A little over a month ago, my wife and I had our 21 year wedding anniversary. We celebrated with a couple of evenings away from home, which was welcomed. We had a nice, romantic dinner. We relaxed. It was great…except for one small detail. We returned home on Sunday, and that night I opened my AirPods case like I always do to get my AirPods before going to sleep. It was empty.
Photo Source: MacRumors
Not to be outdone by 9to5Mac and Mark Gurman, Ming-Chi Kuo has leaked some new information (via MacRumors) on the coming iPad Pros, the Apple Watch, and other odds and ends ahead of Apple’s event on Wednesday. Let’s take a look at some of the highlights, and whether they make sense or not.
Photo Source: 9to5Mac
It won’t be long now. An Apple Event to announce a new iPhone lineup and potentially several other devices is less than a month away. The fact that there are three new phones coming is really old news. Like 10 months old, at this point. The rumor mill never sleeps, right? The sizes, screen types, resolutions, astrological signs, etc of these phones have also been widely publicized over the last six months. We are close enough to the event now that this information should actually be reliable. Honestly, its nice to see that the leakers got it right this year. It’s been relatively drama free now that no one really cares about notches, missing headphone jacks, or the end of TouchID.
One of the first things I noticed about my the case for my AirPods was that it is a scratch magnet. Within a week, I could see enough that it bothered me. If you don’t want that to happen to your AirPods case, then do we have a deal for you.
The WWDC Keynote is tomorrow, and predictions are everywhere. Although, just like mine, most seem to be nothing more than guesses. Some may be more educated than others, but it feels like there is even less solid information out there this year than last, and that’s saying something. Apple may struggle keeping hardware a secret, but they seem to have the software side down on lockdown.
I’ve covered predictions relating to Siri, the iPad Pro, the Apple Watch, iOS 12, and Services over the last three weeks. Now, as we enter the final stretch toward the big event, here are some of the best of the rest that I hope we will see tomorrow.
I’ve been wondering where Apple would go next with wearables. Today, we have a report from the ever-busy Ming-Chi Quo indicting that Apple will be following up their very successful AirPods with a brand new set of Apple-branded over-the-ear headphones.
The Apple Watch and HomePod share a connection in that they are the two most recent new hardware platforms released by Apple. Unfortunately, other than having a variant of iOS at their respective cores, this is all they share. What would seem to be an obvious partnership, with the Apple Watch able to play and control music through the HomePod via AirPlay, is currently an oddly disjointed relationship.
Despite the fact that we just got brand new hardware from Apple just yesterday in the HomePod, let’s be honest. It isn’t for everyone. However, thanks to Apple’s wide ranging product lineup, there’s always something else coming just around the corner. In this case, it may be sooner than you think. According to a few different reports over the last week or so, we have a pretty good idea about as many as eight new Apple products that will be released over the course of this year.
I’ve seen an interesting combination of concern, complaints, dismissiveness, and derision over the HomePod across Twitter, Apple blogs, and tech sites over the past few days. The preorder and announcement of the final release date for the device, as well as a lack of any other substantive Apple news at the moment seem to have stoked the fires of discussion and opinion.
I can understand many of the reasons, and I even agree with many of you that Siri isn’t on par with other digital assistants in many ways, that the HomePod’s high price could be a limiting factor, and that it is showing up more than fashionably late to a fast-moving party. However, despite the concerns and complaints, the reasons behind the design and focus of the HomePod still make sense if you look at Apple’s recent hardware and software efforts.
Apple fans know that the AirPods are the current standard when it comes to fully wireless earbuds. Sure, there are higher priced models from Bose that have better sound quality, but aren’t quite in the same class design-wise. However, not everyone wants to drop $150 on a set of earbuds. Also, the AirPods shape just doesn’t fit all users. My wife is a perfect example of this, as they won’t fit in here ears at all.
We are halfway through the month of January, so the time for 2018 predictions and resolutions is at an end. This is a grab bag of items I’ve been thinking about that aren’t as critical as what I’ve already covered, but could still be in play over the course of the year.