I Used the New IPhone 7 and, TBH, Having No Headphone Jack Was Not That Bad

Last week, the internet exploded in enraged disbelief when Apple unveiled the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus - minus headphone jacks. But, as I discovered while testing the device in the days that followed the keynote, a phone is much more than the sum of its ports. For the purposes of this review, I am not interested in "bead blah-sted anodized al-yoo-mi-nee-um." Because high-definition closeups and carefully choreographed onstage demos are not real-world conditions, I am more concerned about the iPhone in the context of life's less, er, dignified moments. I am human, and wrote this as such. Listen, I was more upset than anyone. "DON'T YOU DARE, TIM!!!," I mouthed to my computer on one particularly bleak August day, when the jack murder was all but confirmed. At first, the prospect of a Bluetooth-only product seemed a little...mean - and also strange. Most high-fidelity headphones use the same 3.5 mm port that's been around for 50 years. It's *just about* the only technology that our grandparents can still relate to! Seriously, Tim, how dare you! But when Apple announced its proposed solution - EarPods that connect via Lightning (the name of the iPhone's one and only remaining port) and a Lightning-to-audio-jack adapter for wired headphones, both included in the box - I put down my pitchfork. The new system wo not be great for everyone. If you opt for Lightning headphones (Philips, JBL, and Audeze already have some on the market), you will need to bring an extra set for your computer and every other device with a 3.5 mm port - or, if you decide to switch to Android, you will have to throw them away altogether. Minus one for bulk and minus one for waste. People with aux input in their cars will need to look for a Bluetooth solution (godspeed) or buy an adapter if they want to charge during road trips. Those who frequently take long-haul flights or train rides wo not be able to charge their devices and drown out wailing babies at the same time. Unless, as aforementioned, you buy an adapter or Apple's Smart Battery Case, which provides one extra full charge. You could always buy Bluetooth headphones, like Bose's well-reviewed QC 35s with a battery life of 20 hours or Apple own's AirPods (more on this later), but it's going to cost you. That Bose pair is $349. Most Bluetooth headphones, across the board, are more expensive than their wired counterparts. Take Beats' own lineup: The wireless Studio and Solo 2 headphones are $100 more than the non-Bluetooth versions, which have been removed from the Beats website. And there are two major pain points with Bluetooth. The first is that wireless headphones do not offer unlimited, battery-free playback like your old-school buds. Most need to be charged overnight, after a full day's use. The second is that Bluetooth has a history of being difficult to pair and dropping connections, whenever Mercury's in retrograde or the wind changes direction. This, I think (I hope), will improve over time. Every new version of Bluetooth (we are on the fifth now) consumes less energy, sounds better, and provides a more stable connection than the last. So what I am saying is, if you do not buy into it now, you will probably buy into it later - and for the time being, there's a...dongle...accessory you can use. Getting rid of the most ubiquitous port in audio technology means that consumers are going to spend more money on adapters and accessories and Bluetooth stuff in the short term, which sucks, given that these damn rectangles with rounded corners already cost a fortune. But in my experience so far, there have been few repercussions and I generally think everyone needs to calm the F down. The move, of course, was not without reason. You can read John Paczkowski on why exactly Apple needed to kill the headphone jack: to fit more processors and more camera tech into the iPhone. And Android smartphone makers are quietly discontinuing the audio jack too, like Motorola's Moto Z, which uses its USB-C port for headphones. Apple is often right about these things. It's been years since I used a CD or, IDK, an ethernet cable, which Apple no longer supports. Maybe I wo not miss pulling tangled earbuds out of my pocket either. Testing the new cameras was hard. I knew that the lenses had a ton of new technology packed inside them: * They can capture more colors than what standard RGB allows, and are some of the only devices that can display those colors, too. * The FaceTime camera is now 7 megapixels instead of 5. * The lenses are made of *six* elements instead of *five*. * Their f/1.8 aperture lets in more light than the last model's f/2.2. There's a new, brighter flash. * The iPhone 7 now has optical image stabilization, like the 7 Plus, which is crucial for capturing Live Photos that *actually* look good. But when I was comparing images from the 6s and 7, it was *very* hard for my naked eye to tell the difference. The 6s camera is very good. It's billboard-in-New-York-City good. Could a new camera packed in the same cramped space be that much better? Apple claims the battery life is two hours more than the 6s. For the iPhone 7, it runs from 12 hours (continuous web browsing on 3G and LTE) to 40 hours of wireless audio playback. On the 7 Plus, you get 13 hours of internet use on data and up to 60 hours of wireless audio playback. I kept the phone on LTE, streamed music for several hours on Spotify, used 1.5 hours of background GPS activity on Strava, watched a video with audio over the new stereo speakers, and checked Facebook/Snapchat/Twitter incessantly. Under these fairly aggressive conditions, I got 15 hours with 15% left to go. What impressed me most was the charging time: The iPhone 7 went from 9% to 96% in just a little over an hour. The stereo speakers are, as promised, louder than before. ( ) The display is bright as hell. Watching videos and reading text in direct sunlight is not as painful. It's fast at loading games and switching apps, but so are all new phones. I have not had enough time to fully test the A10 chip, so I will update on performance at a later time. So, should you get this phone? Do not get me wrong: The iPhone is perhaps the least rugged piece of technology ever made. But the 7 and 7 Plus are more life-proof, klutz-proof than any iPhone we've seen - and that's a Big Deal for people who use the iPhone as their primary camera, messaging device, e-reader, etc. day in and day out. The new home button is no longer mechanical, which makes it virtually impossible to break (watch me try, though). The iPhone now plays nice with water. And the new, seemingly more secure EarPods' lightning connection might be able to save more phones from tumbling out of one's hands and onto the hard ground below. If you want to invest in something on this side of the iOS-Android divide that will last, I would put your money behind this phone. In many ways, the iPhone 7 feels like an "s" or an "in-between" device. The design of the phone is mostly unchanged. It's the same 4.7-inch size for the 7 and 5.5-inch size for the 7 Plus. The home, mute, power, and volume buttons are exactly where you would expect them to be. If not for the larger camera bulge, 6s cases would fit just fine. But the truth is the killer feature - being able to check your emails in the SHOWER, for goodness' sake - is completely hidden from plain sight. In fact, many of the iPhone's innovations are all in the details, which, one might say, is very Apple indeed. This iPhone (with the exception of jet black) appears to be built to last, and it will make whatever comes next seem less novel, less relevant. That may be a bad thing for Apple, but it's a good thing for us. If you are a loyal iOS user and due for an upgrade, it's a no-brainer: Get this iPhone. If you are perfectly happy with your current device, wait for it to break, preferably on its way to the bottom of a pool - and then get one. With Google's new Nexus (or Silver Surfer) phones around the corner, wait a month or so to switch. Maybe, uh, hold off on that Samsung for a while. The iPhone 7 starts at $649, and the iPhone 7 Plus starts at $769. Both phones are available in silver, rose gold, gold, black, and jet black and come in 32GB, 128GB, and 256GB sizes (no more 16GB! Yay!), except in jet black, which is not available in 32GB. Both arrive in Apple Stores on Sept. 16 in most countries, including the US, UK, Japan, China, and Australia. The iPhone ships in other places, including Russia and Greece, on Sept. 23 and in India on Oct. 7. You can pre-order the new iPhones now at Apple.com.

1. Apple OSX Mavericks

I am using it with Pro Tools 11 on my MacBook Pro and it is lovely and smooth. I know that Avid advise against Mavericks, but I have found it to be a worthwhile update

2. How to make sense of Apple's new iPhone pricing

In case you missed it, Apple has four new iPhone 12s to sell you. But the lineup is even more confusing and treacherous than the addition of a single extra model. Let's start with the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini. Compared to the iPhone 11, you get a new smaller option, 5G, better cameras, and a thinner design, with pricing that's pretty much in line with last year. Here are the prices with a "customer discount" through the four major carriers-Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, and AT&T-which require an activation fee of $25 or $30, so you are not actually saving anything: But if you are buying an unlocked, SIM-free model, you will actually pay a little more: Maybe now we know why Apple trotted out a Verizon exec during the iPhone event to help launch the iPhone 12's 5G capabilities. What is even odder is that the pricing duplicity does not apply to the Pros. You can get either the standard 6.1-inch Pro or the 6.7-inch Max for the same starting prices as last year with double the storage, and the tiers have decreased by $50 across the board to reflect that as well. However Apple wants to spin this, it's very out of character for an iPhone purchase. Apple is one of the few companies that does not play carrier games, but that's changed with the iPhone 12, and it's a bit of a bait-and-switch tactic that might not sit right with longtime fans. And that's not all Apple is also still selling the iPhone SE for $399, as well as the iPhone XR and iPhone 11, both of which got a price cut. And to make matters more confusing, none of these phones include a power adapter or earphones anymore, only a USB-C-to-Lightning cable. Put it all together, and Apple is selling 26 different iPhone pricing tiers, and the phones no longer include an adapter or earphones. With so many options, you might not realize you are paying more than you should (or at least more than Apple advertises) for an unlocked iPhone 12. Got all that? Sure the new iPhones may be faster than ever, but they are also a confusing minefield of pricing pitfalls and options. Remember when buying a new iPhone was simply a choice of which color you wanted?

3. What is a crab apple?

Crab Apple