These are just my thoughts about the products that Apple released today. If you want to know what they are, read this summary from Gizmodo.
Apple revealed a few things today, some of which will be available as early as Friday, others that will be available later. There was the Apple Watch Series 6, the Apple Watch SE, some new bands, watch faces, and family features. There was an updated “regular” iPad as well as a brand new iPad Air that’s pretty much an iPad Pro without the ProMotion display. Then there was Apple One, an Apple mega-subscription that bundles Apple Music, iCloud, Apple Arcade, Apple TV+, Apple News +, and the new Apple Fitness Plus services. I’ll probably be getting some of these.
Apple Watch
Apple now sells three Apple Watch models – the Series 6 at the high end (starting at $400), the SE in the mid range at $279, and the Series 3 hanging in the low end at $199. The big feature of the Series 6 is the blood oxygen sensor and brighter display (in daylight). I’ll proooobably be buying one of those. I have a Series 4 that I purchased off of a friend so that I could get the heart rate sensor. Now I must have the Oxygen sensor. It also comes in Product Red now which is a must have.
The SE seems like a really good deal – it’s basically a Series 4 without the heart rate sensor. You get the big screen, faster internals and other features of the Series 4 for $80 more than the Series 3 from 2017. The screen and speed alone are worth it.
iPad
The regular iPad is your typical update – faster internals, everything else the same. The real news is with the iPad Air, which now looks almost identical to the Pro with an edge-to-edge screen and flat sides. It starts at $600 ($200 less than an iPad Pro) and includes many of the Pro’s features except the high-refresh ProMotion display and Face ID. It still includes TouchID but uses the lock button for it to free up room on the screen.
Now I don’t need a new iPad but I really like the design of the iPad Pro. I bought a previous gen Pro (with TouchID) last year and I love it, especially the ProMotion display. I don’t use it nearly as much as my phone so I don’t care that it only has Touch ID. I wanted ProMotion and didn’t want to spend $900 so I bought one used.
The Air is very tempting because it is so feature-close to what I like about the Pro but for 25% less cost. It even comes in a new blue color that looks really cool. It just doesn’t have that ProMotion display that I feel I can’t live without. We’ll just have to see.
Apple One
Apple One is Apple’s new mega-subscription; the Amazon Prime of Apple services. You get all of their current services (Music, News+, TV+, Arcade, and iCloud) plus their new Fitness+ service all for one price. It is offered in an individual tier, a family tier, and a premier tier ranging from $15 – $30 a month. I already pay $15 for an Apple Music family plan and $1 a month for iCloud. I’ve been interested in News+ ($10/month) and TV+ ($5/month). I also think Fitness+ looks interesting as well. Suddenly a Premier membership looks like a savings with iCloud and Arcade thrown in for free. I see what you did there Apple…
Sally and I have basically already committed to buying this. Take my money.
Relatively Ambitious 