Tag Archives: Apple

Apple M1

Leave a reply

It’s been in the rumor mill for some time but finally in November 2020 Apple made the official announcement – Apple Introduced the M1 processor and the very first batch of hardware based on it.

Not exactly sure what all the advantages of the new chip is, but I do feel it is here to stay. And with that I went ahead and got myself a laptop running the new M1 processor. It’s a MacBook Air with 16 Gb of memory and 500 Gb of flash storage. My initial plan is to avoid the Rosetta Translation Environment – as long as I can. I am running into a few issues and am trying to find workarounds. We’ll see how far I get.

– manzoor

Advertisement

iOS Autolayout

Leave a reply

UI is my weakest link in my Software Development journey. But with iOS Autolayout, I am getting a slight taste of the challenges faced when designing the User Interface. My biggest challenge right now – designing for both iPAD and iPhone. Designing just for iPhone has become complicated enough given the range of devices – iPhone 5s to iPhones XS Max.

– manzoor

My Apple AirPods

Leave a reply

OK, I finally got my Airpods and have been using them for over a week now.

I am still not happy that I had to try so hard to get them. But I am more disappointed that they don’t work nearly as well as Apple had promoted.

  1. They don’t switch between my Mac (Laptop / Mac Mini / iMac) and my iPhone or Apple Watch
  2. They don’t switch from my iPhone to my Apple Watch when I am on WiFi
  3. They do not get picked up by my iPhone everytime

Let me elaborate.

3. They Airpods do not always get paired automatically to my iPhone when I put them “on”. I have to Pair them manually probably 30% of the time. Maybe less, but it definitely feels like I am having to do it way too more frequently than I ought to be.

2. When I have the Airpods paired to my iPhone and am listening to Music from my iPhone or on a Call (yes, I do make / receive phone calls on my iPhone) and am walking around without my iPhone on me but my wearing Apple Watch – I will get disconnected 100% of the time if I walk far enough from my iPhone but am still in WiFi range. It seems to matter not if I initiate the music / phone call from my iPhone or Apple Watch. But I need to try this a bit more. Most of my use has been playing music / initiating the Phone call from my iPhone.

1. This was the primary feature in my mind why I spent so much (time / energy / money) in getting the Airpods in the first place – to be able to seamlessly switch between my Mac(s) (Laptop / Mac Mini / iMac) and my iPhone / Apple Watch. This fails 100% of the time.

OK, time for some positives.

  • The charge stays on for a good amount of time. Also, it seems to do a good job of going into power save mode when not actively being used.
  • Feels the same to me (sound quality and physically in my ears) as the regular Apple Headphones.
  • Pauses Music / Movie if I take off either (or both) of the Airpods. And also resumes soon as I put them back on.

And some neither positive or negative comments.

  • They are super expensive. But to their credit – they said how much they were long before they were even available.
  • Supply is still very lacking.
  • It does seem likely that I will loose them before long 😦

– manzoor

My Equipments:

  • Apple iPhone 6 running iOS 10.3 (beta)
  • Mac
    • MacBook Pro 13″ (Retina, Early 2015) running macOS Sierra
    • Mac Mini (Late 2014) running macOS Sierra
    • iMac running macOS Sierra
  • Apple Watch running watchOS v3.1.3

Apple AirPods

Leave a reply

Yes, they are now supposedly released and available. But if you go to their website the earliest you can get them shipped is late February. And it seems to be slipping slowly as time goes by. I have tried going to the store before they open – 7 days in about a 12 day period and have not been able to get one.

But people are getting them. I ran into someone at the Whole Foods Market the other day who had one on. I did chat with him for a few minutes and he seemed really pleased. though the one feature that is really driving me to it seems to not be as important to him – moving from Watch / iPhone to other Apple devices. He seemed quite satisfied moving from his Watch to iPhone back-and-forth.

– manzoor

Apple AirPods

Leave a reply

At $159 these are going to be the most expensive pair or head-phone thing I will have ever bought.

But I am excited about it. I only hope it switches from my various devices as well as they eluded to in the Apple Event.

I am a bit disappointed that these won’t be available till October 13th (and that they are going to be $159 for a pair).

– manzoor

  • What happens if I loose just one?
  • how to keep mine separated from my friends’?

iTunes, iCloud

Leave a reply

I am a user of Apple Eco System and I pay (willingly) for some “Cloud Storage” services. I also pay for the following devices:

  • Phone
  • Computing Devices (Laptop / Desktop)
  • Streaming Media (Apple TV)
  • Watch

When I say I “pay” for the things above I mean both in terms of money (one time for the devices and recurring for the service(s)) and also time & effort. The time & effort in mind is the more “expensive” part of this whole deal. But the value I get from this is worth it to me.

My digital library consists of:

  • A little over 4K songs (there ar esome duplicates that I need to sort at some point) – stored locally on external drives and in iTunes
  • About 50 movies – in iTunes and, most of them, also in physical DVDs / Blu-Rays
  • “Some” pix – stored on 2 different flickr accounts, iCloud and locally

I do believe I cloud have gone to another camp (Android / Google) had I access to a different Smart Phone when I got my first Smart Phone. I got the iPhone as my first Smart Phone back in 2007. Which was a bit weird because I was one of the last person to get a Cell / Mobile phone that I personally knew. The reason I claim I could have gone to a different camp is that that iPhone was the very first Apple Device I ever owned. Never before that time had I ever personally bought or owned a Apple Product. I did use iTunes (on my PC) to organize & play music.

Since getting my first iPhone I have now switched to MacBook for my laptop (which is also my primary computing device – both personal and for work), iMac for my family Computing Device (which I only get on to keep updated and “clean”) and a Mac Mini for my multi-monitor desktop.

I do consider myself to be an early adopter of “technology” but I do the adoption with the least amount of monetary / financial investment as possible. While I was the first of my friends to get a Smart Phone, I have gotten the fewer actual Phones than most of my friends. Once I get a device I tend to keep it for a while.

– manzoor