking of Sparks, Sparks also recently shared some free templates for use in GoodNotes for planning your day, taking notes during a phone call, and other tasks.
And speaking of Shortcuts, MacStories put together an archive of 150 Shortcuts that you might find useful. I use the Apple Frames shortcut for posting images on iPhone J.D. of an iPhone screen with an iPhone frame around it.
I’m a big fan of Lutron smart home devices with HomeKit support. Zac Hall of 9to5Mac reports that Lutron has just released a wall switch to control a ceiling fan.
And finally, here is a fun video posted by Apple called Private Side emphasizing that the iPhone is the best smartphone to use if privacy is important to you. Very cute.
