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Apple in 2021

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Re: Apple in 2021

#41

Post by foobarian »

azinman2 wrote: post #36
Lammy wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also device age. My Series 3 originally lasted about a day and a half but is under a full day now with a couple years of cycles on the battery.

Well of course battery age, but the GPs were talking about the latest watch, so I assumed it was more about battery life from the start. From what I understand, impact of radio on battery life is very real but often invisible / not thought about. Cellular really can chew through battery when the base stations are far away.

This. The battery life on my phone, which I typically just leave laying around my desk, just about doubled after I switched providers. I used to have almost no signal with the previous provider, going up to 2-3 bars with the new one. I'm sure the modem was pushing maximum tx power trying to stay associated (and it would typically alternate between minimum signal and no coverage states).

Maybe I should have bought a signal booster for my office instead. I got one for my car because I would consistently drop calls in one spot; with the booster I had 5 bars the whole commute. Before COVID, anyway.

Re: Apple in 2021

#42

Post by TillE »

jhickok wrote: post #6

I love the new Apple Silicon Macs, and the transition for me has been pretty easy. I can't imagine anything interesting happening to the watch that doesn't include a big increase to battery life. I don't want any other feature except a battery that can make it a full day. Apple software has seemingly regressed every year recently. Native apps like Music and Podcasts, the only two I would regularly use, have become so…

The new Watch health features that have been rumored for the coming years (blood pressure, etc) would be genuinely life-changing for a ton of people.

I don't have any particular interest in a smart watch - even if you gave me one for free, I doubt I'd bother wearing it. But if it's also a fully-featured health monitor? Yeah, absolutely.

Re: Apple in 2021

#43

Post by jessriedel »

perardi wrote: post #38
carlycue wrote: post #19

What is Apple doing with the iPad division? The Mac spanked the iPad in 2021 and the recent earnings showed that.

There are apologists who will insist you can do real work on an iPad—if you get the iPad Pro, and the keyboard case. Which ends up being about as expensive and about the same size as a MacBook Air. And for any work that requires any sort of interface density, or complete access to the file system, or fast I/O, or…I’d way rather have a Mac.

To be clear, you can absolutely do real work if your work is natively done with a stylus, e.g., illustrating or pen-and-paper math. These are of course uncommon.

Re: Apple in 2021

#44

Post by kccqzy »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #39
jhickok wrote: post #6

I love the new Apple Silicon Macs, and the transition for me has been pretty easy. I can't imagine anything interesting happening to the watch that doesn't include a big increase to battery life. I don't want any other feature except a battery that can make it a full day. Apple software has seemingly regressed every year recently. Native apps like Music and Podcasts, the only two I would regularly use, have become so…

> I can't imagine anything interesting happening to the watch that doesn't include a big increase to battery life. I don't want any other feature except a battery that can make it a full day. I have to ask: What are you doing with your Apple Watch that drains the battery so fast? I've never been able to drain my Watch battery anywhere near that fast, even with the always-on screen still enabled.

I work out every day using the Workouts app. I often bike or run outdoors so during a workout GPS, Bluetooth and the heart monitor are all active. At night I use the AutoSleep app to track sleep. I charge the watch just before sleep.

I get the 10% low battery notification a few times a week.

Re: Apple in 2021

#45

Post by berberous »

barkerja wrote: post #11

I have to believe that HomeKit has fallen so far to the wayside due to their work on Matter. And we can expect something big in the near future. Right? Please?

Switch to Home Assistant. It takes a bit to learn and setup, but I’m much happier with it.

Re: Apple in 2021

#46

Post by baby-yoda »

just my humble opinion - i believe aapl has crossed the threshold into the territory which steve jobs famously described as the hallmark of the Scully era[0] - their endless pursuit for revenue has pushed sales and marketing people to the front of the line and product people operate in their shadows.

of course in a company as big and wide ranging as aapl, there are so many competing priorities and things to focus on but, IMO, tim cook is a real life paperclip maximizer. early on in his tenure there was some criticism that he was a "bean counter" and would ruin things cause he wasn't Steve, but rather than cutting costs as a traditional beancounter type would, he has been ruthless in pursuing what works to continue the endless revenue climb.

there are certainly many things they could work on but choose not to, or could do better, but when you're in Cook's position and you are the preeminent Elephant (far larger and less capable of dance than Gerstner could have ever imagined), you have no choice but for changes in direction to be slow but large in magnitude.

and at such a massive scale, while aapl could stumble out a new product/service and vacuum up tens of $millions, there are fewer and fewer opportunities which will clear their IRR. Taking some liberties interpreting here, but hence why they feel the need to extract value from App Store payments, turn a blind eye to scam apps, Google as default $earch, etc; their gravitational pull is so powerful that, as a proper paperclip maximizer, they would be derelict of responsibility by not simply sticking their hand out the window and siphoning incremental revenue. I imagine Cook in Ballmer's sweaty Oxford shirt yelling "Services! Services! Services!".

back to the OP, all that is to say i see aapl's future as rocky, since there will be less and less of a cohesive product vision going forward as emphasis skews back and forth across revenue categories. Not to mention navigating the regulatory waters.

[0] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4VBqTViEx4

Re: Apple in 2021

#47

Post by davidbarker »

dont__panic wrote: post #9
deergomoo wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It didn’t used to be this way. Apple software used to be functional, intuitive, and fun in a lot of cases. Things went downhill rapidly when Jony Ive’s team took over software design. I wasn’t a huge fan of the gaudy extreme skeuomorphism of the late Forstall era, but at least you could tell what was a button. What you could do with a piece of software was much clearer. The current team are insistent that simplicity…

The "new folder" workflow in Finder is one of the most infuriating things I've ever seen in macOS. I swear, they used to just have a "new folder" button in the olden days.

I actually didn't know there ever used to be a New Folder button, but that prompted me to customise the toolbar in Finder and I see it as an option (and have now added it).

Re: Apple in 2021

#48

Post by hnaccount_rng »

carlycue wrote: post #19

What is Apple doing with the iPad division? The Mac spanked the iPad in 2021 and the recent earnings showed that.

That seems to be a conscious decision on the part of Apple. They also live in the real world, where getting parts is getting harder. So in order to not having to squeeze iPhone and Mac sales they squeezed the iPad ones. We bought our Mum an iPad. Was supposed to be for Christmas but delivery was mid January >4 weeks. Try buying one now: 5-6 weeks.

iPhones you'll get tomorrow. Macs in two weeks. That's an intentional decision.

Re: Apple in 2021

#49

Post by bladegash »

jhickok wrote: post #20
bladegash wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My series 7 easily makes it a full day, closer to two days. It also charges really quickly. I put it on the charger for about 30 mins to an hour in the morning while reading emails and it’s done.

Really? I may make it thru one day if I am using it moderately (mostly apple fitness).

Yep, mine is pretty much solely on Wifi and is only about a year old, so that may be why. I really don’t use it for anything other than just health tracking and when I drive with maps and such. So I’m sure usage, age, and connectivity all come into play, but it’s definitely capable or going over a day.

Re: Apple in 2021

#50

Post by wwarek »

gnicholas wrote: post #16
jhickok wrote: post #6

I love the new Apple Silicon Macs, and the transition for me has been pretty easy. I can't imagine anything interesting happening to the watch that doesn't include a big increase to battery life. I don't want any other feature except a battery that can make it a full day. Apple software has seemingly regressed every year recently. Native apps like Music and Podcasts, the only two I would regularly use, have become so…

> I don't want any other feature except a battery that can make it a full day. I thought the Series 7 could make it a full day? My wife has a S6 and makes it about 36 hours with her normal usage (which is admittedly quite light). For me, it's not a watch if it has to be charged every day or two. I need 4+ days of battery life so that I don't have to bring another charger on every overnight/weekend trip.

My Mi Band 6 from Xiaomi easily lives ~30 days on one charge if used less (eg. no constant heart tracking, no PAI) and ~7 days with all tracking enabled (sleep, oxygen, heart rate, 1-2 workouts a day). With a third party app instead of Xiaomi "Mi Fit", I belive also all the data stays with me.

That makes me wonder - what does Apple Watch do that Mi Band doesn't that makes the time on battery so much different? I guess screen size and GPS during workout (Mi Band uses phone GPS), but other than that? (I'm not sure what other features it has, might be comparing apples to oranges, no pun intended)

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