Tag: iPhone

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Death to the SIM

For all the hullabaloo in Apple’s announcements last week, one key item was also announced: the iPhone 14 in the US will not come with a spot for a physical SIM card. eSIM, a software-only equivalent, will be the only way to go from now on. Is this a smart move on Apple’s part? Eli Blumenthal has some reporting from some carriers that say “absolutely”. “I think it’s transformational,” Ahmed Khattak, founder and CEO of US Mobile, a mobile virtual network operator that offers service on Verizon and T-Mobile’s respective networks. “I think the fact that it even happened ……

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I Didn’t Mean To Type Duck

Autocorrect is both an amazing invention and a royal pain in the ass. Since the original iPhone, users have struggled against the “smart” system meant to fix misspellings and tapping on virtual keys much smaller than our fingers. But what does the inventor of Autocorrect think about the system? Luckily Joanna Stern at WSJ interviewed Ken Kocienda, the person himself. One thing that strikes me the most is how open Kocienda is to improving the system. I personally run into the “We’ll” and “Well” assumptions all the time. Most of the time my phone gets it wrong. Further, her tip…

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Apple is Coming for Square

Even if you aren’t familiar with the company Square, you’ve seen it and have used it. Square is a payment system for small and medium businesses. They use iPad-like devices that swivel on a countertop and those small square devices that merchants use to take payments. Ever been to a craft fair, street fair, or other events with vendors? They’re everywhere. Apple, not one to ever overlook an opportunity, announced they’ll offer to accept tap-to-pay payments without any additional hardware. The new capability will empower millions of merchants across the US, from small businesses to large retailers, to use their…

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Sorta Face to Unlock

When Apple introduced Face ID in 2017, they never could’ve predicted the world we live in today. Masks are mandatory in many places due to COVID. Many times when we are out and about, this super-fast way of unlocking an iPhone is rendered useless. Apple tried to fix this once. However, there are still tons of iPhone users who do not own an Apple Watch. Now, the upcoming iOS version 15.4 looks to do even more about this. Oliver Haslam at iMore gives more details. The change was first spotted by YouTuber Brandon Butch and comes with a text that…

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And We’re Calling it iPhone

It’s been fifteen years since Steve Jobs spoke those words. A lot of grand claims were made at MacWorld 2007 at the iPhone’s unveiling. Some were seen as laughable. Some were seen as revolutionary. Nearly all of it came true. I (among many others) believe this was Jobs’ pinnacle performance on stage. I remember watching it and being floored over and over with the (LIVE!!) demo. Something as simple as the Slide to Unlock feature garnered amazed reactions. If you didn’t experience the event, even remotely, at the time it is hard to put into words how important it felt.…

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A Rival Ecosystem

When Apple rolls out new products or services, the hook is their ecosystem. People can make fun of “it just works” when things don’t work. However, many ways Apple devices and services have an interplay between them is a huge benefit. Airdrop for starters is amazing. Airplay is another no-hassle way to sling content from one device to another. Even AirPods are part of it with a single-pairing that carries to all your other devices. At CES, Google has unveiled their plans to develop their own ecosystem. The company announced several new features that will be available in 2022: Coming…

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iPhone Ho Hum

Another September is upon us and that means another Apple event where they inevitably say “This is the best iPhone yet” and “Today we’re making the iPhone even better.” Today Apple announced: iPhone 13 (Mini, normal, Pro, and Pro Max), iPad normal and Mini, then Watch Series 7. Ryan Jones, the developer of the awesome Flighty app, put it succinctly. Normal person summary of iPhone 13 Pro:1.5-2.5 hours more battery lifesuper fluid animationslight bluemacro photosPortrait Mode for videosmaller notchbetter cameras https://twitter.com/rjonesy/status/1437846287743848462 I know we’ve reached the point where iPhone updates are incremental. There is really not a tectonic shift year-over-year…

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A Losing Battle: Killing iPhone Apps

Stumbled upon a video from Greg over at AppleExplained with this good explainer about why it’s unnecessary to kill iPhone apps from within the App Switcher. It’s quick, concise, and Greg gets right to the point. The video itself is well done. Not killing apps has a bunch of benefits: Easy way to bring up a recently-used app App resumes right where you left off The app does not need to reload everything over again because it was left in a frozen state. iOS manages all the power and memory without the need for a person to intervene While I…