Join David Nason, Thomas Domville, Michael Hansen, and Tyler Stephen in this AppleVis Extra as they dive into the highlights of Apple’s ‘Glowtime’ Event.
transcript
Disclaimer: This transcript is generated by AIKO, an automated transcription service. It is not edited or formatted, and it may not accurately capture the speakers’ names, voices, or content.
Hello there and welcome to AppleViz Extra.
This is episode number 100.
My name is Dave Nason and this is a very exciting day guys.
We're back.
I'm joined by Thomas Domville, Tyler Stephen and Michael Hansen from the AppleViz team.
How are you guys?
I'm good.
I'm doing wonderful.
How are you Mr. Dave?
I am great.
It's an exciting day.
It's our first day back online.
Oh yeah, it's been a really, really exciting day and a big day for us and a big day for the community and love to share in just the outpour of support that we've seen on the website and people are back and it's a great day and it's also an Apple keynote day.
Yes, what timing we have, eh?
Well, it's ironic.
It's like we planned it on purpose.
Yes, so where again?
Every time what happens, I say I can't believe another year has gone by, but here we go. iPhone event again and some other stuff too.
It was an interesting event.
It opened actually with a video which had quite a lot of accessibility slash disability references in it.
I don't know if you guys noticed that, if you had the audio description on.
I did and that was very nice that they incorporate that, isn't it?
I mean, they always do like a million gazillion videos, but it just always seemed to be that first one.
That's always the most important one.
So putting accessibility in there was a nice touch.
Yeah, that was cool.
And then Tim came on stage or wherever he was outside somewhere.
He seemed to be shouting a lot at the start.
I don't know if anyone else noticed that, but yeah, he set the scene.
He mentioned Apple intelligence in pretty much his first sentence, I think.
So I think that kind of set the scene for the afternoon or for the morning.
Right.
It was almost like, you know how WWDC, we had this Christmas gift and we opened it.
It's like, oh, Apple intelligence.
We were so excited.
They just went ba ba ba ba ba ba ba all the way down.
I feel like today they just rewrapped the gift and we just reopened it because they just went through the whole same thing over again.
And you know, Google were accused of exactly the same thing at their Pixel event that they just re-advanced.
I thought I was hearing some familiar things.
They were talking about iOS 18 and all of a sudden I was like, wait a minute, this is not anything new.
I mean, okay, you want to re-advance.
Okay, that's kind of how you know you're getting to the end of the announcement of whatever the product is.
They start talking about the software.
They're refreshing you on what to expect.
Yeah, I think that's the thing about AI marketing is that when you're marketing that and it's so much of that is software based, you got to kind of beat the drums, the AI drums as much as you can.
Apple doesn't use the term, specific term AI as much as some other companies, but you know, same idea.
You have to sort of refresh and make that the big ticket item and make the products, essentially the hardware products in service to the software features.
So it's like the re-gifting.
And by the way, all the new things you're going to be buying and ordering will not have any of the Apple intelligence for another month or two or longer.
But you still want to buy these things because they're conveniently kind of minimized.
I mean, they didn't hear too much about that part.
Like it's coming, but it was all these things that these things are going to do, but you didn't hear too much about the little fine print there.
Yeah.
But there were, there was some hardware too, which they want us to buy and they kicked it off with the Apple watch.
So this is the Apple watch series 10, believe it or not, and bigger screens now.
So on a kind of wider aspect on them, they're now 42 millimeter and 46 millimeter screens.
They say it's also a thinner watch as well and lighter than it was before, which is quite nice, higher refresh rates and things like that.
Brighter screen, some nice, some nice features like that.
Rounded edges, some new colors as well.
It comes a jet black, rose gold or the familiar silver.
How do you guys say that word?
Aluminum?
Yep.
Aluminum, aluminum.
And there is a polished titanium option as well.
So yeah, I haven't gone through all of it, but please fill in any, any other bits of information that you guys want to talk about on that one.
You know, so here's my thought.
First, you notice that there wasn't any new chips in this.
That was the first thing I noticed right off the bat.
I said, okay.
It is an S10, no?
It is an S10, but it uses the same process as the S9.
However, you know, the size is getting close to my 12 mini size.
I could just throw out my 12 mini.
It's getting bigger.
I'm not sure if I like that getting bigger.
However, the lighter and thinner I am, that was interesting.
I do like to see these watch get thinner.
I mean, they're already pretty chunky and anytime they can make it thinner, it'd be great.
And when they talk about moving into titanium, I know that doesn't sound like a lot, but when they tout that in a 15 Pro with a titanium, I didn't think much of it.
And they say it was going to be 10% lighter.
And by golly, when I got my 15 Pro, I was stunned how much lighter it was.
I just compared it with my 14 Pro and my 15 Pro and it felt like a lot more than 10%.
So anything that makes the watch lighter, that would be great.
I was hoping that because it got a little bit bigger, it would have a little bigger battery, but they didn't mention anything about battery life and such.
So I'm guessing that's about the same.
Otherwise, my gosh, they inherited a lot of the ultra stuff, right?
I mean, now you've got the water meter depth and you've got the water temperature in there and now it's got the new resistance that's up to what, 50 meters?
So it stole a lot of the ultra stuff.
And to hear that the ultra didn't get an update, I was kind of taken aback.
Yeah.
It's got some kind of health improvements, they say.
And also, yeah, the stuff for new fitness things like say rowing and kayaking and things like that as well.
But the thing they didn't borrow from the ultra, unfortunately, in my opinion, is the action button.
But yeah, you're right though.
It did take quite a lot.
And right now you can have music and podcasts on you.
I was just going to say that.
I was waiting for a polygraphic kid in there and say, Oh, now you get in there, man.
We'll just erase it.
Okay.
Oh, no, keep it on there.
Keep this whole part in there too.
Oh, we will.
You made a really good point about, you know, that is kind of cool.
Like it said that, you know, the presenter said that you can play media through your watch.
It was really, really cool.
You know, like what I'll be doing is I'll be like, you know, doing stuff and, you know, working on launch or whatever.
And I want to play something, you know, listen to my phone necessarily, but my phone's in my pocket.
But if I could have my audio output go right to my watch, that would be cool.
I'm not sure it's worth the price tag, especially if, you know, I'm replacing the link bracelet that I have for my stainless steel watch since they got rid of stainless steel.
I'm not unhappy about that or anything.
Don't get me started on that.
But, you know, if I were to be upgrading, ask me on Friday what I did.
You know, that is one of the things that I would be interested to be able to play, you know, have media playback.
I'd be curious about the fine print, how it actually works in practice.
If I can run audio, just if it's just music, or could I do any app, the scanner radio app or Bard mobile or something like that, or, you know, or is it only specific things.
It's great for background noise, right?
Yeah.
Because you could play audio from it before, but only through AirPods, is that correct?
Yes, I believe it has to be through AirPods and I don't have AirPods.
So they aren't coming out with a titanium wristband though, Mike.
I know, but it's expensive.
It's like, you know, I think that's like- It's a titanium price.
It's like, you know, I want to say it's, you know, at least a couple hundred dollars.
I don't know what the exact price is.
You know, I didn't look at it other than, you know, to know what the base price was with the rubber band versus, but it's at least over 200, don't quote.
I mean, laugh, rubber band.
That's just pocket change for you.
I mean, that's no big deal.
It's polished, it's really nice.
All right.
Well, if you want to buy it, you let me know and I'll- You're right though, that the health aspect and stealing a lot of the sports stuff.
I mean, now you can have the kayaking and all that skiing and everything right on your watch, which was cool.
Unfortunately, nothing I would ever use, but it's got a decent update.
Yeah.
And the health is, I think the big extra health feature they talked about with sleep apnea, although the series nine will get that as well, if I understood correctly.
I'm really glad they're bringing it to the series nine.
That's a good thing.
That was unexpected and a welcome change.
Yeah.
So I think it's pretty good.
It's as usual, depends what you're on at the moment and whether it's worth the upgrade for you.
If you're a series nine, most likely not, but I'm on a series four that's barely running anymore.
I think you're on the same boat as me, Thomas, aren't you?
Where we couldn't even get watch OS 11 on our watches.
Right.
You know, I'm with you too.
I mean, at this point we need to get it if we want.
I don't think it was disappointing as I mentioned before, it's got the same chip as the S9.
I mean, I suppose that'd still be a good jump for us.
I would like it because it's thinner and it's got the titanium, it's lighter.
This would be something that I am interested in.
Yes.
So it's, it's actually available for pre-order already now.
And of arriving from the 20th, they're available from the 20th.
I've actually ordered one already.
So you get, cause yeah, like I say, I'm on a series four.
So this is six years, I think it's long enough.
So.
Right.
Well, when did you get?
I got jet black aluminum.
So you did buy one.
So that was very curious.
I have to be next.
I have to get one now.
The one thing I paused though, I was like, what size?
There's 42 or 46.
I went 46, but I am still a little, is that, it's really hard to know how big.
I think my current one is 43.
I don't know.
I don't know.
That's the only bit I'm a bit unsure of, but hopefully I'll like it.
It sounds like you're going to go to Tata Amy, Neil and Thomas.
I would like to.
Yeah, I would like to.
I don't know what size I'll get, but I mean, it's definitely on my list because we'll be talking about the iPhone pretty quick and I have zero interest.
I know that I said that every year, but this is, I actually will say, I really don't have any interest.
You're not going to see me buying it because I was.
So the watch will be perfect.
Okay, cool.
And there is an upgrade to the sort of, to the, the Apple watch ultra.
So it's still the ultra two same watch exactly as last year, as far as I can tell, but with new color satin black, again, high grade titanium, some new bands and that starts at $799.
So it's $400 more.
Is it worth $400 more?
Finish your use.
Not for me, but for those that, you know, I watched the Paralympics and I'm just amazed that almost every swimmer in that event were all blind.
And I was just thinking, my God, that Apple ultra would be perfect for all those athletes.
And I know, I believe Alex has an ultra.
So I mean, he's pretty athletic kind of guy exercise and stuff like that.
Yeah.
I think, yeah, it's funny though, that it didn't get, you know, the other upgrades.
It's not the, the new design and that kind of thing.
So it's interesting.
That was strange.
I was like, no ultra update.
That is strange.
Yeah.
So it'll be interesting to see how it sells versus the regular.
I was, I'm, you know, I run and stuff like that, but I still felt aside from the action button, the only, I think that's the only part of it I would like to have, but apart from that, I think the regular one is, is the way to go.
Michael, you don't sound like you're likely to go and upgrade your Apple watch yet.
Is that right?
Yeah.
I'm kind of, I think I'm going to do it.
I mean, knowing me, knowing I'm going to do it and knowing me, I'll probably go with the titanium link brace.
Don't bid or go home, Michael.
On the Apple vis thread number 100, then yes, I am probably going with the, with the titanium Apple watch with the pocket change.
You know the S9, right?
You got an S9, so it's the price you would update.
You probably do the same thing as, yeah.
Yeah.
We do the family upgrade program.
The family upgrade program.
I don't know if you guys are familiar with how this works, but the family upgrade program is ingenious.
Like if I could trademark something, I could trademark the family upgrade program.
And how this works is that you upgrade your phone every year and you ask the dearly love, gently used, almost like new device down to someone else in your family.
And so that's what I, yeah.
Regifting is the theme.
I gave my Apple watch series eight to my uncle.
It was really cool because he, we didn't think, he didn't think he would ever want an Apple watch.
I'm like, just try it.
Just try it.
I'll bring it down.
You could try it.
And, and he absolutely loved it.
And it was just really, really, really enjoying it.
So that's the, the, the family upgrade program.
So in short, yes, I will be, I, I like it.
I mean, you do have an uncle Thomas in Kansas city too.
All right.
Well, let's talk about gifting rather than selling, you know, this is, yeah.
Gifting sounds great.
Yes.
I love that Tyler, you're not an Apple watch guy.
I, I'm guessing you're still not going to be.
That is correct.
Yes.
I am not an Apple watch owner.
Fair enough there though.
Yeah.
Anything else to cover on the Apple watch guys or.
Oh good.
Okay.
Well, what they moved on to next was AirPods.
And this is quite interesting.
Some good stuff, some strange stuff.
So they've got AirPods.
The regular AirPods are AirPods four in either two different modes.
Now you can have with or without the noise cancellation and transparency mode, adaptive audio, all those features that were previously only on the pros.
But as far as I can tell, and again, open to be corrected, but they still don't come with the like rubber tips, the changeable rubber tips of the pros, do they, or do they?
This is the one thing.
And I saw our, our friend Alex on a Mastodon asking the same question.
Yeah.
So how were these ANC if they don't have the rubber tips?
I think the rubber tips are still exclusive to the pro, but I could be wrong on that.
I mean, they were touting pretty big about how they redid the ear tip again or the fist.
They spoke a lot about the fist.
Right.
I mean, my gosh, it was, it was like deja vu from the Apple watch.
It was like the two flavors were incredible.
I mean, it stole a lot of stuff from the pro.
Got spatial audio, they got better transparency.
It was like da, da, da, da, da, better active cancellation.
I was like, my gosh, this is the year for you to get the basic model for the pro features almost.
It was like, oh my gosh, that was more than I anticipated.
And so I was very surprised.
I was disappointed.
There's no really, well, I guess it was more of a sigh of relief that my Air Max did not get a big update other than just a USB-C.
So I got another year.
New colors.
Right.
I was like, so I was ecstatic about that.
So I was happy they didn't.
I mean, it's kind of sad.
It's what's be about four years old now.
It hasn't gotten an update.
I was just kind of stunned.
And it's like, why, why aren't you updating that?
But for the AirPods, I thought it was a substantial, huge update.
If, if all the models that we talk about today, I say this one is the one, um, if you can, for the AirPod pro, then definitely look at the AirPods.
I think there's definitely worth the price.
And I thought this was the biggest, uh, hardware updates of them all.
Yeah, it was, um, they took a lot, even things like the, you know, the features they added where you can nod your head or shake your head to answer Siri or, uh, you know, USB-C, USB-C now charging case, you know, they've updated kind of everything.
Um, just Android version, smaller case.
Um, there was more hours in a charging.
It was just like, I want you to check, check, check, check.
Yeah, really cool.
And the, I believe it's the, just the ANC version has also, you can have the option of the wireless, um, case with the speaker again, like the bros have.
So you can use that for, you know, find my, my AirPods.
So, um, yeah, I think the AirPods four looked like a really good deal.
They are from $129 without the ANC or $179 with the, uh, ANC, sorry, ANC being, uh, noise cancellation.
Um, so yeah, they're pretty good.
Those guys.
What do you think of the AirPods pro though?
That's what I really want to see.
What you guys think of that?
Well, the AirPods pro are interesting.
They didn't get a hardware update today, but Apple did announce a couple of new features for people with mild to moderate hearing loss.
There's new testing, protection, and over the counter hearing aid capabilities.
Meaning, or at least my understanding of this was that AirPods pro will be able to fill the same function as an OTC hearing aid.
Um, a similar concept to what's available if you go to someplace like Costco rather than going into an audiologist and getting professionally fitted.
And that helps for some people.
Um, it's more, except more cost accessible to get an OTC hearing aid, um, than it might be to get, say from a brand like Oticon or Phonak.
And that's interesting, um, because, well, for one thing, I've heard rumors and reports over the years about a hearing aid mode, but nothing concrete until today.
So it was kind of a surprise like that it was announced today because I wasn't expecting a software type announcement for the AirPods pro or really anything.
I didn't think the AirPods pro was really going to get much mentioned today because I know it was just the AirPods four and the AirPods max were on the table.
Um, but I think that's an interesting feature because if I think about like, for me, I have hearing aids, but if there are situations where my AirPods could integrate more seamlessly or have a richer feature set, because those are in with the Apple ecosystem more closely integrated, but then it could also serve some hearing aid functions that could be interesting because it's one device doing sort of a hybrid of things.
So for my use case, that could be interesting.
They spoke, for example, about, um, your hearing profile and how they kind of will match that then when you're, you know, for your phone calls or your media, that kind of thing.
Well, yeah, it's exactly the kind of ecosystem stuff you talk about.
Yeah.
It seems like I totally agree.
Everything that Tyler said is that, um, it, it's now officially official got the commercial grade style, um, testing and things like that, which is, I think it's great because one of the things I can't do with my hearing aids, and this would have been great if I am the mild and moderate, but for those that are just losing hearing just a little bit, you know, that's kind of nice just to put this on, watch a show or two.
Um, another two thing is that because the hearing aids, um, it would be great to be able to take those off, put a AirPods pros in there and be able to hear the same and just be able to watch and do things and listen to music without having to use your hearing aid, which is also another great thing.
But, you know, of course, you know, the first thing my thought is, um, this is not something that you could wear all day long.
I mean, that's the only problem.
I mean, my hearing aids will last 10 days before I have to replace a battery.
AirPods pro is not, and it's going to give you what, four or six hours, and then you have to recharge it.
And so it's not going to be a permanent fixture, but it is definitely something that you just need temporarily.
Um, it's this ideal.
Um, I was surprised that they actually got some, um, official notice in there and they can say so, um, from the FDA and stuff like that.
So I thought it was great.
And the other only other feature that was mentioned was detection, where you can, if you go, if you're in an environment that has a particularly loud sound or potentially harmful sound to your hearing, the noise cancellation on the AirPods pro can apparently reduce the noise that comes into your ears, um, which could help protect your hearing long-term because they say according to Apple's announcement today that a lot of people experience noises incidentally as they go about their life that could later contribute to hearing difficulties.
Yeah, that was kind of funny when they had the video.
Um, they said it real quickly.
A musician is performing.
You can hear him performing.
He's wearing AirPods pro to protect his ears while he's performing.
That's a new one.
Cause you always see them with air protection.
Now they just wear these AirPods pro instead.
I have heard of people wearing earbuds with, um, and putting them into noise cancellation mode at concerts and things to sort of subdue the noise a little bit.
So this is probably doing that, but doing it properly, I guess.
Yeah.
It's just, it's just touting the pro, uh, line that the cancellation is at the pro version.
So you're going to get a much better, uh, reduction in noise cancellation with these than you would with the AirPods 4.
Yeah, exactly.
So anyone in the market for new AirPods of any flavor?
Well, no, your pod max 2.0, but for me, I'll sort of watchful wait on the AirPods pro.
Cause that sounds interesting.
I can't make a decision today and I don't even think that feature is available.
I think it still needs regulatory approval by the FDA and I think other countries regulatory bodies will have to officially approve it before it can actually be used, but I'll definitely watch the space.
See another feature, see the Apple watch, the sleep apnea is not available yet.
It's coming soon.
The, uh, Apple AirPods pro coming soon.
Yeah.
Is this starting to become a thing?
It's going to be a meme because this is crazy.
It's like by now and you'll get it later.
Yeah.
There was a bit of a theme of that.
All right.
I gotta say, uh, I'm on the iPods too.
I am a AirPods pro too.
I am a curious to check this feature out if and when it arrives here.
Um, but I, yeah, I still mine are a few years old now and I still don't need new ones.
Like I'd love to have a USB case because it's the only lightning thing I have left, but that's not enough reason to, to get the new ones.
I don't think so.
That was the first, well, 40 minutes of the, um, event.
The next hour was the big one.
The iPhone 16 range of phones designed for Apple intelligence from the ground up.
That was the, uh, the openings line.
So here comes your repackaging that you spoke about earlier.
So here's a lot of the W W W again, which will be coming soon.
Sorry, I missed that Thomas, which also will be coming soon.
So when you buy these phone, it's not going to come with Apple intelligent.
Just let you know.
Yes, this is true.
So we will come back to software a little later, but yeah, if you buy the new iPhone 16 next week, it's not going to have a lot of these features when you first get the phone.
So, um, it's an interesting way just to type up a phone, I guess.
Um, it comes in some new colors.
It has ultra marine, teal, pink, I believe, white and black.
This is the regular 16 and 16 plus.
They are the same size as they were before 6.1 and 6.7 inch screens.
Uh, they say they have stronger ceramics, shields, glass and brighter screen.
Uh, they have the action button now.
So they've adopted that from last year's bros.
So another example, Thomas of the regular standard model, whatever you want to call it, the entry level model, getting some of those row features.
The action button is there now.
The new camera control, which I thought they may, when I heard rumors about a new camera button, I assumed it will be restricted to the pro models, but apparently it is on the regular iPhone 16 as well.
Um, 18.
So again, they, not exactly the same chip, but the same generation of chip as the bros.
So that's another change.
So it's not the same chip as last year's bros, which is what they've done in the past.
So yeah, what do we think?
Super shocker.
I was, I was shocked when he says they skipped two version and, uh, you're not getting the same chip as you did last year.
Like they have been for a couple of years now.
You have to get a brand new chip that is faster than the 15 pro.
Um, getting the action button and getting the capture button.
Wow.
Um, really again, this is the year, this is the year to get a lot of the pro stuff for the regular price.
Um, I thought this was a great deal.
I was kind of surprised that they kept the iPhone plus has, there's been a lot of rumors that's going to be going away in the next year, but, um, nonetheless, it's still a great price.
I think this, this is dynamite.
I think it's if you've been holding back and, um, then I think this is definitely the one you want to get.
If you still have a 12 or so, this is the year to do it.
Yeah.
I wonder if they're evolving their strategy a little bit with Apple intelligence, because one interesting thing I noticed about that was that with last year with the 15 had the a 16, the chip from the 14 pro, which was released in 2022, but the new Apple intelligence features were only exclusive to the iPhone 15 pro, the a 17.
But now if AI is such an important growth sector for Apple and the tech industry at large, it's not in their interest to restrict something like that capabilities like that to the higher end pro.
So I wonder if that's what they're if their thinking is to have the same chip or the same generation of chips in each so that things like AI or neural processing or machine learning, so that the functions are similar.
Another thing that's interesting about the 16 lineup is that all four models reportedly support wifi seven.
There were rumors that the pro models would support wifi seven.
The reports that I saw before the event were divided on whether that would come this year or next year, because that's still a relatively nascent technology.
But all four models get wifi seven.
So if you're thinking about future proofing, or you just got a wifi seven enabled router in your house, that's, you know, one of the first Apple products that you can use with, you know, taking full advantage of that technology, which will probably become more meaningful in the future as more routers and more end user devices come to support that standard.
I think I have a theory why they did this, and it makes sense to me, but I will see if you guys think alike.
I think the reason they went to version and didn't take the 15 pro chip was so they can make that a difference for the iPhone 16, because I think the iPhone SE is just right around the corner at the beginning of next year.
And I think they didn't want that to have the same chipset because the iPhone SE is much cheaper, but the yet they want to put the AI in that phone as well.
So I bet you they're going to take the A17, which is in the I-15 pro and put it in the SE.
So that's way they're not going to cut in the market of the iPhone 16.
That's just my thought.
That's just my theory.
So they might want some differentiation.
Correct.
Yeah.
I think their differentiation strategy is, you know, call me a cynic, call me a critic, but this kind of touched a nerve for me, is I, you know, that this idea that, you know, when they started, you know, was it the iPhone 15 with the first year, or did they do it with the 14?
They did it the year before.
They did it the year before.
I think that that is just trying to force consumers to the higher end products.
If you want, you know, if you want the latest, you got to go to the higher end and Apple, they can do better than that.
I think that it's good that they are making the iPhone 16, all of the same chip, but I don't expect it to last.
And I think it's all about.
It's an interesting one.
I had the same thought in a sense that, yeah, with the last two years, we would have had the conversation, okay, is it better to buy an iPhone 15 or pick up an iPhone 14 Pro somewhere or the same, you know, 14 or 13 Pro. This year is the first year they've got a bigger distinction between the 15 Pro and the 16.
Yeah.
I think it's harder to.
I think if you want to get, if you want to upgrade your phone and you want the latest phone, this is the year to do it.
It's my, I hope, prove me wrong.
And I'd love to be wrong.
I don't like to be wrong, but I'd love to be wrong on this.
Next year, I don't expect that they will do the same thing.
I think that it'll be back to the stratified.
Only the pros get the latest and everybody else gets what's left.
And Apple, quite frankly, Apple can do better and they should do better with that.
Yeah.
It's a, it's an interesting one.
I suppose the 16 and 16 Pro, like there's a 16 and 16 plus, they start from seven nine nine and eight nine nine.
And I believe the pros start at nine nine nine and one one nine nine.
And really, I think this year it's harder to distinguish the difference between the regular and the pro than it was the last two years.
Would you guys agree with that?
Oh, totally hands down.
It's starting to bleed in, but that's their kind of their fault.
Just like the S9, S10.
I think it's because it's all about the AI.
They just want to make sure all their phones are AI capable.
In order to do that, they had to sacrifice something and that's what they sacrificed.
I will have to say the pricing, I was against kind of stunned.
I was suspecting an upcharge, but when you talk about the iPhone Pro more, because we're talking about size different and that was the only major difference I saw other than their couch of their 4K 120 Hertz, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Yeah.
It's both 4K at 120 FPS or something like that.
Yeah.
So like, yeah, it's a 6.3 inch and 6.9 inch.
So they're slightly larger screens, but I don't know if that's huge, but I don't know how much of a difference that, you know, to Michael, how close is that to your mini?
So I don't have the iPad mini anymore.
I gave it to my and my sister for my niece, but the iPad mini used to be 7.9 inches diagonal.
8.3, but I don't think it's got, I think the screen, I don't think the screen's much bigger.
So that, that, that, that iPhone is creeping up there.
You know, that's the first thing I thought only an inch difference between an older iPad mini and a much smaller body though, because there's no border and this thing anymore.
It seems.
Yeah.
So the interesting thing to see if there really is as much of a difference between, you know, with the thinner, you know, borders and is there really a difference?
I'll find out soon enough and I'll let you guys know.
It has a, this one has the A18 Pro. So they are distinguishing between the two chips.
It was gaked up very technical here for a while, a lot of no wonder if it means anything, practically speaking for like day-to-day use with it.
So what's the, you know, do you know if there's difference between like cores, like if there are more graphics cores or more is difference between in the neural engine.
Do you know the difference between the A18 and the A18 Pro?
We have to wait for a deep dive more technically.
Yeah, a different thing in terms of like number of cores, but I think they said, yeah, it's 15.
I believe it was still the same core, the two core with a four efficient.
I think it was identical.
It's just a lot faster.
They touted some mind blowing speed when it comes to GPUs and AI.
That was a big difference between the two models.
But still, I don't think you're going to see the substantial difference.
I think the only big, big, big thing.
You were planning to make, you were planning to make a professional music video next week, right?
Well, see now that was pretty cool though.
You didn't admit the audio portion of it that you were able to not only put multiple tracks on your, on your audio, whatever that program is and audio memos or voice memos with audio mix.
Voice memo, that's it.
That was pretty impressive how they got four stereo mics in there due to quality.
That could be cool, right?
That could be really cool for like field recording and things like that.
Like that may have some interest.
That got, that got my attention, you know, for, for someone who's blind.
Some people.
That could be cool.
I saw that audio, yeah.
I saw though guys, the like criticism in a sense though still that you still can't say run two different apps and have two different audio sources going in.
Or do you know what I mean?
So it's still very restricted as well.
You can't have say a recording app running and a different app running to record your audio.
So it's really restricted.
They could do it, but they haven't done it, you know?
So it's like, you can do this, but we're still not letting it do as much as you could do with it, like a Mac or something.
I like how they kind of played it up and I thought it was kind of amusing.
They said it now has a better and bigger battery life.
And I'm thinking, well, yeah, it does.
It just grew from 61 to 63 and from 67 to 69, of course it's going to have bigger battery life.
It's about 15% bigger, which is substantial, I have to admit, but that was to be expected in a larger phone, of course.
But the two biggest thing that came to me was the screen size and the bigger battery life.
That was about the only thing that was really wow.
Of course the capture button is nice.
I don't have to unlock the phone to get to the camera button.
So if you're into camera, obviously you can use that.
But then again, you can use that on the record iPhone 16.
So no, there isn't a whole lot of difference that I could see that would make you want to get a pro.
What about, you're a big fan, we know both you and Michael, big fan to Titanium and it comes now, comes in black, white, natural and desert Titanium for those that were interested in the colors.
I have a Titanium already, an iPhone 15 Pro and I just, I am very proud to say this would be the first time since iPhone 12 that I skipped a year.
So there's nothing in here that I have to, that I can say I must have.
You said that last year.
I did.
And they gave me a free phone for it, but I don't think they're going to be a free phone this time.
One thing, AI, one report I saw before coming on was that the 16 Pro is slightly heavier than the 15 Pro. So just keep that at mind because when something might sound slight on paper, it might be a big difference.
I never had a 14 Pro, but I think Thomas, you said from a 14 Pro to a 15 Pro, you had read that it was slightly lighter.
And then when you actually felt it, you did feel a difference.
So if you did get a 16 Pro, you might feel a difference that it's slightly heavier.
Well, that's, again, that's just, it's just pretty practical and normal because you got a bigger size screen.
Of course, it's going to be a little bit heavier.
Yeah.
Did they do that by, did they compensate by slimming down the bezels?
Like how do they, how do they do that?
Do you know?
I don't know.
I mean, it is going from six one to six three.
So there is a little difference.
I'm, there's going to be a slight, we're talking millimeters difference, but I don't think it'd be anything substantial, just enough to say, yes, you will have to have a new case this year.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
And well, when the other isn't, you want a new case is because it needs space for that new camera pro, they called it.
So it's not a button.
It's, this is on all four of the new phones.
Again, which surprised me.
I expected the only pro to get it, but all four got it.
It's both a button and a slider.
It seems it's kind of like, so it's not a physical button, I'm guessing.
It's more a quiet, haptic kind of thing.
Yeah.
That was my, and that actually made me happier because I was reading reports about rumors coming up to the event.
And it was, there was all this talk about a capture button.
And for me personally, this is maybe easy to say, easy for me to say it because I don't use the camera, but it did seem kind of like, why would I, why would I want another hardware, another physical button on my phone?
But what they did today, my, at least my understanding of it is they made it lush with the right side pacing to where if you slide or if you press with different amounts of pressure, you can do different things.
So if you want to take a picture versus if you want to take a video.
So for some people, some people might find that useful if they don't want to have to unlock their phone or open the camera app, or if it's something so fleeting that they want to be as quick as possible when taking the pic.
For me though, that camera improvements really don't add up to much for me, unless it's improving something like a picture I can take and get processed with AI service, like either seeing AI or be my AI, or there is a new visual intelligence feature.
This is what I'm being into, visual intelligence.
And it's, it's neat, but it's not, from what I heard today, it's nothing that hasn't already been done in other services.
I think it's just maybe it's augmented by the camera controls.
And that's maybe a selling point for the iPhone 16 is that the hardware software integration is there.
But I mean, I don't see a queued, like for me, that's not enough of a reason to upgrade, because at least the way they were marketing it today was you see, if you want information on something that you could take a picture of it.
But I would need to see how much better something like that is versus a third party AI service, you know, that's established or they can give is specifically tailored for someone like me who's totally blind and is less interested in looking in an advertisement to buy where I could buy something versus just, you know, what that something is in the first place.
I think what kind of, yeah, that puts me in mind of this, where I hear people speaking about Meta AI now and things with the Ray-Ban glasses and stuff that versus something, some of the ones that are like Beam AI or Vision AI, or these are the ones that are coasters last year that are kind of built for the blind market.
And that kind of difference.
And it's like, will Apple stick just to the mainstream thing?
Or will they actually say, hey, do you know what, we want to go after this accessibility features as well?
And, you know, and do something in that space, it'll be time will tell, I guess.
I agree.
It's got potential.
That's my philosophy in it.
I thought this is a great start.
I mean, it is handy.
I mean, it's much better than to have to unlock everything, find the app you want, where you can just simply just take a picture of my doctor appointment card.
And it just says, oh, you want to put that in your calendar.
So it's got the AI portion to it.
And so there are going to be some use for it.
It's not full flesh like I want it to be quite yet, but it is definitely competing with their Google see.
I think it's going to be kind of elementary, but I think it's got potential.
They can add more to that.
That would be more usable for us.
Wouldn't it be great to be able to just take that picture and it will automatically have a settings where it just does what be my eyes does and tap into chat GPT and gives us a well-described picture.
I mean, there are potential.
I'm curious as well.
I don't know if you guys have a sense of this, whether these visual intelligence features these, that part of Apple intelligence will only work on the 16 range or will people with say the iPhone 15 pro also get access some other way to visual intelligence?
Do we think, I think it's just going to be just to the 16 capture button.
And that's just my, that's where it sounded like to me, just from listening to the keynote.
So it's going to be to those buttons only, but you know, guess what?
It's another item that won't be on your phone until later this year.
Yeah.
Keep reminding us of that.
Aren't you?
Well, that was the theme of this is, and it's kind of, I'm getting kind of blustered because this is becoming a new norm.
It's like, I want to be the head of the technology or I want to catch up with the technology.
We'll just tell them it's coming and they'll get it later.
That didn't need to be the Apple way.
And Apple used to be in the forefront.
They were the first and they were like, how's that?
And now it seems like it's, it's just not Apple-like.
I'm just really disappointed.
Who is going to buy all this just for that stuff?
And when it's not even out yet and people are going to wait a couple months or so, it's not going to be as, I just don't think it's going to sell.
I think it's going to be flat.
I really don't think they're going to sell much this year.
Not until everything comes out.
I think next year's phone will be the one.
Yeah.
It's interesting because it's becoming an industry thing.
I think this kind of selling things on future promises and it's not ideal.
I know, like I would watch Marcus Brownlee, you know, MKB PhD, one of the big YouTube tech guys.
And he always says, never buy a product on future promises.
Not good business to hang your hat on something that you say you're going to deliver and you think you're going to deliver.
Look at, look at these companies with these image, these generative images.
You know, you read, you read reviews of a competitor's product.
I don't know the specific model names.
I'm not going to say it on the podcast because I don't know, I don't know the specifics of what model it was, but it was a competitor and that they had released some, their own version of this generative image and people were doing terrible, arable, horrible things with it.
So don't ever, you know, that, you know, we're going to, we're going to deliver this great thing.
It's going to be great.
You know, you go back and you go, no, or maybe we're not going to put this out there because people are not using it responsibly.
So I don't know.
I just, I, you know, it's not that good business.
I think, I think a lot of people were burned by the likes of the humane AI pin this year and stuff like that as well.
You know, people put money out on that.
And then it turned out to be a flop really.
Yeah.
I think that's what MKBHD said was the worst product he had ever reviewed.
And that's saying a lot because he's done a lot of reviews, a lot of products.
But yeah, the humane and the rabbit and the, yeah, I don't see it.
It's not that we're saying, it's not that we're saying we expect these Apple features to be like that.
They're, I'm sure they're going to be very, very good.
It's just, I guess what you're being told is that you don't want to spend all that money on a phone.
They don't release it till it's ready.
Yeah.
But they're telling you, we'll be here in the future.
And it could be six months before those features.
And if you're like me, it could be another year before you see them.
And that's very true.
Tim Cook did say in WWDC, some of the Apple intelligence may not be ready until a year later.
So I'm just like, wow, this is so un-Apple-like.
So I don't know.
That's just my two cents.
I'm not saying these are, I think Apple will fulfill those promises.
You just be aware that you are not going to get it baked in.
However, I will say this is the big year, as in I can actually say all three products are really, really good in terms of getting the best bang of your buck at the minimum.
All these basic models are really good this year, more so than I have seen in years.
Yeah.
And some of the audio stuff looked cool on the Pro Dino where the different mixes or something like that looked really, really cool and might be of interest to people.
I don't know if it's just connected to the camera or if it works if you're just doing audio capture on its own.
Yeah.
There's some pretty cool camera stuff they had going, especially when they did the video on the weekend and how they were using the slow-mo and all the things.
They were cinematic stuff.
They were really posing on a lot.
Yeah.
And there's new MagSafe charger and P2 charging so faster.
Yeah, it's 25 watts, folks.
And so that new MagSafe, that is incredible speed of charging.
That is, wow, that's really good.
If you really want that fast charging, that 25 watts MagSafe is, wow, that's pretty good.
Yeah, absolutely.
All the iPhone 16s, they are available to pre-order on Friday.
This Friday the 13th.
Oh, it's Friday the 13th.
And they will arrive a week later, the bone-sailing shops on the 20th.
No, watch me.
I'm not going to order it.
I know my wife is going to order one and I think that's going to be the one for the family.
So she'll have a family program of her phone handing me down.
I'm on a 15 Pro, so I'm going to stick with my 15 Pro. It would have to be something pretty amazing to get me to upgrade after one year these days.
Tyler, where are you?
I have a 15 Pro, so I'm not really looking to upgrade.
I didn't see anything today that would really wow me to that point.
So I think for people who have a 15 Pro, unless you really want the camera controls or are a creative professional, I don't see much in it for 15 Pro users.
It could be if you add maybe a 12 or a 13, you get a more substantial upgrade.
Yeah, I think that's the way of it these days.
Michael, where are you at?
16 Pro Max.
That's not going to surprise anybody.
Anybody that knows me knows that was a foregone conclusion.
I did the 15 Pro last year because of sticker shock, and I did not want to be walking around saying that I got a $1,200 phone, excuse me, $1,199 phone, not $1,200, it's $1,199.
But I had battery anxiety.
I never ran it down to a point where I was in low battery territory, but I really do.
Battery life is worth something to me, and it was something that I realized pretty quickly that I probably would have been happy here with something with better battery life.
So I'm going to be going to the 16 Pro Max.
I got somebody in my family that's already wanting the 15 Pro, never mind that the reason they want it is because of the Apple Intelligence that isn't available yet, Thomas.
But I'll still give it to him now and tell him they can get it.
Don't we all want to be his family?
I mean, he's giving everything away.
Well, the thing about Apple Intelligence is if this family member wanted it bad enough, they could just put 18.1 on just for testing.
That means I'm going to be doing the tech support for that.
So that answer, that will be a no.
That is a nice idea then.
They will not be informed that a data program exists.
Yes, we will not be doing that.
We are just saying no to that.
Yes.
You've got to manage your ticket influx.
That was our hardware today.
All is pretty much as expected, was it?
Or anything to update as a surprise?
It was everything I've heard.
The watch was what I expected.
The iPhone 16 Pro was what I expected.
The only thing I wasn't expecting, and the bigger screen size I was expecting, the only thing that caught me by surprise is that all four models got this capture button, and the iPhone 16 got a bigger chip than the 15 Pro, and that the AirPods pretty much stole everything from the Ultra, or I'm sorry, the AirPods Pro, and I was surprised the Apple Watch stole all the Ultra stuff too.
So I was just shocked about those.
Yeah, I agree.
I think you said earlier, Thomas, this is the year of the non-Pro is actually probably where the value is.
Exactly.
This is the year, or if you want to wait out into the iPhone SE, I think that is going to be a great phone.
I really do think you're going to get the iPhone 15 Pro chip.
I think you're going to get the AI that you want out of an SE.
It's going to be on a new chassis and everything.
You're going to get Face ID on it.
It's going to feel like you got an iPhone 15.
Interesting.
Well, a little word on software, shall we guys?
So iOS 18, iPad OS 18, WatchOS 11, Mac OS, Sonoba, and the other is the TV and so on.
Sequoia, what did I say?
There's Sonoba.
Oh, okay.
Oh, there is a new version of, I saw that there was a new RC, it's a maintenance RC release for Sonoma 14.7.
So you're technically right that there is a new Sonoma update coming alongside Sequoia.
But yeah, so iOS 18, iPad OS 18, WatchOS 11, Mac OS, Sequoia, Vision OS 2, and Mac OS Sonoma 14.7, and iOS 17.7, I believe, as well.
TV OS 18.
TV OS 11.
But anyway, those new ones, they're coming out next Monday, the 16th of September.
They will be released.
So the RCs, the release candidates, are out for those in the beta program now.
And I think it's fair to say we'll have some content, guys.
Oh yeah.
Yep.
Yep.
I think people are going to be really happy with iOS 18.
I think people are going to like it.
I think you're going to find that as software releases go, this is one release where I am confident in telling people, yeah, telling my friends who are not techy people, hey, you can upgrade to this safely on release day.
So I think people are going to be really, really excited with iOS 18.
What about Mac OS Sequoia, Tyler?
It's pretty good.
I wouldn't say I've seen any show-stopping bugs in my use of it.
One thing that is disappointing is that a new feature, one of the big new features announced this year, mainstream features, was iPhone mirroring.
And you cannot use that with VoiceOver.
And I don't know if I did have it down as a bug.
I don't know what Apple, if they plan to put any thought into it.
And what's interesting about it is I can see VoiceOver working with it because audio can be streamed from the phone to the Mac, and the Mac's keyboard can be used to control the iPhone.
So, at least in theory, it's not inconceivable to imagine VoiceOver working to mirror the iPhone.
And that's a feature where I could see myself using because there are apps on my iPhone that I don't have on my Mac.
But if I get notifications from those apps, and if I'm working on my Mac, I don't want to have to stop using my Mac, pull out my iPhone, just to view that sub.
So I would love to be able to use iPhone mirroring, in theory, to get those notifications on my Mac, use similar VoiceOver commands as if my Mac's keyboard was connected like any other hardware keyboard to my iPhone.
But as of right now, you cannot do that.
That does not work.
There is no VoiceOver accessibility with iPhone mirroring apps.
That's disappointing.
Very disappointing.
Other than that, there's the new Passwords app, which is pretty good.
That's something I've been wanting for a long time because iCloud Keychain, it's been buried in settings for a while on all the platforms, macOS, iOS, iPadOS.
But this makes it more visible and a little better organized, in my opinion.
As far as VoiceOver changes, I would say the biggest change is the command customization.
I don't know if any of you guys are testing Sequoia, but to put it short, they've done away with the classic commanders, the numpad, trackpad, keyboard, and quick nav commanders, and have changed so that each command can be customized.
You can go through a list of VoiceOver commands and customize them, whether they're built-in or user-defined.
You're no longer limited to the option key, for example, for keyboard commanders.
In macOS Sonoma, if I wanted to open Safari, I'd hold down the right option key, which is my keyboard commander modifier, and press the letter S with Sequoia.
I could do that, but I could also make a control option command because the via modifier can be used to make user-defined commands.
So it opens another window for people who find VoiceOver on Mac commands difficult to perform, or maybe with limited hand mobility.
That's one of the main criticisms I've heard over the years of VoiceOver in macOS is that the commands are difficult to perform, so some people might find that useful.
Then, of course, there's the voice rotor, which is the same on iOS.
You can customize how many voices appear if you quickly change.
Bugs-wise, there are a few bugs, which we'll have documented next week, but again, I wouldn't say anything serious or show-stopping, but yeah, that's pretty much a summary of what I can find in Sequoia.
Have any of you guys had any experience with it?
No, I'm interested to though.
I'm glad to know I can maybe safely upgrade, hopefully, because Sonoma was a tough cycle.
I think it's for a lot of people, several users.
Sonoma was, yeah, it was up the right way.
The tough thing for me as a tester, and you see it maybe more with macOS and other platforms, is the use cases are so broad, it is hard to make up or to really prognosticate how safe it is for a given use case.
I would say, in general, at least what I've found is it is pretty solid as far as new updates go.
I've been testing it on a secondary volume on my Mac.
I never put a macOS beta on my daily driver, but yeah.
That's Sequoia.
I would say you get similar vibes with iOS 18 as far as features and bugs.
There aren't bugs, I wouldn't say there's anything real serious in iOS 18 either from my use.
I'd agree.
I think, as Michael said, it's a pretty safe upgrade for iOS 18.
We will have a list of bugs up, but I don't think there's any real showstoppers there at all.
They did release the RC today.
I haven't tested anything in that yet.
I haven't had the opportunity.
But one pretty nasty bug is the lock screen.
In recent builds, I've not been able to customize the lock screen, which I wish something I really liked to do to get rid of the flashlight and camera buttons.
I saw a post from a maven on our own website for somebody saying it was fixed in the RC.
Like you, I haven't had a chance to look at it yet.
There is also a workaround to that one, which is if you go into settings and go to wallpaper, you can customize the lock screen from there.
If that bug does persist, but fingers crossed, it will be fixed in the RC in the next month.
So we might need to edit this out then if it is fixed.
Okay.
Yep.
Nah, sure.
It's no harm having people hear about it anyway.
And yeah, there's new stuff like the, I like the new control center.
Personally, you have multiple pages now in your control center.
You can change the size of controls.
You can have, you know, what you want on different pages.
I really like it.
I don't know.
Do you guys like that feature?
Yeah.
I like how you can reorder, rearrange things.
Although I, again, speaking of bugs, and I need to test this as well.
The drop action is not, does not work for me for a while in the beta cycle.
It was just the drop action wasn't there.
You could suck to drag something, but then when you move to drop it, there's, there was no action.
Now there is a drop action, but I've never got it to work.
Um, in my use, it just, it would say it's dropped, but it would never be, the control would never be dropped in the, where I want it to be.
Um, and move things around the other way by drag, literally physically dragging your, it around the screen, I think.
Um, but yeah, it's, it's nice on the voiceover side.
I mean, there's, there's actually a tutorial now, which is really cool.
There's a list of new features, which is long overdue, I think.
And I think, I don't know, are you any, any of you guys, I'm not, are any of you guys braille screen input users?
Cause that seems to be one of the big, I am.
And that's really, really cool what they've done with braille screen input.
Number one, they've made it more responsive at number two is how you can use it to type in more fields.
The braille command, um, mode where you can kind of use braille display commands using braille screen input.
Um, that's really, really cool.
I, I don't know nearly enough about it to, um, you know, other than to say that I've tried it, you know, I use braille screen input all the time and that's how I text and it's faster, it's more responsive.
Um, but it's really, really cool.
I think that the braille command, uh, thing will be really, really cool, especially for people who, um, you know, are very, you know, confident with braille, but maybe they don't like the touchscreen concept, um, as much.
I think it'd be a really, really, really cool thing.
A really, really great, great, great thing.
And, um, people will really enjoy that.
Yeah.
The command mode, it's similar to, well, people who use refreshable braille displays, but also for people who use note, like a braille note taker.
If some people who, if that's your thing, then braille screen input, if you might want to give that a look, um, cause you can use some of the same commands or the same types of commands as you'd use on something like a dedicated note taker.
Exactly.
Great comparison.
That was the comparison I was looking for, Tyler, but couldn't bring to mind, but yes, the note taker, if you're using, if you've used a note taker, uh, you know, anything like that, it's, it's, it's like the iOS for that.
Yeah.
Cool.
We'll have a whole, um, article about all of the new stuff for, uh, blind and deafblind users.
Scott Davert has done his fantastic article again, that will be out between now and next Monday.
I'm not sure yet which date, Michael, when we're, when we're sending that one out, but it'll be, it'll be available soon.
And Thomas, um, I think you'll have a few podcasts for us, I guess.
I will have a few podcasts out there that will go through a lot of the accessibility area.
Um, there's a lot of things to cover this year, a lot of little things, nothing major other than the BSI.
I think that was the biggest thing, but yep, you can expect a few podcasts from me as well.
Yeah.
Brilliant.
I think everybody gets a lot from them every year.
Um, so yeah, really looking forward to it.
I think, um, it's been, it's been an interesting event today.
Alex, of course, will have his blog post up as well, covering, um, today's announcements.
If you want to read about them or, uh, recap any of us, it's all there for you.
And yeah, look out over the next week to two weeks, uh, even we'll have loads of, uh, podcasts and articles all about, uh, iOS 18 and Mac OS Sequoia and everything else new.
And I'm sure the community will be, uh, absolutely buzzing with lots of, uh, posts and comments and, uh, and sharing.
So yeah, I think it's going to be good.
So yeah, let us wrap up.
I just want to say a huge welcome back to everybody to appleviz.com.
We're delighted to be back and thanks for listening.
Uh, thanks to Michael, Thomas and Tyler for, uh, joining me today.
Thanks for having me.
Yep.
Thanks for having me.
Bye bye.
Great job, Dave.
You know, um, I was, I was thinking in, in, you know, and we're thinking about doing, you know, as I kind of, you know, thinking about different types of things for the ideas that I want to throw out to the team for, you know, long, long-term.
And I, and I see this idea of, um, specializing team members specialize and you, you do such a great job with the podcast.
We've got some dedicated bloggers.
So just, uh, really, really appreciative.
Um, you know, especially for people taking, you know, their volunteer time to do something like this late at night.
Um, thank you.
Thank you so much.
If it were me, I would be, uh, I would be asleep.
So thanks so much.
I have to, I have to, uh, rush off here guys.
Um, but, uh, thanks.
Thanks so much for having me.
Oh, thank you.
It's, we haven't had John in a long time, so it's really good to have you.
Yes.
It was fun.
I, you know, I really, really enjoyed it.
So, uh, thanks so much guys.
Thomas, do you need help or are you going to be able to get this on or what do you need from me?
Oh, I'll have it done.
It won't probably won't be tonight, but it'll be definitely tomorrow.
Okay.
That okay?
Yeah.
Sounds good to me.
Just let me know if you need something from me.
Okay.
That sounds good.
Thanks guys.
Oh, do you want to, um, or does someone want to put out to the team if we're going to have a call discuss, you know, finalizing the bug list or anything like that?
I told Michael to mention that to the team.
I think that'd be a good idea.
And so I'll remind him to send that to the team.
Okay.
If you make it for a back, give us, if the RCs are today, give us a couple of days, I guess, to, yeah, check everything and cross check everything.
I agree.
Thank you, Dave.
Thank you, Tyler.
Take care and I'll talk with you later.
Thank you.
All right.
Bye bye guys.
Bye.
See ya. . you