Opinion pieces & commentary

Regular readers will know that I was a huge fan of the 17-inch MacBook Pro. The moment it was discontinued, I rushed out to buy the very last model so that I could keep it for as long as possible.

Way back in 2014, I argued that it was time to bring it back. That didn’t happen, of course, and two years later I’d come to terms with the fact that the era of user-upgradable MacBook Pro models was at an end.

But that wasn’t there only reason I loved the 17-inch model: there was also that gorgeous screen size. And LG’s latest laptop shows just how lovely a modern take on a 17-inch MacBook Pro could be …

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Google is getting pretty heavily into voice-driven AI with its Pixel phones. It first announced Google Duplex – a controversial feature which allows the phone to automatically make calls for things like restaurant bookings. But it also launched a new call-screening feature.

Originally exclusive to the Pixel 3 in October, it was last month extended to the Pixel 2/XL, and it got a very welcome upgrade just a few days ago.

Here’s how call-screening works …

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The Marriott International hotel group is the latest company to announce a large-scale hack of a customer database.

We have taken measures to investigate and address a data security incident involving the Starwood guest reservation database. The investigation has determined that there was unauthorized access to the database, which contained guest information relating to reservations at Starwood properties on or before September 10, 2018.

The company says that although credit card data was encrypted, it believes it possible that the hackers got the encryption keys too …

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I know, I’ll stop going on about how much I love the new 12.9-inch iPad soon, but before I do, let’s talk about this ‘media consumption device’ myth …

Reading the comments on my iPad Pro Diary entry yesterday, I realized more than one person had expressed the same view. It’s one I’ve also seen elsewhere: that Apple’s most expensive iPad may be able to justify the price if you use it for work, but the purchase can’t be justified as a media consumption device …

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I remember when the Today at Apple initiative was first announced, I mentally shrugged. It was, I thought, just a rebranding of the workshops that had existed for many years. I thought it was an excellent idea to draw attention to them – I’ve long been a big fan – but Apple seemed to be presenting an old idea as if it were a brand new one.

But subsequent news and a recent visit to the revamped flagship London store in Covent Garden has persuaded me that the initiative is actually a much bigger deal. Apple has transformed what used to be a fairly well-kept secret into something which is now key to its brand image …

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AAPL stock hasn’t been faring too well of late. Aside from general nervousness around tech stocks at present – something which has expanded out into the stock market as a whole – there were two specific factors making investors less optimistic about Apple.

One was that Apple offered holiday quarter guidance toward the low-end of analyst expectations. But the other was that Apple revealed that it would no longer report unit sales for iPhone, iPad and Mac …

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Macworld’s Michael Simon wrote an interesting piece entitled ‘Why the new Mac mini makes me concerned about the upcoming Mac Pro.’

I agree with much of what he says – but actually reach the opposite conclusion …

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When Apple launched the iPhone X, it did more than just change the design language of the iPhone: it also offered a whole new pricing level. Not just for iPhones, but for any smartphone. It was a move that has significantly boosted the average selling price (ASP) of the iPhone range as a whole.

This is a trick Apple is now repeating with the 2018 MacBook Air …

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Apple makes much of its human curation of Apple Music. Indeed, just a couple of months ago Tim Cook suggested that this was the key difference between its own offering and competing services.

We worry about the humanity being drained out of music, about it becoming a bits-and-bytes kind of world instead of the art and craft.

Personally, it was the curated playlists that mostly won me over from Spotify. That’s moderately impressive …

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When Apple unveiled its new iPhones last month, I said that the iPhone XS and XS Max were totally overshadowed by the new Watch and the iPhone XR. The iPhone XR reviews, out today, confirm what I thought then.

Finally we come to what should have been the least-interesting iPhone, but is actually the most interesting: the iPhone XR […]

To offer something very close to the iPhone X/XS/Max form factor at a $749 price point is huge. And the near-bezel-free design also meant including the headline feature of last year’s flagship iPhone: Face ID. Throwing in Portrait Mode means you can now buy an iPhone that gets most non-technical customers the flagship design and features they want at 75% of the price of the iPhone XS …

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One of the questions a lot of people had when Apple first announced the current incarnation of the MacBook Pro design was: is the Touch Bar a gimmick?

Last time I discussed this, I concluded it wasn’t worth the premium it likely adds to the price of the machine – and the majority of you agreed with me. But today I go further and wonder whether it adds any value at all … ?

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I wrote an opinion piece on Friday outlining the five reasons I believe Apple, not Bloomberg, about the Chinese spy chip story.

It’s a friend-of-a-friend story. The technical arguments suggest it didn’t happen in the way Bloomberg says it did. Apple’s denial appears unequivocal. The company has ruled out the gag order theory. And, if it were true, there would be no reason now not to come clean about it.

Since then, four further reasons to believe Apple have emerged …

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Bloomberg’s Chinese spy chip story yesterday has dominated tech news. All the companies involved – Apple, Amazon and Super Micro – have issued strong denials, so the big question is: who is telling the truth?

The piece was either a massive scoop about something of vital importance to everyone, or an embarrassing misunderstanding since debunked by the companies involved.

Deciding which applies isn’t entirely straightforward, but there are five reasons I come down on the side of believing Apple …

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Last year’s iPhone X arguably represented the biggest design change ever seen in the evolution of Apple’s smartphone.

The iPhone thru iPhone 3GS were all essentially the same design. The slab-sided iPhone 4 represented a pretty big change, but was still recognizably the same device. The iPhone 5 was just a larger version. The iPhone 6 introduced a new design language as well as size, with rounded edges contributing to a slimmer look, but you’d still instantly pick it out as an iPhone.

The iPhone X was different …

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When Apple unveiled the iPhone X a year ago, Tim Cook described it as ‘the future of the iPhone.’ A year later, that future is here.

All three of this year’s models share the same core design. As close as possible to an all-screen design, the Home button replaced by Face ID and gestures, and a notch to accommodate the camera and sensors at the top of the screen.

The iPhone XR makes for a particularly attractive purchase, offering a lot of the design and functionality of the flagship phones for $749. But there’s one piece of bad news in all this …

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There’s usually one star of the show when it comes to September Apple events: that year’s flagship new iPhone models. That’s usually true even in S-model years.

But it wasn’t the case yesterday. The flagship new iPhones – the XS and the XS Max (I still can’t believe Apple chose that name) – were actually the least interesting things Apple presented … 
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A report from an analyst with a solid if imperfect track-record yesterday suggested that this year’s iPad models would drop the Lightning port in favor of USB-C.

I’m on record as arguing in favor of this change, for both iPads and iPhones – and laid out why I saw it as an Apple-like move despite the short-term pain it would cause …

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Apple has received many complaints of late of its habit of announcing products before they are ready. Airpods, HomePod, AirPower … and the new Mac Pro currently setting the record. First announced in April 2017, it is expected to be launched sometime in 2019, with cynics suggesting the end of the year rather than the beginning.

But Apple doesn’t come anywhere close to Samsung’s record. The company first released a concept video (below) for a folding smartphone way back in 2013. That date explaining the low-res screengrab above.

Five years later, we’ve still seen no sign of it, but Samsung claims that’s about to change …

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In my last Apple Watch Diary piece, I said that there were two things which might sell me on the idea of upgrading from my Series 3 to the upcoming Series 4. One was a more responsive Siri, but the bigger one was more data on the screen.

Apple may allow more characters in text fields, to display more of an upcoming appointment, for example. That too might be handy. Third […] it could allow more complications. If it did that, I’d be sold straight away.

As we yesterday exclusively revealed, we will indeed be seeing additional complications …

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Google has today unveiled a redesign of its Android smartwatch platform, Wear OS. A key element of this is what the company calls a ‘notification stream’ – scrollable notifications that work in a similar way to Apple Watch ones.

For Android smartwatch owners, I’m sure it’s an improvement. But what strikes me more than anything about it is just how terrible it looks on a round watch face …

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Acer has today teased the latest version of its Swift 7 laptop at IFA. The company hasn’t revealed much about it as yet, but The Verge reports that it has shared a few details.

This latest model is less than 10mm thick and includes an edge-to-edge display. The display is now 92 percent screen-to-body ratio, and overall the laptop weighs less than 2.2 pounds. Acer is shipping this new Swift 7 with an 8th generation Intel Core i7 processor, and it’s claiming that it’s the world’s thinnest laptop.

Not all MacBook Pro owners will agree than thin is necessarily good. There are those who argue that thicker batteries and more passive cooling capacity would result in a more useful machine. But the thing that does stand out for me about the Swift 7 is those ultra-thin bezels …

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