Apple had a big day, introducing a number of new products that I think will sell really well for them. I won’t do any type of a hands on review, because there isn’t enough time to do a true review, but I will give you some thoughts on the keynote and the products that were introduced. I will post more detailed reviews after I have some time to spend with the individual products.
### AirPods and EarPods
I know the iPhone 7 is the big product of the day, but it’s one of the spin-off products that caught my attention: AirPods. Apple’s wireless headphones are going to be very interesting for me because I haven’t found a company yet that could do wireless right.
There are plenty of Bluetooth headphones out there, but they sound crappy for the most part. Apple tackled a number of problems with the AirPods, so I’ll be interested to see how they sound, first and foremost.
Apple also made connecting the AirPods to your devices very easy and the case doubles as a charging dock—very smart. The five hours of battery life should work for me most of the time. A long flight may be a bit of a problem, but we’ll see.
The design and color of Apple headphones are iconic, so it makes sense that they didn’t change any of that on the wireless model.
As you may have heard, Apple removed the headphone jack. I know a lot of people were against it, but it makes sense to me. Get it out of there and make room for other components to make the phone better. I said months ago that an adapter would be included in the box, so anyone with analog headphones could still use them. And there is an adapter in the box.
Apple is also including the new Lightning EarPods in the box as well, so you can use those if you wish, too.
### iPhone 7
I played around with the new Home Button and liked it a lot. It feels like a Home Button, but you can control the haptic tap you get from it in Settings. It didn’t feel as weird as I thought it would.
I think one of the biggest things about the new iPhone is the camera. I’m not a great photographer, so anything Apple can do to make my pictures better, I’m happy with.
The new cameras look incredible—especially in the iPhone 7 Plus, which is the larger model iPhone that I typically use. Everything inside the iPhone camera looks to be new and improved, which is going to make my job of trying to take a decent picture that much easier.
Of course, we always expect Apple to improve performance, and they did again. The performance increase in the last few years has been stunning, in both CPU and GPU. I can’t wait to see how it performs in real-world situations.
### Apple Watch
I love my Apple Watch. I am looking forward to doing my daily walk with a GPS-enabled Apple Watch and wireless headphones that connect to the watch.
I didn’t know what to think of the new ceramic watch, but when I got my hands on it, I loved it. It looks and feels wonderful. The watch in the demo area after the keynote had a really nice white band on it that also felt great. I would most definitely buy one of these.
Apple Watch changed my life. With the new version and watchOS 3, I’m looking forward to seeing how I do with the watch in the future.
### The Keynote
I think Tim Cook, Phil Schiller, and Jeff Williams did a great job in introducing the new products today. More than just introducing them, they explained to us why the advancements were important and how we could use them.
We expect Apple products to solve problems for us and I saw that today. I saw products that would help me in my everyday life. That’s what I want from Apple.
They could have saved 45 precious minutes by getting rid of the boring iWork demos, watchOS 3 feature rehash, Mario game demos, and Pokemon updates. And instead, they could have used that time to tell us about the iPad storage capacity changes, macOS Sierra release date, and more details about the phone.
Still bummed that the better camera is reserved for the bigger phone. There’s no way I’m going to carry around that big of a phone. I know some like it and that’s fine, but it’s just not for me.
Thank you Jim, I would have loved to have been there to see these in person but I feel like you that it was a good presentation..I felt once they talked about the product it was crisp and informative. I respect your work and your words…I can’t wait for the new watch and phone.
I am bummed the new apple watch is thicker. I didn’t need it to be thinner but I was hoping it would stay the same while adding battery life and a GPS. I am excited about a brighter screen for viewing outside. I hope the speaker is louder for phone calls on my bike
If you don’t want to buy AirPods you can always get the Elecom LBT-PAR500 Bluetooth headphone amplifier which can use AAC over Bluetooth. Also lets you continue to use your favorite big-can headphones.
watchOS was shown at a developer event — this was not a dev event which is why they highlited some things. Mario on iPhone is huge. i found the iWork very interesting.
whats their to say about storage changes?
the AW2 is thicker? i hadn’t seen that
I don’t think there’s a change in size. The battery may be thicker, but the other components are thinner to make up the difference.
Check the specs on the Apple page. Series 1 depth 10.5 vs 11.4 for series 2
http://www.apple.com/shop/buy-watch/apple-watch/silver-aluminum-white-sport-band?preSelect=false&product=MNNG2LL/A&step=detail#
Good “instant” review, Jim. I share your feelings about the new products. I can’t wait to get my hands on my new iPhone and Apple Watch. I love the 7+ and the ceramic watch, too. Life is good (and better) with Apple products!
i personally loved the new camera on the 7plus! i love my 6S plus and i’m beyond excited that they made the huge change on the plus model instead of the smaller one… i said that if apple made the iPhone BIGER and BETTER i was definitely going to upgrade! apple didnt let me down, im getting the iphone 7 plus as soon as i can pre order… also the watch, but thats going to have to wait till tax season lol
You’ll want the ceramic apple watch, until you see the price…
Sierra is coming September 20th, per Apple’s website.
The Series 1 is going to be my first Apple Watch. I care about the speed of the processor on it, I’d appreciate the brighter screen, but everything else on the Series 2 doesn’t matter to me, and money will be tight after I buy my AirPods. Overall Apple is doing a great job of sucking money out of me this year!
Yes, because you will definitely notice a difference of less than 1 millimeter.
@gfurry is making a point. You are making none.
not sure, if you will be allowed to use those airpods on a flight, though. is the w1 a custom wireless chip (that only works with iphone 7, watch 2 and onwards) or is it just a decoder that decodes heavily compressed audio sent over bluetooth?
You are so right. I thought it was a sad presentation from the start. Well said!!!
The type of event is inconsequential. My point is that Apple holds public events, live streamed, and heavily reported for all the world to see. And at such an event in June, watchOS 3 was already thoroughly presented. My second point is that every minute of these events is very important….people are waiting on the edge of their seats with anticipation for Apple’s biggest and most crucial news. Pokemon and iWork updates should be relegated to Apple’s website. Not on stage at Apple’s biggest event of the year.
I know. This is big news. Would have been nice for about 5 minutes to have been devoted to this.
Similar to your point 3a above this would be a rehash. But would that conflict with point 2c?
The release date is new. Not a rehash. It’s new, fresh, important information. Mention it. Also, any meaningful Sierra changes/features that weren’t mentioned at WWDC would be good to bring up as well. (if applicable)
Looking forward to an iPhone 7+. I’m thinking Black, not Jet Black.
i thought they spent just the right amount of time on those things…they used them to highlight new features on the hardware and ways to use the icloud services in a new(ish) way. macOS release details would have been the only discussion of macs whatsoever, and it’s pretty impossible to bring it up without a deeper (and longer) discussion).
i actually thought the iphone segment was a bit too detail-heavy, for what it’s worth. someone said “hey let’s do a listicle for the new iphone” and they had to stretch to get a round number of 10.
Now that’s a rehash of the rehash.
Keep guessing — according to apple.com, the ceramic watch starts at $1249!
On your phone maybe not but on your wrist definitely. The current depth has never been a problem with me but I know some people that already thought it was too thick.
I agree. The series one will make a great watch. I wish they would have added the waterproofing and the brighter screen and made the gps the difference but I suppose the price difference wouldn’t have been easily justified.
Jet Black or Black? Which one is more slippery? That is how I will decide. Jim any insight?
does the Apple pencil work with the new iPhones?
on the other hand, i thought the airpods would cost more, so i’m either completely wrong every time, or right on average 🙂
I strongly disagree. It’s not important enough for a special event, and there’s no way it needed time when a website announcement will do.
Apple has already posted a compatibility list for the AirPods: iPhone 5 or later (including 5c), iPad mini 2 or later, iPad Air or later, iPad Pro (any), iPod touch 6th generation, any Apple Watch (they list it as compatible with 38mm and 42mm, which is a weird way to say that). Basically, it amounts to macOS Sierra, iOS 10, or watchOS 3 and an iCloud account.
There’s no listing of Mac requirements, other than a note that they’re compatible with Mac. So likely anything that’ll run Sierra.
It’s more important than a Pokemon demo.
Nope. One drives sales, the other doesn’t. Nobody gives a damn about the Sierra release date with respect to making purchasing decisions; “fall “is good enough.
Ha! That’s me in the nutshell.
I wonder if that’s a preview of the way things will be: listing compatibility by OS (now that Apple is juggling four of them) rather than individual hardware models. It definitely simplifies the compatibility chart for Apple.
I think it’s very likely. Compatibility lists are a pain in the ass, why do them twice if you don’t have to? 🙂