Before the announcement, I had a hypothetical thought: Were I to upgrade my iPhone this year, which I won't because it's really expensive and my Xs is still working fine, I would get the iPhone 13. Not the Pro/Pro Max version.
BUT! But Apple had to put in this really cool macro function into the Pro/Pro Max ultra wide camera and make the lens brighter... gosh! This is a deal killer for me because I love macro shots!
This year’s iPadOS 14 is quite exciting with the introduction of, among other things, Widgets (finally!) and Scribble. To Android users it is nothing new at all but to Apple users, widgets had always been something of a wishlist. The ones that appeared on the iPhones and iPads several iOS versions ago felt half-baked because they do not appear on the Home Screen. Finally, in iOS 14 things are once again moving in the right direction. Widgets can appear alongside icons, seamlessly on the Home Screen. However, the Widgets will most likely need several iterations before getting close to Android levels of interactivity and functionality.
I wrote the above paragraph with the Note app using Scribble on iPad Air 2019 (and the first generation Apple Pencil). It’s refreshing to literally write instead of type. Here are my brief experiences:
***Before starting it’s important to watch the brief pop-up tutorial when you first launch Scribble. Otherwise, like me, I’d thought it doesn’t work in Notes. If you missed it, you can always go to "Settings > Apple Pencil > Try Scribble” or search YouTube for more in-depth tutorials. Here's one that might help:
To Scribble on Notes, you will have to select the new pen with an alphabet on it (the first pen from the left).
It’s obvious I’m not writing on paper but glass so the feeling is still a bit off. I guess this is as good as it gets.
The handwriting recognition is pretty good. It recognised most of my scribbles save for some.
The difficulty comes when I try to make corrections such as capitalisation, delete alphabets, etc.
I still do not know how to place a full-stop at the end of a sentence unless I included it along with the last word (I don't seem to face any issues with a comma). Whenever I try to separately place a dot, a floating comma appeared instead.
When I try scribbling in tight spaces such as between lines of text or paragraphs, my actions will often be detected as an “insert” or the cursor might end up somewhere else.
It’s pleasant to be able to hold the Apple Pencil and use it to perform most functions while using the iPad. There is less necessity to put the Pencil down, use touch to perform some functions and then pick Pencil up again. This is something that people who frequently switch between Pencil and touch-only apps will really appreciate. Besides that, this implementation (kind of) solves the argument where handwriting is more beneficial to our well-being compared to typing. Unfortunately, the issues that I've pointed out above can be frustrating so I wouldn't write an essay this way. I would stick with typing for long-form writing. Scribble in its current young age is more suitable to fill in short phrases in forms and cells.
The upgrading of the iPad Air to the beautiful iPad Pro form factor effectively increased the price of the device by a hundred dollars. For people like me on a tight budget, the Air loses some of its shine as the middle sibling that balances between computing power and price. The more convenient Apple Pencil 2 that just attaches to the side of this new form factor for easier transport, charging and pairing, is also more expensive than the original version. Besides that, the new iPad Air now only works with the more expensive Smart Keyboard Folio and the much more pricy Magic Keyboard.
To be fair, Apple still sells the cheaper iPad (with upgraded internals) and the once again ignored iPad Mini, both which still support the first Apple Pencil.
Ultimately, Apple’s technological progress comes with a high price tag. Users will have to decide to stick to the lower models or pay more for ecstatics and convenience.
I’m truly saddened by the omission of 3D Touch from Apple’s iPhone XR. It’s worse than losing that telephoto lens. Can’t have beautiful curves anymore without 3D Touch. :(
Seriously, there's really nothing wrong with WhatsApp (or any messenger apps) but it's how society abuse it. Had I complained about this before? I can't remember. If I had this shows how much I really hate how some people use it.
A little background: WhatsApp had become THE messenger app of the century because of its popularity in the mobile world. I had tried others such as Line, Viber and WeChat and deleted all of them except WhatsApp because I can't stand all the notifications coming from everywhere.
Since smartphones conquered the world, people had resorted to WhatsApp instead of SMS because mobile data, though most of the time finite, is still perceived to be cheaper than charges per message (I guess to the point where telcos had started to offer unlimited calls and SMS in their packages). Wifi is generously available everywhere, too.
I can't begin to complain about how e-mails were abused but that was the past. The present invasion of mobile messengers is a much more pressing issue!!! Since my nature of work deals with a lot of projects simultaneously, co-workers and bosses have this love to create group chats for each project, sometimes even duplicates because they forgot they created one in the first place! Imagine my battery life wears out by noon just because of these chats!
As if calls way after work hours and weekends were not enough, messages about work just keep popping up in the notification center. Argh! And this prompted me to create the following parody of a real scenario. Poor victim of society tried to quit one of those above mentioned group chats but keep getting invited. Well, at least I had fun doing that.
ps. I never knew Apple's "Do Not Disturb" mode could come in so darn handy these days! At last, peace on earth once again, even if only for just a few hours. I am sane again.
I was wondering if FiftyThree will ever add 3D Touch sensitivity to Paper's drawing tools and was I glad that they did! The pen, marker and water colour produce wider strokes on a deeper touch. A neat trick for the pencil - light touch gives light strokes while deeper touches produce darker ones. I did the sausages above with the marker: Thinner lines with a typical touch while the sausages were created with a deeper touch - all done without lifting my finger.
I was also glad that they did away with the restrictive two step zoom and replaced it with a continuous mechanism (this feature along with the next one was introduced prior to the recent 3D Touch update).
Paper's "Undo" had gone through a few iterations - from spinning two fingers anti-clockwise to just tapping the undo button to the current (which I think is its best yet!) tapping with two fingers. Continuous tapping will further undo more steps.
Paper is still by far my favourite sketching app (despite my poor skills). However, one big complain from me would be the sync capability between devices. At this current advanced stage of cloud storage I don't see why the Paper in my iPhone can't sync with the Paper in my iPad.
On my wish list would be giving non-Pencil (FiftyThree's own stylus is called Pencil - not to be confused with Apple's version) users blending capability and the ability to zoom in further won't hurt at all. Besides that how about the capability to choose canvas size?
We've heard it before - a 4" version of the latest iPhone way back when the iPhone 6 was THE phone. Now, we're hearing it again - a 4" version of the 6s (without 3D Touch) and it will come as an upgraded iPhone 5s. Maybe this time it WILL happen because the prediction is coming from Ming-Chi Kuo, analyst with a high success rate of Apple predictions. Or maybe because of the appreciating US dollar which is turning even contracted iPhones in Malaysia to cost more than a Dell laptop.
I wonder if the smaller phone will go the way of the 5c because people are already used to the larger 4.7" but it's hard to say, especially when it comes in a cheaper package during these difficult economic times.
While we're at it, why not rumour about the 7, too? A10 processor with a bigger differentiating factor between the 7 and 7 Plus by RAM - 2GB and 3GB, respectively.
The James Bond gang had turned down smartphone product placement offers in the tens of millions because those phones were just not good enough for his latest outing. Pity, I'd love to see Bond use a lovely rose gold fruit branded phone but there was no mention that the fruit company approached him. :(
What can one do when one craves for a iPhone 6S but holding back because of the high price courtesy of weakening Ringgit and introduction of GST? Well, one would visit a reseller and at least hold the phones for a few moments!
Besides holding and admiring the rose gold 6S and silver 6S Plus, the other thing I did was to test out 3D Touch. The expected Haptic feedback was really solid. A little of peek and pop here and there. The next thing I tried was to switch between apps using 3D Touch by pressing deeper on the left of the screen. First time didn't work but the second time it happened. Not 100% intuitive, then, but good enough to spawn rumours that the home button is on its way out.
I had to hit myself when I realised that I've forgotten to test out how deep pressing would turn the software keyboard into a trackpad (similar to touching the keyboard on the iPad with two fingers). Unfortunately, I was already miles away from the store. Another time, then.
Concluding: While I was all excited over how Apple introduced 3D Touch during the keynote, I left the store feeling both Apple and developers have yet to squeeze out the technology’s full potential. There are still some ways from "cool to have" to a "must have". But don’t get me wrong. If I have got the money, I’d get one and being masculine and all, I’d get the rose gold one. :P
Was shivering from fever and guess what came to mind? Drew this with the newly released iPhone version of Paper by 53. Don't laugh! It's a big deal for me to be able to draw a Batman lookalike!
I was thrilled when I heard a iPhone version was on the way because up until now I've still not found the ideal drawing app for the small screen. If anyone can, I guess 53 could. They did a great job with the iPad version.
First impressions were it is still difficult to draw on the small screen. Probably that's why iPhone 6 Plus exists. The worse part was the iPhone version does not sync with the iPad app. That was kind of disappointing. However, all the drawing tools were the same and I like the undo better than the iPad one where you need to go in circles with two fingers. And now it's possible to take photos or import one in to doodle on.
What I didn't like the most was the zoom. There was just one level of zoom. If you wonder how it works with the Pencil, well, I don't know. I don't got no money to own one yet. :(
Note: The halftone dots were done using the Halftone app.
I wouldn’t AND couldn’t deny that I hate vertical videos, i.e. videos taken by people that hold their intelligent phones in portrait mode. I tried to tell my family not to take videos that way. I tried to tell my close friends not to take videos that way.
Alas, somehow it just happens. Don’t tell anyone but I’ve accidentally done it a few times, too. I was just holding the phone in portrait mode and without thinking, opened up the camera app, switched to video and just... just... did it. I only realised when I replayed the video much later. Shameful, but I think it happens to most of us. Not many would intentionally want to do that.
Why I hate this kind of videos? Because if I play them on the computer screen or on a TV, I see very little of the video which will be in the middle and the rest are just plain wasted space. Yucks!
I would feel very sick and uneasy if these videos become generally accepted. Please don’t make me puke! Pleeeeeeeaaaaaaaaase!
To be clear, I don’t have any problems with vertical photos though in certain instances horizontal might look nicer.
I get it if fans of certain products get angry offended whenever a rival comes out with ads that criticise specific features while showing off their superiority. Samsung is one that's synonymous with its ads against Apple.
I am amazed, though, that Samsung's recent couple of ads showcasing the company's S6 wireless charging and curved screen technologies received quite the backlash. If the rumours are true that the S6 phones are not selling that well, I guess it's high time Samsung REALLY change tactics and focus.
This photo was taken a few minutes after this but I don't suppose it's the same ant even though they all seem to look alike... by the way, it's interesting to note that the lines on the backlit leaf became more defined when I tried Instagram's "Structure" function. The lines that I would otherwise never know existed became visible as I move the slider to the right but trying not to over do it, I left it at 25.
