
Apple Event 2020 - yigitdemirag
https://www.apple.com/apple-events/event-stream/
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slg
It is very Apple to market a cost cutting move of not including power adapters
with their products as an environmental decision. Like it certainly does help
the environment, but does anyone actually believe that is the motivating
factor?

~~~
DonaldPShimoda
They've spent a lot of money aggressively pursuing environmental concerns
before many of their competitors (like renewable power, carbon neutrality,
recycling programs, etc.).

While I can appreciate the reduction in cost likely was a factor, I wouldn't
doubt that the environmental aspect was also a genuine concern.

Their ideal customer is somebody who upgrades devices frequently and then
participates in the trade-in programs, but the adapters and such are not part
of those trade-ins. So if you get a new phone every year for 4 years, you have
4 adapters. It's not a far stretch to imagine that their own employees said
"You know, this feels wasteful" and management said "Hmmm not only is it an
environmental problem, but we could also reduce costs."

But it's impossible to say for sure from an outside view.

~~~
dkarp
Step 1 of reducing your environmental impact is reducing your consumption. If
Apple really cared about the environment, then they wouldn't encourage a new
phone every year when a phone can last for 4 years.

Reduce, reuse and recycle.

~~~
jasonv
Do they encourage people to buy a new phone every year?

I don't think most people get a new phone every year, hence the "is this worth
the upgrade?" Conventionally speaking, most tech reviewers tend to suggest
that the latest model usually isn't worth the upgrade if you have the last
model, and only in some cases is it a compelling upgrade from two releases
ago.

Release a new phone every year isn't the same thing as encouraging everyone to
upgrade every year.

~~~
mercer
Anecdotally, very few people I know get the newest phone. In fact, most of
them tend to get second-hand phones that are at least a generation or two
behind. That said, these are generally on the middle- to lower-middle-class
individuals.

I'm a geek and I could afford buying the latest phones, but in practice I
almost always get a phone at least 2 generations behind.

That said, looking at people in town, there's a significant number who _do_
get the latest model. I always wonder how they can afford it.

~~~
DonaldPShimoda
If you sell your 1-year-old iPhone as soon as new ones are available, you
maximize the secondhand sale price. After that, the value you can get will
decrease. (The same is true of the value Apple gives for their trade-in
programs.)

So in some sense, if you replace your phone as soon as a new one is available,
you pay about 50% of the new phone's cost every year. So it's not _quite_ as
expensive as you'd think. (And yes, iPhones sell for a little over 50% of
their purchase price after a year.)

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Traubenfuchs
My screen has never displayed video of a higher quality. With instant load and
zero lags. Stunning! Is this 60 FPS?

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JaakkoP
They came up with a new Apple Watch (Series 6) that measures blood oxygen
content! If that actually works as advertised, this feels like enough of a
reason to upgrade.

My wife has Series 3 and I have Series 5, but I haven't seen a major
difference between the two. Series 5 is slightly sleeker and smaller, but the
updates didn't feel important enough for her to upgrade.

~~~
reillyse
They've got to fix the battery life. I tried the apple watch earlier this year
and returned it a couple of days later. After using a whoop (where I get 5
days of battery) the less than one day charge makes the product pointless.

~~~
DonaldPShimoda
Huh. I've got a Series 2 that still lasts nearly 2 days on a single charge.

I know sometimes something in the software update can glitch and cause
aggressive battery consumption. I wonder if you were affected by something
like that (which is something they should address to prevent from happening in
the future).

~~~
reillyse
Nope. Apple itself says the watch will last 18 hours so if you've got one that
lasts for 2 days, thats great.

[https://www.apple.com/watch/battery/#:~:text=Apple%20Watch%2...](https://www.apple.com/watch/battery/#:~:text=Apple%20Watch%20is%20so%20capable,doing%20a%2060%2Dminute%20workout).

~~~
DonaldPShimoda
That's assuming a 60-minute workout, using apps throughout the day, and the
GPS model (which is slightly more energy-consuming anyway). The workout is
really what'll get you; those switch the heartrate and other bio-monitoring
from passive to active, which greatly increases battery drain.

If you use your Watch more passively, all-day performance is not out of the
question. It all depends on your individual use case.

Besides, 18 hours should be sufficient since you _ought_ to be getting more
than 6 hours of sleep a night anyway. Somewhere in that offtime is when you
can charge. I do it overnight, but plenty of people charge during their
morning routine (shower, etc.) and say it charges more than enough to last all
day.

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skunkworker
I'm curious how they can get an accurate blood oxygen reading while not having
a sensor on the bottom of the wrist.

If I recall correctly a finger pulse oximeter requires a sensor below the
finger which records the absorption of infrared light.

~~~
hnburnsy
Some Garmin watches already have this, Garmin says...

>Accuracy of Wrist-based Pulse Ox

Pulse Oximetry (Pulse Ox) readings are available for certain Garmin wearables.
It can provide an estimation of the user’s peripheral blood oxygen saturation
(SpO2%) at any given time the feature is accessed. The feature can also be set
to track in a continuous manner during a period while the user is asleep. For
certain devices, it can also be used to track periodically throughout the day
along with a view of the user’s altitude or elevation.

While every effort is made to ensure a high degree of accuracy, there are
certain limitations that can cause inaccurate measurements. The user’s
physical characteristics, fit of the device, and presence of ambient light may
impact the readings. Garmin may release device software over time to improve
aspects of the measurements. The Pulse Ox data is not intended to be used for
medical purposes, nor is it intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any
disease or condition.

Excessive motion and the position of the device can impact the accuracy of the
readings. It is important to keep your arm/sensor still for approximately one
minute for best accuracy.

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apazzolini
The real question the lady should have asked about what the watch can do is
play songs from Spotify without your iPhone near you, like when you're
running.

Spoiler alert: You can't.

~~~
cycrutchfield
Pretty sure that's Spotify's fault, not Apple.

~~~
apazzolini
Pretty sure Apple doesn't expose the correct APIs to allow this on the GPS
model of the watch - at least that was the case when I last researched this.

~~~
cycrutchfield
Not true as of Watch OS 6, I believe.

I'm referring to streaming via cellular. Not sure about playing offline via
non-cellular though, I haven't looked into that.

~~~
apazzolini
I searched a bit - I think you're correct, and also offline support looks to
be in beta in the Swedish version of Spotify, so maybe it's actually coming at
some point.

~~~
Izikiel43
I'm in Canada and I got a beta for wifi streaming from the watch, where did
you find about the offline beta?

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netcraft
Great to see touch id in the button - sure hope that comes to iphone this
year!

~~~
mercer
Why'd they have to put the tech people in the basement though?

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mercer
Say what you will about the Apple spaceship campus, that was a pretty
photogenic appearance it made.

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ocdtrekkie
Here's the only thing I'm really waiting for today... the Watch SE pricing.
$279... gets it into "high quality Fitbit territory".

~~~
netcraft
with that, if they would let me hook it up to my ipad (I dont have an iphone)
id buy it in a heartbeat

~~~
mcny
I've been thinking about getting an iPad. However, I can't imagine paying
extra for a cellular model Apple Watch. Would you be able to get emails,
messages, calendar stuff on a Wi-Fi only Apple Watch paired only to an iPad
when you don't have your iPad on you?

~~~
netcraft
hmm I guess thats a good point - I dont leave the house much so hadn't really
considered that.

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mercer
USB-C. 'bout time!

~~~
WillYouFinish
Agree, but USB-C seems so fragile compared to Lightning.

~~~
ihuman
At least the fragile part is in the cable, so you can replace it if it breaks.
Lightning has the fragile part in the phone.

~~~
shajznnckfke
I thought the fragile part of USB C was the thin part in the port than goes in
between the two sides of the plug.

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ganoushoreilly
removing power adapter.. to save the environment. Also you have to buy it as
an accessory for $30+ ....

~~~
DonaldPShimoda
If I remember right, Apple Watch is the most popular smart watch on the market
— meaning many people have had one already. Those people don't need a new
adapter. It's like the iPhone: if I already have one, I don't need _another_
adapter (lord knows I have enough of them).

It's definitely not great for new customers though, and it absolutely should
not be $30, but for people like me it's a positive move forward to reduce
waste.

~~~
ericmay
Yea but you'll still have a cable. I'm sure you'll find some sort of USB
device to plug it in to.

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maxbaines
This link crashes Edge on Windows Arm
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24483910](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24483910)

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suyash
What are the exact differences between Series 3 vs Series 6 ?

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DonaldPShimoda
Off the top of my head: always-on display, additional sensors (compass, blood
oxygen, ECG, more advanced accelerometer for fall detection), higher
resolution display, different speaker system I think, slightly different form
factor, uhhh... that's all I've got immediately but I think there's a bit
more.

~~~
r00fus
Better processor. Wife has series 3 and I have a 4 - the 4 is 50% faster. I
wouldn't buy a series 3 as it's just a bit too slow.

~~~
DonaldPShimoda
Oh absolutely right, I dunno how I missed that!

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Thaxll
So will they talk about the feud with Epic and the app store?

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mercer
Sure, why wouldn't they!?

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dkarp
is there no new iPhone then?

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Axsuul
The rumor is October

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krrishd
Not to be too cynical, but is this Apple watch "solo loop" coming in a bunch
of fixed sizes a means by which they reduce/minimize the ability to buy/sell
used Apple Watches?

Or at their scale does it not really make a difference?

EDIT: nvm lol, forgot that you can just swap out the loops still

~~~
rhinoceraptor
The silicone material they use tends to get beat up enough after a year or two
that you'd probably want to replace it anyways if you buy a used watch.

~~~
krrishd
good point

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ilikehurdles
Cool, a blood oxygen sensor. What a revolutionary new sensor that Garmin
watches have had for only 3 years now.

~~~
canadianwriter
Basically none of the technology Apple showed off in the original iPhone
release was 100% brand new that no one else had, they just put it all together
in a way that had never been done before.

Garmin has that, but does it integrate the same way?

~~~
dfischer
Apple rarely introduces breaking tech. They release optimized tech that makes
good products. Rarely first to market - they experiment, learn, adapt, and go
in when confident.

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GiorgioG
Apple Watch Series 6...totally uninspired update. I was hoping we might get a
glucose monitor/sensor, instead we get a blood oxygen sensor.

Apple's just coasting at this point. I was considering getting the iPhone 12,
but at this point I'm expecting a similar dud launch next month from Apple, so
I'd rather give my money to Nvidia for an RTX 3080.

Stop mailing it in Apple.

~~~
innagadadavida
At this time at least, measuring blood oxygen has more consumer demand and
impact than measuring glucose.

~~~
mrkstu
More than 100 million Americans have diabetes or pre-diabetes. Numbers are
huge and more importantly the feature (glucose monitoring) is much more
critical to their health.

