I ran the 2018 Berlin and New York City Marathons wearing an Apple Watch, and the GPS told me I only ran 22 and 24 miles—despite completing the official 26.2 miles in both of them. That turned me off running with the Apple Watch for a bit, but it’s unlikely to be a repeat issue with the Ultra, which now uses two different frequencies (L1 and L5) instead of one to stay in sync with global positioning satellites. When I wore it with my COROS Pace 2, I found both watches to be accurate within less than a tenth of a mile to each other.
Apple’s new algorithms work with the on-board sensors and Apple Maps data (including road, bike, and trail routes) to ensure your GPS stays on track—even at the crowded start of a city race, like the notoriously GPS-adverse Chicago Marathon. Plus, the Ultra uses the accelerometer in the Watch to learn your specific stride length so it can accurately calibrate GPS even when you’re under a bridge or in a tunnel. Not only does that make it more accurate in real time, but I didn’t see a single part of my route indicating that I was in the middle of the river I ran next to or even slightly off the road when I looked at my post-run recap in the Fitness+ app.
While Apple is going to sell a ton of these to weekend warriors, tech dads, and aspiring non-couch-potatoes, I’d argue the Ultra is best for athletes hovering at the cusp between intermediate and advanced levels. The battery life is best for weekend excursions, and the simpler UI and metrics are preferable if you’ve yet to crave overly complex charts. Hardcore athletes or explorers are more likely to want extra features they’re used to that the Ultra doesn’t have. (Yet.)
All-in-all, the Ultra is one of the best debuts in a new product category that I’ve seen in a while. A lot of thought was put into the Ultra and it shows. It’s not enough to make Garmin shake in its boots just yet, but it’s more than enough to pique interest and spark competition. Apple’s officially a viable contender in the rugged watch category — and I can’t wait to see what comes next.
What I’m saying here is that if you go to a store and try on an Apple Watch Ultra, there is a very good chance your reaction is going to be “This is way too big for me.” If you’re thinking that because you don’t like the way it looks, well, then Ultra is not for you. Your watch should make you happy every time you look at it. But if you’re thinking “this is too big for me” because you’re worried about how others will think it looks on your wrist, you’re overthinking it. If you like it, wear it. People — men and women alike — with even small wrists can get away with surprisingly large watches. Buy the watch that makes you happy. That’s my advice for any watch.
If you’ve got large wrists, on the other hand, you might try on Apple Watch Ultra and react, “Finally.”
Overall, the photos shot in ProRAW mode offer more realistic, life-like contrast —particularly in the shadows — and feature fewer digital artifacts. There's less sharpening by the iPhone's camera software, and the images keep a broader dynamic range for making edits later. (This might also result in some of haziness and exposure differences that crept into a few of the above samples.)
While the 12MP photos from the iPhone 14 Pro Max are stellar, you simply have a lot more creative freedom in ProRAW mode. With a good photo editing app — or even Apple's — you can get the colors exactly how you want. So I would definitely give it a shot.
The cameras are now so prominent—in the Pro models especially—that it’s starting to feel like we should call these devices "smartcameras" rather than smartphones.
The smartphone has been more or less perfected over the years; there aren’t many new frontiers to explore in that space. But in ways both big and small, Apple (along with its competitors) keeps finding new ways to improve the amateur digital photography experience.
But as the tectonic shifts of mobile camera technology continue to edge the bump into the Alps, it’s really not even good enough to use one of the cases anymore. I mean sure, it will help against drops. But in just putting the device down on its backside, the thing is like a goddamn teeter-totter. The camera bump seems protected — though who the hell knows what is going on under there?! — but the case’s own massive bump makes laying it flat a distant memory.
Nigerian artist Wizkid is set to perform at the Roundhouse in London in collaboration with Apple Music Live, debuting songs from his anticipated fifth studio album. London fans will have the exclusive opportunity to attend the live taping on Sept. 27, but the Grammy-winning musician’s performance will also be available to stream in 165 countries this fall.
Senators from both parties on Wednesday asked the nation’s top intelligence official to lead a review of the security threat posed by Apple’s reported plan to use memory chips from a major Chinese chipmaker for its new iPhone 14.
[...]
Apple said in an earlier statement that YMTC chips are not used in any of its products, and that it was “evaluating” whether to use YMTC chips for some iPhones sold in China. It also said all user data stored on such chips is “fully encrypted.”
I continue to have confidence in Apple's iOS updates -- once again, this year, it went without any problems on my iPhone.
Okay, there is one app that ended up with white icons on white background, but the developer had now fixed the app. And I don't think I can assign any blame to the new iOS.
Yes, there are annoyances, such as the oh-so-easy-to-mess-with playback position scrubber on the lock screen. But this is, as what Apple will say, the intended behavior.
Onward to Live Activities!
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Thanks for reading.