I attended Apple’s iPhone event on Wednesday and spent a little time with the new products after everything was announced. I wanted to give you a few thoughts on the products and my overall feeling of the event.
First, I think you have to give Apple executives some credit for coming onstage and acting like the company didn’t make some massive mistakes by leaking images and the Apple.com sitemap. That must have been devastating for them, but they kept their heads high and soldiered on.
iPhone
The iPhone Xs is precisely the iPhone upgrade you would expect from Apple in its “s” year. There’s a new color, water resistance has been updated, and the CPU is more powerful. For people that want the latest and greatest iPhone with a 5.8-inch Super Retina HD, the iPhone Xs is clearly the one you want to buy.
The iPhone I was most interested in seeing was the iPhone Xs Max. The Max comes in the same three colors—Silver, space gray, and gold—as the iPhone Xs, but it features a 6.5-inch Super Retina HD display.
At first, I thought maybe that display would be too big to fit in your pocket comfortably, but it’s not. The Max is noticeably larger than the Xs, and you can see a lot more information when you load an app or a web page, but it’s not a crazy big form factor. Basically, it’s all screen.
When introducing the Max, Apple said it was the same physical size as the iPhone 8 Plus, but the screen is 1-inch larger. That’s a lot of screen.
Holding and using the Max presented no problems for me, although we will come to a point where some tasks will need two hands. To be honest, I didn’t have enough time to get a feel for that.
There is no doubt in my mind the iPhone Xs Max is the iPhone for me.
I’m not at all worried about the larger size, and the larger screen means I won’t have to use my glasses quite as much as I used to with smaller iPhones.
The iPhone Xr is an exciting product. There is no doubt that Apple wants its customers to upgrade to one of the newest models, so they gave them an option that is cheaper, but still looks and acts like a modern iPhone.
The Xr has a 6.1-inch Liquid Retina HD display and comes in a variety of colors, including black, white, blue, coral, yellow, and (PRODUCT)RED.
There is no doubt that those colors are going to appeal to a lot of different groups of buyers, from young people to consumers who just want to be a bit different.
All of the new iPhones come with the latest A12 Bionic chip, Face ID, and wireless charging, among other features. You will be giving up some high-end camera technology and a Super Retina display, but the Xr will move you into a modern iPhone.
While all three phones offer their own benefits, depending on what you’re looking for, as I said above, the iPhone Xs Max will be my choice.
Apple Watch
I have loved my Apple Watch from the day I put it on my wrist, and it keeps getting better. The first thing I do in the morning is put it on, and the last thing I do at night is take it off.
When I first put on the 44mm Apple Watch Series 4 after the event, I commented that the screen wasn’t as big as what I thought it would be. Then I held the 40mm watch next to it—the difference was huge.
The amount of information you can see on the 44mm watch is impressive. When looking at it onscreen during the keynote, I thought it was going to be a bit gaudy because it was so big. It’s not that way at all.
Where you’ll see the most difference is when you look at the watch face. Using the default face, you can see a lot of information at a glance. I’ll probably still have to use my glasses to see all the detail, but those are just my eyes. I suspect an average person will be able to see everything with no problem.
Series 4 comes with a 64-bit dual-core S4 processor that is twice as fast as the last generation processor. It also comes with an updated optical heart sensor and a Digital Crown with haptic feedback (which is cooler than you may think).
The real highlight of the series 4 is the new Electrical heart sensor (ECG) and fall detection.
Apple has found a new way to help millions of people with the Apple Watch—health and fitness. They have done great things with every version of the watch to get people exercising more and be able to communicate with their doctors with accurate information.
We would never have thought a few years ago that Apple could make a watch that could produce an ECG. We may have hoped for it, but delivering on that is quite an accomplishment.
I’ve talked to many people that are buying one of the Apple Watch Series 4 for a parent, spouse, or partner for that feature alone.
The fall detection is another feature that people have swooned over since the announcement. Basically, the watch recognizes when you fall and will offer you the option to call for help. If you are incapacitated and can’t call for help yourself, the Apple Watch will do it automatically for you after a set period of time, if you don’t move.
That’s brilliant and will help a lot of people.
Like the iPhone, I’ll be going with the larger 44mm Apple Watch.
What about…?
Rumors were swirling around about new Macs and iPads for the event, but neither of those products were announced. I wasn’t too surprised by that, to be honest. I thought there was a chance of an iPad, but a small one at best.
The fact they weren’t released says nothing about those products. The September event is usually focused on watches and iPhones, just as this one was.
The one product I was truly surprised that we didn’t hear about was the Apple AirPower. Announced over a year ago, we have yet to hear anything about Apple’s wireless charger.
I’m not sure at this point if the product is dead or just further delayed, but I wish Apple would let us know.
Bottom Line
Apple had a successful launch of two primary product categories, iPhone, which rules the company right now, and the Apple Watch.
We’re coming into the holiday shopping season in the next month or so and from what I’ve seen, iPhones and watches should be flying off the shelves. All of the products have been updated at a variety of price points, so there should be something for everyone that wants to get into the Apple ecosystem for the first time or upgrade.