MBW 731: The New iWatch Is Here!

Beep boop - this is a robot. A new show has been posted to TWiT…

What are your thoughts about today’s show? We’d love to hear from you!

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Apple Fitness+ should dominate the $12.99 Peloton App and other exercise hardware apps – especially since the Fitness+ $9.99mo/$79.99/year subscription can be used by 5 other users. Peloton is also going to get squeezed by the Bowflex VeloCore, which adds an optional upper-body workout in a spin class. This tech has been in a RealRyder studio bike for many years; I presume they are licensing the tech. @Leo: you guys should check with Bowflex to see if they’d like a sponsorship deal. :grinning: I’m also highly interested in the Whipr portable kickstarter Row/Ski/SUP erg but not enough to join the kickstarter. If that device really works, those guys could disrupt the entire fitness industry.

One question with the U1 chip: do you think this could be used with games? I was thinking the Apple Watch ultra-precise U1 tracking could be used in a Dance-Dance or other motion-tracking games. Dimensions of interactivity could be added by strapping on U1 AirTags to your other wrist and an ankle or two. John Prosser says that UWB is coming to all new Apple products. That would be a slam-dunk for a new gen of Apple TV and the new Apple Silicon Macs. I’ve never heard Rene speculate about this; have you heard anyone discuss the potential of UWB for motion-tracking games?

In the episode, @Leo said that the A14’s 5nm design rules are half the size as Intel’s current chips. Component density follows the square of size. All things equal, a 5nm design should be 4x more dense than a 10nm design. But all things are never equal…

Great episode. I fondly hope that Rene will be there for 732. TY.

Nothing makes me feel more special than when Leo terms the iPad 8th gen that I just ordered as “the iPad nothing.”

I get the iPadAir is the new shiny toy, and I was really considering one. I had the original Air, and the Air 2. To be honest, I found my Air uses exactly the same as with all the basic iPads I’ve had. I might have been tempted with the new Air at $599, but 64GB for that product is ridiculous, IMHO. As ridiculous as 32GB in the 8th gen. For me to pop for $750 for an iPad Air that I will use exactly as I use the basic one seemed like a poor choice.

So I opted for the $429 8th gen. iPad.

I get Leo was mostly referring to the fact that the basic iPad just uses “iPad” as its name. But honestly, I was out riding my bike and listening to the show when I heard him say that, and I was glad nobody was around to hear what I uttered when I heard it. :face_with_hand_over_mouth:

But now, I’m over it. But one last thing, I’m surprised nobody remarked about the storage that both the basic 8th Gen and the Air started with. 32GB is the new 16GB of the old iPhones. And really, if you are going to buy a relatively powerful Air, 64GB seems anemic. So basically, Apple is forcing people to up-purchase. Kinda like the 5GB of iCloud storage…

Peace out.

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Spot on WRT the storage options for the iPads. I could imagine some turnkey solutions that could get along on 32GB, but 128GB is required for real users. And the 64GB/256GB choices for the iPad Air are just wrong. Nobody should limit themselves to 64GB, but that’s a huge price jump for 256GB.

The “iPad nothing” is just fine. We’ve been using a fifth-generation nothing for years; it continues to work great. The A12 looks like a mightily capable processor. The only minus was the lack of pencil support; that has now been fixed.

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Exactly! Yeah, the iPads last a good long time. I currently have a 6th generation with 128GB. But I’m finding that I’m charging it more often, and with spending so much time at home, I thought a new one might be appropriate. Plus, to be honest, I just wanted a shiny new toy!

I checked Gazelle, and they would pay $114 for my old one. But for that, I will probably just hold onto it.

Unlikely my understanding is that it’s more meant for location tracking. Motion tracking likely needs a higher frequency. But what do I know, prove me wrong?

The UWB Wikipedia article refers to it being low-data-rate I assume that would rule out precise motion tracking.

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra-wideband:

Pulse-UWB systems have been demonstrated at channel pulse rates in excess of 1.3 gigapulses per second using a continuous stream of UWB pulses (Continuous Pulse UWB or C-UWB), supporting forward error correction encoded data rates in excess of 675 Mbit/s.

It could be possible but I can’t find anything that talks about UWBs capabilities.Do we know how much power that would require compared to other methods of motion tracking.

I love the 8th Generation iPad, so I’m not knocking it when I call it the iPad nothing, that’s to distinguish it from the iPad Pro and iPad Air. It’s the same when we call it a “Macbook Nothing” to distinguish it from the MacBook Air and Pro.

I can’t keep saying the “iPad 8th Generation” and iPad alone is ambiguous.

To reiterate, the iPad Nothing is an excellent choice at a great price, and I recommend it all the time. It’s not nothing, just the name.

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Thanks Leo, I knew what you were saying. I was just a bit testy, having really wanted the Air, but responsibly (and that’s unusual for me) realizing I just couldn’t justify the cost based on how I use it. :smirk:

I really wish they would get rid of the Air name. I know it’s beyond marketing and part of brand now. But it’s basically meaningless.

Hearing Lori talk about handing down Apple Watches on the family plan made me almost go back and change my order to cellular capable, so I could give it to my mom in a couple of years. Then I thought about my mom’s reaction to a bright red watch :joy::smiley:. Probably not going to work out.

My series 1 watch battery swelled up after a couple of years, rendering it unusable. So I’m not sure they’re all that durable anyway. At least that’s the excuse I’m using not to buy a color I think she might wear.

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Rene uses “iPad adjectiveless”.

Waiting for Apple Marketing to adopt that term. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Wow the Apple Watch 6 has arrived. We aussies are still waiting for ECG approval on the Apple Watch 4.
Any other aussies out there move from the 3 to the 4 because of that capability?
Otherwise I also think Leo is correct in getting the aluminium versions as we won’t be keeping our watches as heirlooms anymore.
Thoughts?

I upgraded from a 2 to 4. Looking forward now to going to the 6. The lack of approval for ECG in Australia is annoying. I am hoping it will come soon. Hopefully the Blood Oxygen will work as it is only for ‘wellness’ rather than diagnostics.

I have been an aluminium buyer from the beginning as I knew I would want to upgrade every couple of years.

Face ID was the main feature I waited for when upgrading my iPad Pro. There are probably quite a few people like me for whom Touch ID rarely works for long. I would therefore be very unhappy if Face ID was no longer available on Apple Devices, and see it as a backward step. It would be great if rather than ditching Face ID, devices had both capabilities, and the User could then decide which authentication method they prefer.

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I agree. I got very fed up with Touch ID not working when my fingers were wet or after washing, or when wearing gloves. Though I have to say that I get frustrated having to lift my phone for Face ID to work. We need devices with both.

Yes, I moved from 3 to 4 hoping for ECG. Didn’t buy the 5 because of the lack of ECG and the other new features didn’t entice. New Zealand recently introduced ECG, so hopefully Australia will get there act into gear soon.

I do buy aluminium, but that is because the weight feels more comfortable on my wrist. My partner always buys stainless steel, but is trying titanium this time around. We are both upgrading to the 6.