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.
There are plenty of great articles around pointing out some of the best iOS and general tech deals coming up over the next few days. If that is more what you are after, take a look at BGR’s or The Huffington Post’s Apple Black Friday Deals Articles. For this Holiday Gift Guide, I’m going to focus less on what sales are out there, and more on potential gifts that can fill various needs for the iOS users in your life.
The first wave of iPhone Xs will be here in just three short days. Time is growing short to finish up preparations that require purchases, so let’s take a look at two more areas that some of you will want to address before your X arrives. Screen protectors have been with us since the first iPhone, and with the price of screen replacements only going up (which I touched on in my installment on AppleCare+), they make more sense than ever. As for headphones, earbuds, aux cords, etc, this won’t be a problem for any of you who are coming from an iPhone 7 or 7 Plus. However, the rest of you need to consider the fact that the X will likely be your first phone without a built-in headphone jack. Let’s take a look at some of your options.
Apple teased its coming wireless charging pad during its iPhone event last week, but we didn’t get too many details. We know that it is compatible with the Qi wireless charging standard, and that Apple has said that they may include compatibility with other Qi-compliant devices. We also know that it will work with the new iPhones 8, 8 Plus, and X, all Apple Watches, and Apple’s AirPods with the new Wireless Charging Case that is coming soon. But that’s about all the news that’s fit to print, for now.
This time last year, we were being inundated with all of the reports and rumors of a new iPhone without a headphone jack. There was endless debate in tech blogs and on podcasts leading up to the release, then we had Phil Schiller telling us how “brave” Apple was. Then we had more hand-wringing and opinions after the new iPhone 7 and 7 Plus launched. It finally did die down after a while, but it was all anyone in tech was talking about for a LONG time.
I’ve been covering my experience with Apple’s AirPods in a series of articles since I got them a little over a month ago. Over the first two installments (here and here), all was well and Apple’s popular new wearable really grew on me more than I expected. Unfortunately, I ran into a few problems that I covered in my third installment.