Tons of really interesting things over the past couple days, so much so that this is a bigger update than usual. Sony is also slated to reveal the pricing and release date of the Playstation 5, however that will take place after this is written, but possibly before it is published. I will cover that on Friday.
Apple Overhauls Watch Lineup and Fitness Services
Apple released two new models of Apple Watch on Tuesday, The Apple Watch Series 6, and the Apple Watch SE. The Apple Watch Series 6 is the higher end option, replacing last year’s Series 5. The Series 6 has several small updates. It features the Apple S6 processor that is based on last year’s A13, a newer, higher quality screen that is brighter in direct sunlight, and the ability to monitor blood oxygen levels. The Apple Watch SE is a more affordable option, featuring the S5 system found in last year’s Series 5, the same screen as the Series 6 sans the ability to have an always on screen, and lacking the ecg and blood oxygen monitoring features.
More interestingly, Apple introduced a new subscription service for fitness tracking, called Fitness+. Fitness+ expands and enhances the fitness capabilities already offered. This new service features guided workouts and fitness plans aimed towards building a full fitness program for a user. Fitness+ is directly aimed at services like Peloton, which requires purchasing their exercise equipment along with a subscription service.
The Apple Watch Series 6 starts at $529, the Apple Watch SE starts at $369, and Fitness+ is $12.99/month or $100 for a year.
Personally, if I was in the Apple ecosystem the Apple Watch SE is what I would be looking at. Unless you really, really want the ecg and blood oxygen monitoring, it looks to be the better value.
https://www.theverge.com/2020/9/15/21431365/apple-watch-series-6-price-features-specs-release-date
https://www.theverge.com/2020/9/15/21432363/apple-watch-se-price-features-specs-series-3-successor
https://www.theverge.com/2020/9/15/21437578/apple-fitness-plus-classes-subscription-health
Apple Announces Two New iPads
Apple also announced new iPads. First off, Apple updated the entry level iPad to feature the A12 Bionic processor. While the A12 Bionic is now two years old, it is a solid processor for what the iPad needs to do, and is a substantial upgrade over the 4 year old A10 found in the previous version of the iPad. That appears to be the only change to the iPad this time around. It starts at $429 for a laughable 32GB of storage.
The more interesting, but also disappointing update was the iPad Air. The new 4th generation iPad Air looks very much like the iPad Pro. It features an all screen design, USB-C charging, and supports all of the accessories that the iPad Pro supports. The two standout features to me are the A14 Bionic processor and the TouchID fingerprint sensor integrated into the power button. The iPad Air is the first product to offer the A14, beating out the iPhones that usually debut with the new processor. The TouchID sensor in the power button is also a first for Apple, and a welcome addition over FaceID. The last interesting feature I will highlight is that the iPad Air has repositioned the speakers to have one on the top and bottom, which means that when holding the iPad landscape, there is proper stereo sound. The iPad Air 3 technically had stereo speakers, but they were both on the bottom of the iPad, meaning in landscape mode sound would only come out of one side of the device.
The iPad Air looks like a fantastic device, and offers much better value over the iPad Pro. The iPad Pro currently offers a higher refresh 120hz display, 4 speakers instead of two, better cameras, a LIDAR system, and FaceID instead of TouchID, which may or may not even be an advantage. Personally, I don’t see any reason to puchase an iPad Pro over an iPad Air in the current state.
The disappointing thing to me is the price. The iPad Air 3 started at $650 for 64GB of storage. The iPad Air 4 starts at $780, a significant price increase. The iPad Air is objectively a better device than the Air 3, but the price increase makes it a harder purchase to justify, and increases the price delta between the basic iPad and the next model up. Before Apple introduce the Air 3, there was a nearly $600 jump from the iPad to the iPad Pro, and the Air filled that gap. With the Air 4 now closer to the price of the iPad Pro than then iPad, there is now a significant gap between models once again. That makes it a much harder choice for consumers.
iOS and iPad OS 14 Release Today
Apple also announced during its event that iOS 14 and iPad OS 14 are available September 16th, which is today. This is an unprecedented release cadence, as Apple usually gives at least a week’s notice for the release date. This is notable because Apple does not allow developers to submit apps optimized for the new OS until it announces the release date, which means that generally most developers on the ball have their apps ready to go when the update drops. With only 24 hours notice, many developers are not ready, which means that this year there will be far fewer apps available that take advantage of the new features of iOS 14 at launch.
Apple Announces Apple One
Lastly, Apple announced Apple One. Which, contrary to the name, is a set of three subscription service bundles. This lets users who subscribe to multiple Apple services pay a discounted rate to bundle. There isn’t much to say here except that Apple has taken a strange route in having three separate bundles in a service called Apple One, and that It is very unfortunate that the bundle that includes Apple News and Fitness+ is so much more expensive. Apple was so close to getting this right, but didn’t.
Oculus Quest 2 Announced
Facebook’s Oculus division has announced the second standalone Oculus headset, the Oculus Quest 2. This looks to be a substantial upgrade from the original Oculus Quest, featuring higher resolution displays that run at 90hz instead of 72 hz, a somewhat lighter design, and new redesigned controllers. But the most exciting change is the price. While the original Quest started at $400 USD, and $550 in Canada, the Quest 2 starts at a price of $300 USD. Canadian pricing isn’t official, but based on the current exchange rate that should translate to a $400 headset here.
VR is the kind of thing I should be already invested in, as cool new technology is my jam, but because early VR headsets required powerful PC’s, I would have had to spend several hundred dollars to upgrade my PC to spend several hundred more dollars to buy a headset. The Oculus Quest 2 might finally be enticing enough for me to jump in… when I can afford it.
https://mobilesyrup.com/2020/09/16/facebook-standalone-vr-headset-oculus-quest-2/
GoPro Hero 9 Black
After the tepid response to last year’s GoPro Hero 8 Black, GoPro has upped its game with the Hero 9 Black. It has addressed the majority of complaints people had with last year’s model, notably finally including a full colour front screen, and bringing back the ability to replace the lens cap should it be damaged. The Hero 9 Black is larger than the Hero 8, in part to accommodate the significantly larger battery (roughly 1700mah vs 1200mah). The Hero 9 Black can record 5k video at 30fps, 4k video at 60fps, and 1080p video at up to 240fps.
This is a monster action camera, but it comes with an increased price. The Hero 8 Black was a $400 USD device, and the Hero 9 Black is $450 USD, which translates to roughly $600 CAD.
https://www.theverge.com/21437419/gopro-hero-9-review
RTX 3080 Reviews
Reviews for the nVidia GeForce RTX 3080 have been published, and they are as good as advertised. The card, which will retail for around $925 in Canada offers an average of 60% better performance than the RTX 2080 Ti, which was a graphics card that cost in the area of $1800. This graphics card offers tremendous performance for the price. I’m personally still more interested on the coming RTX 3070, which will likely be in the area of $700, but it is good to see the huge gains in the leap from the 2xxx generation to the 3xxx generation.
https://pcper.com/2020/09/nvidia-geforce-rtx-3080-founders-edition-review/
Super Mario 3D All Stars Reviews
Publishers have released reviews of the Super Mario 3D All Stars compliation releasing this Friday on Nintendo Switch. 3D All Stars includes Nintendo 64’s Super Mario 64, Gamecube’s Super Mario Sunshine, and Wii’s Super Mario Galaxy in one $80 package. While Nintendo did not do any significant work to improve these titles on Switch, reviews state this is a good complication and a must buy for anyone who enjoyed the games when it released. I am personally very excited for this release, but won’t be picking it up right away because I’m still currently unemployed. But, I will need to buy it before March 31, 2021 because for some reason this is a limited time release, and is only available for purchase until then.
https://mobilesyrup.com/2020/09/16/super-mario-3d-all-stars-review-nintendo-switch/
Microsoft Launches Cloud Gaming on Android
On September 15 Microsoft officially launched Cloud Gaming on Xbox Game Pass. Available exclusively on Android because Apple is being anti-competitive, This service allows users of Xbox Game Pass to stream over 100 games via the internet to Android phones and Tablets. This is a good start for the service, but I have no idea at all why it is not available for Windows. I would get far, far more use out of it if there was a way to play cloud gaming on Windows. That has the potential to have tens of millions of Windows PC’s that would not otherwise be able to play these games access to them. We Wait.
https://www.thurrott.com/games/project-xcloud/240944/microsoft-launches-cloud-gaming
Apple and Epic Games update.
I’m not going to go too far into this, but Apple’s latest court filing in it’s legal battle with Epic Games amusingly states that Epic Games is pouring gasoline on itself and lighting itself on fire. So that’s where we are in this process.