By now you\u2019ve all either watched the Apple event this week, or you\u2019ve heard commentary or you\u2019ve read the details of the announcements. I\u2019m not going to cover every detail ad nauseam, but I do have a few observations that I\u2019d like to share.<\/p>\n
I continue to be really happy that Apple has an entry-level iPad that is really capable. This year they brought a couple of things to this device that makes it even more compelling.<\/p>\n
With the announcement of the 5th generation iPad Pro earlier this year, Apple introduced a technology they call Center Stage. I was completely unimpressed when they introduced it, but it\u2019s actually pretty amazing. With Center Stage, Apple uses the wide-angle camera to zoom in on you as the subject of the call.<\/p>\n
Because it has zoomed in on the view it’s capturing, it can pan around the view as you move. This is not a mechanical zoom and pan, it\u2019s taking that larger view and cropping to zoom in. If someone joins you in front of the camera, it zooms back out (“uncropping” if you will) to show both of you.<\/p>\n
This sounds like a gimmick, but it\u2019s so compelling that I find myself starting and joining FaceTime and Zoom calls from my iPad rather than my phone or my Mac.<\/p>\n
For $329 the iPad Nothing continues to be a very compelling product at a great price.<\/p>\n
I have an iPad mini and it has one single job, and that\u2019s to act as a control center for the app Steve and I use to manage the live show. That didn\u2019t keep me from buying a new one when Apple announced it this week.<\/p>\n
You know I\u2019m a fan of Apple Pencil, so I was excited to see the mini get Gen 2 Pencil support. With this upgrade, you will always have your Pencil with you because it sticks to it. I know that seems like a small thing but it\u2019s actually a huge thing. If it\u2019s not right there and<\/em> charged, I simply won\u2019t use it.<\/p>\n This week I\u2019m working on a ScreenCastsOnline tutorial about Joplin and I discovered (on iPad mini) that it supports Apple\u2019s Scribble technology, so I can handwrite with Pencil and have it appear as real text. That\u2019s huge because typing on that tiny little screen is a real chore.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not saying the new iPad mini is going to change my life, but it was<\/em> available for order on day one so that might have had something to do with buying it! In purple.<\/p>\n I was really hoping the rumors were true that the Series 7 Apple Watch would come with squared-off sides, but only because I want it to look<\/em> new. In fact, I suspect it would be a less comfortable form factor with square edges. It was interesting that Apple specifically said a \u201csofter, more rounded edge\u201d, probably to point out why they went farther away from squared off.<\/p>\n Apple Watch Series 7 will have 20% more screen real estate which should be a pretty noticeable increase. It’s not as big as the leap we got from Series 3 to 4, which was a 35% increase, but I’ll still take as much usable screen area as I can get.<\/p>\n I know Apple loves to say things like 15.8 trillion operations per second, but I\u2019m not sure that\u2019s why anyone buys a new iPhone. Even 30% faster 4-core GPU doesn\u2019t blow my dress up.<\/p>\n What did absolutely blow my dress up was when they said that they were bringing sensor shift to the camera on all models of iPhone 13. Sensor shift means that the sensor itself will mechanically<\/em> compensate for your hands shaking when trying to take photos. This technology was only available in the Max version of iPhone last year.<\/p>\n I found a fantastic video breakdown of an iPhone 12 and Max by JerryRigEverything in which he got all the way down to the cameras and explained how they work.<\/p>\nApple Watch Series 7<\/h2>\n
iPhone 13<\/h2>\n