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Apple introduces new AirTag with longer range and improved findability

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Re: Apple introduces new AirTag with longer range and improved findability

#371

Post by dotancohen »

chasil wrote: post #332
lysace wrote: post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What happens after that? It goes dark? Or it just alerts the thief (stalker victim)?

I have only seen the Google side, just a single time when one of my Chipolos threw an alert on my passenger's Samsung. My Chipolo certainly still works. There are [cheap] tags being sold that are compatible with both Apple Find My and Google's Find Hub . I would rather have a dual-network device than Apple's improved model. Would it be so difficult for Apple to put a hole in the Airtag so it could be directly attache…

Do these tags need to be configured on both networks to support both protocols? If I own an Android device and configure it there, will Apple devices still find the tag? How does that work?

Re: Apple introduces new AirTag with longer range and improved findability

#372

Post by jml7c5 »

subscribed wrote: post #340

Awesome. Time for me to buy my first iPhone then. Sincerely, f** Google. I've been android user since I had to abandon Symbian, and their impotence in this one thing is staggering.

Ironically, one of the reason Google's offerings are (were?) worse is because Google prioritized privacy and required pings from multiple phones to count a tracker as seen.

Re: Apple introduces new AirTag with longer range and improved findability

#373

Post by dotancohen »

pftburger wrote: post #94
jsheard wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Building an attachment point into the tag itself is still beyond current technology though. We just don't know how to do it.

The fundamental issue preventing keyring aperture integration stems from the AirTag’s reliance on inverse-phase magnetic reluctance in the structural substrate. You see, the enclosure maintains a precisely calibrated coefficient offramular expansion. Introducing a penetrative void would destabilize the sinusoidal depleneration required for proper UWB phase conjugation. The resulting spurving bearing misalignment coul…

Thank you Geordi.

Re: Apple introduces new AirTag with longer range and improved findability

#374

Post by musictubes »

storus wrote: post #317
varenc wrote: post #311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's an inherent conflict between use as a theft tracking device, and use as a stalking device. Both situations are pretty indistinguishable. Apple is prioritizing reducing the AirTag's utility to stalkers.

Again prioritizing low cardinality event (stalking) instead of high cardinality event (theft) because of "security", making the device mostly pointless, good only to quickly locate some thing at home (assuming battery still holds after the thing being forgotten for years in a closet).

They are prioritizing safety both personal and litigious. Apple markets it as a way to find lost things, not stolen things. There are trackers you can buy for tracking stolen things. I'm only familiar with ones designed for cars but I'm sure there are others as well.

Re: Apple introduces new AirTag with longer range and improved findability

#375

Post by MengerSponge »

jsheard wrote: post #10
logicalfails wrote: post #6

> The new AirTag is designed with the environment in mind, with 85 percent recycled plastic in the enclosure, 100 percent recycled rare earth elements in all magnets, and 100 percent recycled gold plating in all Apple-designed printed circuit boards. The paper packaging is 100 percent fiber-based and can be easily recycled. I'm no material scientist, but this seems pretty impressive to me that Apple's economy of scal…

Building an attachment point into the tag itself is still beyond current technology though. We just don't know how to do it.

My father-in-law is a builder. It is difficult to get his attention in a magnificent space because he is lost in wonder. We were in an Apple Store together years ago and I asked him what it would cost to build an attachment point to the tag itself. I will never forget his answer… 'We can’t, we don’t know how to do it'

Re: Apple introduces new AirTag with longer range and improved findability

#376

Post by dotancohen »

tavavex wrote: post #278
wmeredith wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the point is to make the smallest unit of functionality possible and then people can integrate that into their use case using attachments, casings, etc. in a way they see fit. It's a good approach for this product in my opinion.

I think this argument would work better if the AirTag in its minimal form wasn't so teardrop-shaped. It feels almost like it was designed to be difficult to integrate into other environments because it lacks any edges or openings. It ensures that anything that could hold it must be at least as big as the AirTag itself. It really confuses me why they couldn't even allow for a single small hole in its edge - it would s…

  > I think this argument would work better if the AirTag in its minimal form wasn't so teardrop-shaped.
That shape is symbolic of the tears of those who wish nothing more than to track where they've left their keys.

Re: Apple introduces new AirTag with longer range and improved findability

#377

Post by dotancohen »

ishtanbul wrote: post #70
jsheard wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Building an attachment point into the tag itself is still beyond current technology though. We just don't know how to do it.

this is the smallest attachment loop i've found. It's rock solid https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09CPTS8JG?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_...

That attachment loop costs more per unit than the dual-protocol tags themselves that another commentator mentioned.

Re: Apple introduces new AirTag with longer range and improved findability

#378

Post by dotancohen »

Brajeshwar wrote: post #107
ishtanbul wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

this is the smallest attachment loop i've found. It's rock solid https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09CPTS8JG?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_...

I use quite a few varieties, including Apple's, and I have found Belkin’s to be an ideal one — small, secure, with a minimal footprint, and available with a keyring or a lanyard. https://www.belkin.com/p/secure-holder-with-key-ring-for-air...

That costs more than the AirTag itself.

Re: Apple introduces new AirTag with longer range and improved findability

#379

Post by dotancohen »

myself248 wrote: post #133
peddling-brink wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you trying to say that the AirTag is so strictly utilitarian, that they couldn’t have found a spot for a lanyard hole? I disagree, they could have, they didn’t want to. Beyond the look, this sure panders to their accessory partners. How big of an industry is the phone case? Should it even exist? The audacity.

Right? Nokias had the equivalent of today's "case" built right into the design of the unit, plenty of durable plastic around the vulnerable parts -- the phone would've been considered unfit for sale if it couldn't survive a drop in out-of-the-box condition. By the time you stripped a dumbphone down to be as vulnerable as one of today's is, it'd be a bare PCB. Nah, probably even in that state, I bet it could handle a…

I dropped my flagship Samsung S24U one time. I was running and it slipped out of my back pocket.

That 1 meter fall resulted in calls unable to be placed, USB charging and ABD does not work, and the microphone for the voice recorder does not work. All that indicates that the daughterboard cable was displaced. But the unworking rear camera indicates that there is a second fault in there as well.

Not to mention the alarmingly large dent in the corner, that shattered the screen protector and likely would have resulted in the screen itself having shattered if no protector were on it.

New phones are designed to break. Contrast with my Note 3 that I carried for 8 years without so much as cracking the screen once.

Re: Apple introduces new AirTag with longer range and improved findability

#380

Post by pavlus »

myself248 wrote: post #133
peddling-brink wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you trying to say that the AirTag is so strictly utilitarian, that they couldn’t have found a spot for a lanyard hole? I disagree, they could have, they didn’t want to. Beyond the look, this sure panders to their accessory partners. How big of an industry is the phone case? Should it even exist? The audacity.

Right? Nokias had the equivalent of today's "case" built right into the design of the unit, plenty of durable plastic around the vulnerable parts -- the phone would've been considered unfit for sale if it couldn't survive a drop in out-of-the-box condition. By the time you stripped a dumbphone down to be as vulnerable as one of today's is, it'd be a bare PCB. Nah, probably even in that state, I bet it could handle a…

I'm carrying my 13 Pro without a case, to see it's Alpine Green glory and feel the matte finish on the back. It's been perfectly fine for the last almost 4 years, some minor scratches on the steel edges I fixed with a sandpaper, there is one recent scratch on the screen and that's all. Otherwise it looks good, just a bit used. Has fallen multiple times from pocket when sitting, and a dozen times from tables, few times onto pavement (that's what needed sanding).

Almost every single one "case" for iPhone is a waste. Waste of material, waste of space, waste of your money, waste of user experience. You've already paid for a perfectly good phone, and then slapped some $[1]0.99 case on it to gain nothing but pain and vanity.

I only had one case on a phone, that made it better - original wooden case for 1+3T. Been looking for same experience on iPhone, but it's not possible due to shape -- they are all bulky. The closest thing is carbon-fiber cases, and I had one, which saved this iPhone when I dropped it onto slanted pavement, where it slid for a few meters screen down, ruining the case, but saving the screen.

Would I drop it if I wasn't using a case, that has parts sticking out, making the phone more cumbersome to use and carry? Unlikely, because it happened in the first year owning it, and I've been going caseless since then and nothing similar happened.

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