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AirTag Teardown Part One: Yeah, This Tracks

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Re: AirTag Teardown Part One: Yeah, This Tracks

#151
post #27

The lack of loophole was disorienting, but then I went and looked up how they want you to attach it, and the hangtag accessories look so pretty https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2021/04/apple-introduces-airt... -- things like the appearance and the sound quality really show a commitment to making polished products rather than practical ones. I've been fairly negative on Apple for a few years and they still need to pull…

> It's hilarious to a certain extent that they built the thing smaller than all the competition and bulk it up with a wad of leather anyhow. That's essentially how I feel when I see the "Our thinnest iPhone ever" slide knowing that 95% of iPhone owners put it in a bulky case. That said, that's not unique to Apple and the phone is at least usable without a case.

Wow I didn’t believe this stat, but sure enough 87% of people use cases on their iPhones. I didn’t know people were so paranoid, I love my iPhone 12 Pro Max because it feels perfect in my hand despite being so large. I feel like a case would ruin that.

I wonder if it’s paranoia or actual clumsiness or maybe just salespeople that get people to buy cases. I’ve owned an iPhone since the 3G and have dropped my naked phone exactly once, my 6 Plus, which was still usable for years after that.

Re: AirTag Teardown Part One: Yeah, This Tracks

#152
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That’s why they’ve excelled in font rendering, colour accuracy, sound fidelity, and input-lag. That'll be why mac laptops connect to bluetooth speakers using the worst default settings for sound fidelity so it sounds like a dying frog. And the input lag is quite terrible when the machine is under any load.

Input lag on an iPhone or an iPad is best in class. The Mac leaves much to be desired. I have never had an issue with Bluetooth on the Mac. Maybe there’s issues if you’re doing audio recording on the headset, but that’s a limitation of bluetooth 4 and would be similar on Linux or Windows. My Linux laptop likes to negotiate HSP (low quality but with audio recording) over HSDP (high quality) with my Bose QC35s, but the…

Default bitpools on mac are very low for audio ime. To fix it, you can run the following:

https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/5rfdj6/pro_tip_signi...

Re: AirTag Teardown Part One: Yeah, This Tracks

#153

What exactly is 'UWB functionality'? Are they using UWB for RF localization? I assume you would need multiple beacons for that? Are they using the phone as a single beacon? Wouldn't this just give you a radius rather than a location?

Yeah maybe. But from what I've heard the product can do, it'll guide you with a heading pointing towards where the product is.

It may be that the iPhone has some sort of dual antenna functionality where the difference in time between signals being recieved can be used to find the direction.

Re: AirTag Teardown Part One: Yeah, This Tracks

#154
post #151
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's hilarious to a certain extent that they built the thing smaller than all the competition and bulk it up with a wad of leather anyhow. That's essentially how I feel when I see the "Our thinnest iPhone ever" slide knowing that 95% of iPhone owners put it in a bulky case. That said, that's not unique to Apple and the phone is at least usable without a case.

Wow I didn’t believe this stat, but sure enough 87% of people use cases on their iPhones. I didn’t know people were so paranoid, I love my iPhone 12 Pro Max because it feels perfect in my hand despite being so large. I feel like a case would ruin that. I wonder if it’s paranoia or actual clumsiness or maybe just salespeople that get people to buy cases. I’ve owned an iPhone since the 3G and have dropped my naked phon…

[deleted]

Re: AirTag Teardown Part One: Yeah, This Tracks

#155
post #151
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's hilarious to a certain extent that they built the thing smaller than all the competition and bulk it up with a wad of leather anyhow. That's essentially how I feel when I see the "Our thinnest iPhone ever" slide knowing that 95% of iPhone owners put it in a bulky case. That said, that's not unique to Apple and the phone is at least usable without a case.

Wow I didn’t believe this stat, but sure enough 87% of people use cases on their iPhones. I didn’t know people were so paranoid, I love my iPhone 12 Pro Max because it feels perfect in my hand despite being so large. I feel like a case would ruin that. I wonder if it’s paranoia or actual clumsiness or maybe just salespeople that get people to buy cases. I’ve owned an iPhone since the 3G and have dropped my naked phon…

Glass is much more slippery than a plastic or leather case. I’ve cracked a caseless phone’s screen after it slipped off a slightly off-level table. I always use leather cases now and no longer have the problem of my phone randomly slipping off of surfaces or even falling out of my greasy hands.

Re: AirTag Teardown Part One: Yeah, This Tracks

#156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I’ll go out on a limb here and guess that their guiding principle with this was as it is with every other portable device they have now - make it as small as possible and let people extend it if they want Here I am, desperately clutching my nearly-obsolete iPhone in my small hands, waiting for Apple to return to this principle and make an iPhone that I can comfortably use one-handed again.

Which iPhone do you have that is much smaller than the 12 Mini?

I have the 8 (I think? whichever one was the last to have the home button) and it’s only slighty bigger than the 12 Mini in size but it’s actually the screen on the newer phones that are too big. There isn’t a way to comfortably hold it and reach all of the real estate one-handed.

I know I can do the stupid scoot the screen down thing but if you’ve ever tried to use that on a regular basis you’d see how worthless and frustrating it is. It’s a waste of time and sometimes it hides part of the screen that I need to see!

Honestly, if Apple would just let me set a top bar as like a clock or something across the whole iOS and shrink the functional display to the size of the iPhone 4 I’d be a happy camper. It would be ugly as anything but I don’t even care because it would, ironically, be far more functional to me if I could just set the top quarter inch of the screen to be completely non-functional.

Re: AirTag Teardown Part One: Yeah, This Tracks

#157
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably not everyone. But for me, after spending $1400 I’m putting it in a case. My Xs Max is nearly two and a half years old now and I took it out of the case for it’s scheduled cleaning and after wiping it down and getting the built up pocket crud out of the crevices where the case and phone meet, its like brand new. I’m hoping I can get at least another year out of this thing. Battery is excellent. iOS doesn’t se…

The reason for putting it in a case is not the price tag. People buy 100k cars and don't cover the outer surfaces with protective plastic. The problem is Apple builds the phone in a fragile manner, prone to breaking and scratching. It's true of other phones too.

I want the shock absorber of my $1000 device to be changeable, not built into the phone so that when I go to sell it, it looks like a banged up Nokia brick with shredded rubber bumpers with a faded scratched screen I can barely read anymore.

Re: AirTag Teardown Part One: Yeah, This Tracks

#158

The lack of loophole was disorienting, but then I went and looked up how they want you to attach it, and the hangtag accessories look so pretty https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2021/04/apple-introduces-airt... -- things like the appearance and the sound quality really show a commitment to making polished products rather than practical ones. I've been fairly negative on Apple for a few years and they still need to pull…

People debate if Apple is about primarily hardware or software but I posit their forte is marketing. They make good products but also consistently beat out superior competition by engineering desirability.

Re: AirTag Teardown Part One: Yeah, This Tracks

#159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought one for my key, and am very happy.

Honestly, they look very useful to me. I'm just being sarcastic to the grandparent humblebrag. I don't lose my keys, but I'm so bad at keeping track of them I keep them on a lanyard and hang them around my neck (which is why I don't lose them.)

Sorry, didnt catch the sarcasm through text :)

Re: AirTag Teardown Part One: Yeah, This Tracks

#160
post #147

> All three trackers open up with finger power—no other tools required! That said, the AirTag is by far the most difficult, I'm a little bit uncomfortable about this, because it gives access to a coin cell battery. People under-estimate how dangerous batteries can be. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6134a1.htm > From 1997 to 2010, an estimated 40,400 children aged <13 years were treated in hospital emerge…

Btw, would swallowing the AirTag whole be just as dangerous? They're water resistant, but I'm assuming that they won't stay sealed in stomach conditions.
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