Filip Brož Lately, I keep hearing the same sentence: "Apple is no longer innovative." People think that every year the Californian company must necessarily come up with something revolutionary, extraordinary, that simply changes our lives, like the iPod or the iPhone. In my opinion, Apple is still one of the innovative companies, but the range of its interests has expanded and it is often about the details, which, however, it improves every year.
For example, I consider 3D Touch to be groundbreaking, at least from my own experience, haptic feedback on the iPhone or Touch Bar on MacBook Pro. In recent years, however, Apple Watch and wireless AirPods have influenced my daily life the most. Both devices work excellently on their own, but only together do they completely change my original user habits and habits.
Before, it was absolutely unthinkable for me to walk around the house or office without an iPhone. Being a journalist means that I always have to have my phone with me in case something happens, especially if you are on duty that day. In short, you always have your phone close to your ear because you are dealing with everything possible.
So I always had my iPhone with me not only at work, but also at home or out in the garden. A substantial part of these daily routines has been changed by the Watch. I was suddenly able to make a quick phone call through them, easily dictate a reply to a message or an email… Before Christmas in addition to this setup AirPods also entered and the whole workflow has changed again. And it transformed "magically".
Currently, my typical day looks like this. Every morning I leave the house with my Watch on and AirPods in my ears. I usually listen to music on Apple Music or podcasts on Overcast on my way to work. In the event that someone calls me, I no longer need to have an iPhone in my hand, but the Watch and AirPods are enough for me. On the one hand, I check who is calling me on the watch, and when I subsequently receive the call, I immediately redirect it to the headphones.
When I arrive at the newsroom, I put the iPhone on the table and the headphones continue to remain in my ears. I can move around freely during the day without any problems and make all calls through the headphones. With AirPods, I also often call up Siri and ask her to do simple tasks, like call my wife or set a reminder.
Thanks to Watch, I then have a constant overview of what is happening inside the phone, which I don't even have to have physically available. If it's an urgent matter, I can write off and move on. However, with such a workflow, it is important to remember that I have the Watch set up well, because they can very easily become a distracting and unwanted element.
She dealt with this question in her article on Techpinion also Carolina Milanesiová, according to which many people expected the Apple Watch to be a breakthrough product, but in practice it turned out that Apple more or less improved the existing wearable electronics, rather than coming up with something revolutionary.
However, the situation before the Watch was often contradictory. There were watches that could receive notifications from the phone, you could read the news on them or see what the weather would be like, but they were usually not products that packed it all into a compact package and offered, for example, phone calls and other simple communication. In the Watch, Apple managed to combine all this into a very user-friendly form that can positively influence our productivity.
[su_pullquote align=”right”]If you connect the Watch and AirPods together, you will get an absolutely "magical" experience.[/su_pullquote]
As Milanesiová aptly describes, people often still don't know what the Watch is actually good for. Even for users who have been wearing Apple watches for longer, it is not easy to describe exactly how they actually use the Watch and what benefits it brings them, but in the end it is important for them to find the right way to use the product effectively.
Not so long ago, my dad got the Watch. To this day, he comes to me and asks me about basic information and possibilities of use. At the same time, I always advise him to first of all set aside time and set the behavior of the watch according to his priorities, which especially applies to which applications and notifications will appear on his wrist. It is difficult to give any universal advice, because in the end the Watch is a truly personal product that can help two people on a completely different principle.
Nevertheless, a few simple points can be pointed out that will be useful to most users when living with the Apple Watch:
- Limit notifications to only the most important apps. There's no point in getting notifications that your Real Racing vehicle is ready to race again.
- I have the sound permanently off on the Watch, only vibrations are on.
- When I'm writing/doing something, I use Do Not Disturb mode - only people in my favorites call me.
- When I want to be completely out of range, I use airplane mode. The watch only shows the time, nothing gets into it.
- Do not install apps on your Watch that you will never use. In many cases, I can get by with the system ones.
- Think about when you charge your watch. The Watch does not have to be connected to the socket all night, sometimes it is enough to put it in the socket in the morning after waking up before going to work, or vice versa when arriving at the office.
- You can even sleep with the Watch - try the apps autosleep or Pillow.
- Use dictation, it already works more than well even in the Czech language.
- I also use the Watch while driving for navigation using Apple Maps or handling calls (directly via the Watch or AirPods).
- Upload music to your watch. You can then listen to it via AirPods without having to have an iPhone with you (ideal combination for sports).
- Keep the most used apps on the Watch in the Dock. They start up faster and are always ready.
Petr Mára also recommended similar tips and tricks in the case of the iPhone and concentration. In the video he shows, how smartly he uses the Notification Center, how he sets his notifications or when he turns on Do Not Disturb mode. For example, it is crucial for him to concentrate, when he does not want to be disturbed, that no device makes any sounds to him, it vibrates to the maximum, and for example he only receives call, message or calendar notifications on the Watch. Other notifications are piled up on his iPhone, where he processes them en masse.
But I will go back to AirPods and Watch, because if you combine these two relatively inconspicuous products (if we compare it, for example, with the impact of iPhones) together, you will get an absolutely "magical" experience that results from a perfect connection not only between each other, but within the entire ecosystem .
In the field of wearable products, this may be just the beginning from Apple, there is constant talk about augmented or virtual reality, which immediately makes me think of what other possibilities it could bring... But even now, the Watch in combination with AirPods can completely transform you and above all to make life more efficient. You can use both devices separately, but only together they bring the magic.
Hello, you are talking about 3D touch as an innovation. What do you use 3D touch on the trackpad for? For which actions? How does it make your life easier? Thanks for the specific inspiration.
3D Touch is only on the iPhone if I'm not mistaken. There is Force Touch on the Mac and it is unfortunately not used much yet.
Like on an iPhone. Most of the actions I do with 3D Touch are multi-step or at least more lengthy than checking in with a simple touch. Typically like opening an email, I don't understand the real meaning of 3D Touch on this action, just like on 90% of others. The fact is that there are not many useful innovations nowadays, they are just looking for something else to interest the user for a while.
And 3D Touch vs. Force Touch is just a different nomenclature, it's practically the same principle.
I will try a model example: You receive an SMS message. Which is faster? Open the phone, click on messages, open the person and reply. Or – use 3D Touch on the locked screen, click reply and write? I can use the same procedure in the case of Twitter and other messengers. As for emails, thanks to 3D Touch I can read the email and again I can choose what to do with it.
Thanks to 3D Touch, I can also quickly turn on multitasking anywhere, I don't have to double-click the Home button, but just press on the left edge of the screen and I can switch the app. I will use 2D Touch for photos or to quickly open a new tab in Safari/Chrome, etc...
In my opinion, 3D Touch is groundbreaking and it is not just a momentary preoccupation of the user.
Speaking of force touch. Can the strength of the diode be adjusted on the iPhone SE (which of course does not have it)? As far as I know, it is done through him...
Unfortunately it's not possible...
For most actions, 3D Touch does nothing more than double the possibility of their execution. As for the quick reply from the home screen, I suspect that this is a function from iOS 10 and is not tied to 3D Touch. Devices without it can use swipe and the speed to achieve the same is at least identical. So again just a duplication, a different procedure to achieve the same result. And when you mention it, this particular function is quite laggy in a number of applications, as is usual with iOS.
Display of multitasking by pressing on the edge - slower and not as convenient and 6% as double-clicking the home button, all the more so somewhere in the crowd among people. I have a XNUMXs and use it minimally.
But I want to learn how to open that tab in Safari with pressure, because I probably haven't discovered it. So if you let me know…
Just press on the Safari or Chrome icon and select panel/incognito panel, bookmarks, etc…
Yes, you mean from the homescreen, I meant from the application environment. These shortcuts are probably the only thing that 3D touch can really speed up, on the other hand, I didn't like them very much for some reason. In iOS 10, Apple also split their appearance into 2 versions (classic only with links + monstrous menu with possible widget), a bit of chaos.
Try watching the video by Petr Mára linked in the article. it focuses there on better use of the notification center, including 3D.
I do not know. Having headphones in my ears all day feels good to me (beep). Having a phone in my pocket all day seems more normal to me, and probably healthier.
“However, the situation before the Watch was often contradictory. There were watches that could receive notifications from the phone, you could read the news on them or see what the weather would be like, but they were usually not products that packed it all into a compact package and offered, for example, phone calls and other simple communication.''
I think you completely left out the Samsung Gear, a watch that came out before the AW and also worked independently of the phone and had a keyboard at the same time. They certainly weren't and aren't as successful as AW, but I think the lead belongs to them. Just because we (myself included) are in the apple community doesn't mean someone didn't do it first or better than Apple.
That feeling when you want to get both, but the AirPods are useless to me when I listen to music from the iPod nano and the aWatch too, because I could only wear them on the weekend, because I would smash them at work :D
I don't know what it has to do with AirPods. Are these your first BT headphones by any chance? I have some from Sony and except that I paid about 3000 less for them, their use is exactly the same as you describe. In addition, they are connected to each other, so I don't have to wear them in my ear all day, but I wear them around my neck and put them in my ears only when necessary. Not to mention that it is possible to charge them while listening to music….
Is there any awareness of how medically safe it is to have Bluetooth in your ears 12 hours a day? I understand that it's just a radio, that it's low range, but then again, you have it in your ear (ok, the antenna probably points out of the ear, but still...)
Of course, I also take the AirPods out of my ears. It was meant so that if I know I have several calls coming up, I leave them in my ears, listen to music, but normally I also put them down. :-) But to your question - it's probably the same as when drivers wear a hands-free device permanently connected to their ear, and we could also measure this to see if it does not harm the continuous heart rate measurement from AW, chest belts and fitness bracelets...
On what principle does AW measure heart rate? The Fitbit just has an LED light there.
Certainly Dr. Joel Moskowitz from UC Berkeley claims that it is not very safe. But how authoritative it is, wow…
When listening to music, it may not be very strong, but it only works as a receiving antenna, right?
No one seriously conducted research on the safety of heart rate monitors. As far as accuracy is concerned, it compares with hip belt measurement, and the device differs quite a bit. AWs are good anyway - they are among the most accurate.
I asked about bluetooth in the ear, not about the harmfulness of the heart rate monitor, it's actually harmless, it's just a green light that shines on your skin. Green is absorbed in the blood and AW measures, just like a fitbit, how much green light is reflected.
In my opinion, combining continuous heart rate measurement and having a transmitter in the ear is a complete (pico) mistake. AW measures heart rate in the same way as a fitbit, it shines a green light on the skin and measures how much it is reflected. Blood reflects red and absorbs green. That's like saying that looking at a green meadow can be harmful. On the other hand, even Apple in the tech license agreements somewhere on page 216 (I'm making it up) says that you should hold the phone at least half an inch from your ear, if you don't want to receive a radiation charge higher than the norm. It takes 30 minutes to hold the iPhone to one's ear, and it takes a particularly heavy toll through audio face time. I don't know exactly how it will hurt or not. Bluetooth in the ear is significantly less, but then again, a person spends half of the day listening to music there. I firmly hope that it works more like a receiver than a transmitter, but I haven't found out how the airpods communicate with the watch or the iPhone.
"On the one hand, I check who is calling me on the watch, and then when I receive the call, I immediately redirect it to the headphones."
Can I ask how to transfer a call from the watch to the iPhone without having to touch the iPhone?
Hello, I have a question about the AW2, if I use them without an iPhone to ride a bike, will they record the route or not?
The second question - on the iPhone, the health app measures my walking just fine, but I can't set the cycling measurement - it should extract data from sports apps, but the health app doesn't offer any link or show that I have the Runtastic Road Bike Pro app. Does anyone know how to connect the applications?
Nothing against it, but when I put seeds in my ears, it makes me uncomfortable after a while. The idea of having them in my ears for several hours is my nightmare. I don't really care about radiation to the head. Considering what is around us in the ether, a million Wi-Fi, everyone has it at home, routers often near the head, chargers, etc., so if it was just a little bit harmful, then we would all have tumors like coconuts.