jeremyxmentzell

This past Apple Keynote was mostly lack-luster for me.

I’m still sifting through everything as embargoes are lifting but my opinions on this years offerings still seem mostly unchanged.

iPhones Xs & Xs Max

Names:

• This remains poor for consumers.
• I’m not a fan of mixing a letter representing numbers with letters that don’t represent numbers.
• Max. Really? This isn’t a Droid and you’re not Motorola. Stop it. You can do better.
• If we’re not doing “Pro” or “Air” like the rest of the product lines – figure something else out, do it quickly cause as an enthusiast that relies on this technology – its kind of embarrassing.

Screens:

• These are amazing screens.
• Except for the iPhone XR-
  • See Unbox Therapy’s take …eek.
• Except for that notch – I cannot stand it, nor the rabbit ears it creates
  • Honestly – just go up to your TV or monitor with a piece of cardboard – stick it on the side and obscure one of the sides a bit. You wanna watch YouTube like that?
  • When they’ve got the tech to fix this – then “blow-away” will be an accurate descriptor here.
    • Or they could’ve…y’know just created matching SUPER thin bezels on either side to maintain the rectangular aspect ratios (or even a rounded one) until they could shrink the FaceID & True Depth camera system to really go edge to edge but maybe that’s a crazy idea.
• Tap to Wake – annoying its taken this long to implement but really glad its in the line up.

Tech:

• Apple’s chips are becoming legendary.
• The increases in computational ability continue to impress but to what end?
  • Progress for progress’ sake; seems like it could be wasteful.
  • How does the computational magnitude affect everyday life and usage? I think this deserved more consideration and maybe more solidified examples rather than AR demos for narrow demographics.
• Augmented Reality is really very impressive; I don’t see enough practical uses and I hope that changes very soon.
  • However – if this technology release is laying the minimal viable groundwork for everyday AR-Enabled Eyewear then it makes a TON of sense and I will be so stoked, poor; but stoked.

Photographic Capabilities:

• Smart HDR looks great but we’re really just furthering our foray into the realm of computational photography.
• The regular updating of the sensor capabilities should continue to get better.
• 12MP?
  • I realize this is an “S” release but I really expected to see separation between XS and XS Max camera abilities to help justify the higher investment.
  • I’d like to see the larger style start pushing those pixels into the 16+ zone
    • Yes. 12MP is a lot but I’m talking about their “Max” product here. Its supposed to be “more” than their Plus line.
• Bokeh & Depth Control are really cool but seemingly artificially limited to newer A-Series chipsets.
  • Focos literally runs these same features just fine on my 7+
    • That’s right my little measly A10 Fusion with that app can perform a crazily similar function as that super-powered A12 Bionic’s Neural Engine.
    • I’m not disparaging the A12 – it looks sweet but artificially gating features does not sit well with me; never has.
  • Imagine if Apple would’ve just back-ported the features, maybe even a limited-function Portrait Lighting effect –  what a wonderful quality of life improvement and goodwill it could’ve generated considering the 7+ and 8+ are still in their presented lineup.

Storage:

• This was another let down for me.
• Making 64GBs the base is fantastic; I think this is the right call.
• Not offering the the middle ground at 128GBs – instead doubling that and offering it as the middle, again; seems wasteful.
  • I’m sure Apple has the numbers on this but I remain unconvinced all that storage is necessary for even middle-of-the-road users.
  • Isn’t everyone supposed to be utilizing Cloud storage – from them or other vendors?
  • Who in the heck needs 512GB of storage in their phone?
    • I understand these are becoming a lot of users’ primary computing device; I’ve yet to encounter anyone that “needed” more than 128GBs.
    • That’s not a reason to not offer higher options but for the investment, it might be too much. I said might.
    • The only use case I could come up with is perhaps a videographer. Maybe there are more but I really can’t imagine its such a percentage to justify that being the top storage option versus keeping a 64/128/256 lineup and pushing ASP down.
      • Amusingly the Xr offers this specific storage lineup.

Power:

• Qi-compatible across the board should be standard. Well done.
  • Disappointed there was no news on AirPower; I really hope this product is still  in the pipeline but the mass removal of almost all traces of it from their marketing doesn’t bode well.
• Still great battery life
  • Xs  – 2658 mAh
  • Xs – Max 3174 mAh
  • Xr – 2942 mAh
• It’s never enough.

iPhone Xr

This is the most disappointing offering of the whole event. If this device would’ve been offered with the Dual-Camera system at its existing price points – this would’ve easily been the best offering leaving only the leading premium screen tech and size at the higher edges in an almost aspirational zone. Without – it remains a flawed, confusing offering. Why invest in this when for not that much more you get so much better features and likely resale value in the Xs?

Overall:

• These look like amazing phones but flawed by pernicious annoyances in hardware and feature offerings that are likely artificially placed by design or desire to confuse consumer opinions and choice in hopes of selling more units.

Recommendation –

If you don’t need to upgrade; I’d sit this line out.

If you do need to upgrade – I’m not sure its worth the cost with the features offered right now. Look to the 8 & 8+ for better value.

If you’re hellbent on going “X” – be very very very careful which features you want or need and know your choice device offers them before making your selection.

If you’ve got cash to burn – Take it to the Max. All the way. You’re basically paying for a baseline 1.3GHz MacBook with 512GB storage so…you still sure you want to take it to the Max?

Apple Watch Series 4

• This is easily the BEST new product offered.
• The refinement of the form and functions is incredible.
• Screens size increase looks great.
• Maintaining existing band compatibility is huge.
  • Imagine being able to use the same iPhone case for 4 years – what a collection you would have!
• Heart tracking enhancements are incredible.
  • As I grow and gain life experience, I grow increasingly concerned with how flawed human diagnosis skills can be.
  • I’m not distrustful of medical professionals – they’re professionals for a reason; but being able to build my own baselines to have comparative datasets to show them and discuss if something happens to me or my loved ones to review if I’m incapacitated – I think stacks the deck in my favor; if only a little bit.
    • Also I own the data, its in a secure place and I trust it. I’m not sure everyone else can say that about their health data.
• Back-ported new watch faces to existing devices that have minor functionality changes because of hardware differences.
  • This is exactly the kind of behavior I expect to see on iOS and macOS features and get obviously cranky when this differs.
  • I love vapor, fire and liquid metal – its like the T-1000 is rolling around on my watch.
• Walkie-Talkie is amazing.
  • We need a Dick Tracy-esq watch face. Something that miniaturizes the pick-list interface on the bottom 2/3s of the screen and then converts into the PTT button with a rounded-analog watch face on the top 1/3 of the face.
  • We need parity feature in iOS. I really think this feature has some legs because of its speed.
  • Voice recordings in iMessage were cool but the messy interface of recording it and it appearing in-line in my iMessage conversation just didn’t work.
  • If that microphone button on the right-side of the text input field became a yellow-PTT tied to the recipient; well I’d really like to see that.
    • The additional reason for this is that my headphones and AirPods are attached to my phone WAY more than my watch. If PTT audio flies out of my watch – my office hears it.  If its routed to my phone first – its going to be in my ears. I find both use cases just as probable.
• watchOS 5 has saved my Series 2.
  • watchOS 4 was an unmitigated disaster for me. I regretted updating almost everyday. No point release ever made anything better.
    • Imagine waiting 4-15 seconds every-time you wanted to start a workout that used to take 2 taps-no waiting. It was painful.
  • As soon as I could I got on watchOS 5 Beta and the difference was astounding; no joke – night and day. I got my watch back.
  • As good as it is – the lightyear advances of Series 4 may yet sway me to upgrade but at least with watchOS 5 I have a functional watch again till I make a decision.

Recommendation –

If you’re on a Series 2 or earlier – this is a slam-dunk hardware upgrade. You’re in for a treat; I’d skip the 3.

If your budget doesn’t allow it, watchOS 5 is a great consolation prize – unless you’re on a Series Zero device in which case…I’m so sorry, you must have the patience of a saint and I commend you.

iOS 12

• Simply the best iOS release ever.
• I was unsure about the Beta but I did it anyway – boy did that pay off.
• The change from iOS 11 to 12 was the most stable Beta I’d ever used – at the initial release which blew my mind.
  • I still wonder what the heck happened with the iOS 11 and watchOS 4 releases – it was a dark year for those OSes.
• Siri Shortcuts look like they could be huge; I had problems trying to make them do what I want but that’s nothing new. Just being able to create my own voice commands is pretty amazing.
  • First one – “Lumos Maxima” – I’ll let you guess what it does. 😉
• Screen Time – great addition – I need this on macOS badly…maybe even tvOS?
• Auto-Photo Sharing should be pretty cool now that people can.
• Stacked/Grouped notifications has really made my notification view easier to manage.
• I’m a little salty about Group FaceTime being pulled but if its in before Thanksgiving (preferably Halloween) it won’t be too long of a wait.
  • If it slips Christmas or New Years – that will be very sad.
  • Please let this integrate with tvOS (Not just with Screen Mirroring) so we can build a stand-alone or home-teleconference solution.

Recommendation –

If you’re experiencing problems on iOS 11 or your device seems sluggish – Update to 12 as soon as you can.

If you’re not – congratulations you’re a unicorn and I was very jealous of you all last year without you knowing.

Fingers crossed for another Special Event in October with perhaps some more product releases around iPads, Mac, and AirPods.