Category Archives: iPhone

March Madness: New iPhone 16e, iPad and iPad Air, Macbook Air and Mac Studio

Hardware, iPhone, Silicon Mac
Apple Mac Studio Pro computer
Mac Studio Pro

This month, Apple without much fanfare, released the replacement to the iPhone SE model as the iPhone 16e. And A18 processor in an aluminum frame similar to the iPhone 14. A new model, the C1, an inhouse Apple modem. No more home button. That is gone. Downside is that its more than the SE 2020 (3rd edition) in cost. Apple is selling this as base model iPhone 16e 128GB for US$599. The previous SE 2020 (64GB) was US$429.  So US$171 more.  YMMV.

Update: Youtubers and review sites, Reddit, all pretty much agree that the price is a disappointment. The SE was the “affordable” iPhone. Tim Cook says “its affordable!” but only when you compare it to the $US1200 models. Sure! It’s 50% less! One lens vs three! Ok, it has USB-C. Face recognition. Better but not brighter display. And again Apple engineers its prices in that you can’t get a refurb model 15 or even 16. Shame on you Apple.

Next, Apple announce something in the Air teaser and it was the iPad Air, along with the iPad models (starting at US$299 and 128GB storage/wifi). There is also a new Magic Keyboard for the new models. The Folio for the iPad is…well..US$249..almost as much as the iPad. Apple prices its accessories and tablets to not compete with its laptops. Think Different? More like Think Next Model to upgrade to.

Then Apple released the new MacbookAir M4. This model is light, offered in Sky Blue now, and more memory and cheaper by US$100 versus last M3 model. Ready for Apple Intelligence, longer battery life. 13″ and 15″ model sizes. This is the notebook you need if you write, surf, facetime or zoom, and do lightweight work.  And lightweight it is. If I needed a notebook, this would be ideal.  I can see students snapping this up. Ok, only 2 USB-C ports, a magsafe port and headphone jack port (I’d rather have one more USB-C/Tbolt port since “most” headsets are wireless buds or over the ear now.

And as of Wednesday, March 5th 2025, the next announcement is the Mac Studio Pro in M4Max and M3 Ultra.  Pricier. Really pushing Apple Intelligence. No longer can you get base model with 64GB as you need to bump up to more cores. I’ve an Mac Studio M2Max model, 64GB and 2TB that was US$2699 (8/3/2023). That  same configuration for the M4Max model, 64GB and 2TB today  is US$3299. Why is this model now US$600 more??? 0.8x faster than…my current M2Max. Oh and it now has Thunderbolt5 ports. Two more cores than my M2Max. Ok, so Wifi6, and 10Gb included, with Bluetooth 5.3. Not going to say it loudly but, not worth US$600 more. Oh and the trade in value of my computer to Apple?… US$1006.

I can wait till the M7Max… wonder if my Applecard will still get 0% financing in 2028…

2023 – RIP DarkSky

iPhone, software

Dark Sky app icon

RIP Dark Sky, I knew you well.
Well, until Apple bought it in 2020.
Then it was nothing but sadness. About 4 months ago, after an iOS update, I noticed a 1/2023 warning on the app on my phone. It was a subtle reminder that I should be using Apple’s Weather app instead.

Weather has improved with iOS 15 and now iOS 16. You can have lock screen widgets showing precipitation and temp. You could with Dark Sky but it was hit or miss depending on your phone and iOS level.

weather app with sun right, behind a cloud

The new Weather app has some nice features, as the lock screen will change with the weather… moody grey, or morning clouds or dusk. Even 10pm at night shows a cloud with dark sky. If you open Weather and touch the hourly forecast, you will see a visual chart of the temp. Touch the tiny thermometer and you now have choices such as wind and precipitation with measurements every 6hours. Close that (hit the X ) and you return to main screen. There, if you scroll down past the clutter of a map (See, this is where Dark Sky shined… the local map gave radar and not a clutter of state names, cities and towns).
And below that map, are a section of the same chart choices, but in sections that you can access as well as via the hourly section.

I can’t blame the creators of Dark Sky for “selling out”. I mean, afterall, Apple was their market and they were a dev for them. I just hope they run into a weather situation that the new Weather app, well, missed. Because money can’t buy happiness. But it can buy a roof that doesn’t leak or blow away.

iOS 14.1 to iOS 14.2 a whopping 4.8GB

iPhone


Apple has updated the iOS 14 again (first it was 14 then 14.1 with important bug fixes, and now 14.2…all within less than 60 days).

14.2 security changes (note, you can’t download the update, but have to use over the air, or iTunes to install).

There are a host of new features like Intercom, new Emoji, Music Recognition, Optimization of AirPod Charging, improvement to new Ipad-Air camera features, Apple Watch App changes, Applecard update and new wallpapers…personally, I just want to know why my iPhone has to have Privacy off for wifi network at work (Aruba networks Access Points) as it was fine prior to iOS14 and now, is it Aruba needing patch or Apple making changes without notification…again.

One more thing, it took over 30 mins to update! Do NOT do an update unless you can spare 1/2hr or more…!