It’s so easy to take for granted just how big the role the iPhone plays in my days
On the face of it, yesterday was just another normal Sunday, but you know what struck me…just sitting there quietly through the day was my iPhone 15 Pro Max just doing its thing and making the whole day easier.
We take it for granted but when I pulled back the curtains yesterday it just struck me how much I rely on this device. Of all the Apple products I own, because of the nature of the iPhone, it is at the core and centre of so much that I do – often more than I give it credit for.
Smell the coffee
I am lucky enough to have last year’s iPhone 14 Pro sitting in the kitchen and these days as that first espresso is made I use that iPhone to play music which I hand over to a HomePod mini.
One of my minis died recently for no apparent reason and with no way to reset it and it being nearly two years old, sadly that one made its way out of the door. But having decent audio in the kitchen with the iPhone/HomePod mini is so convenient. Siri kind of does just enough to be useful and if I know the name of the artist or album I want it generally does its thing well enough. It’s still odd though getting used to saying only Siri rather than Hey Siri – have you got used it it yet?
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iPhone to go…
Yesterday was a day out in London – which saw the iPhone multitasking.
I’ve never downloaded or used Waze as popular as I know it is. I do have Google Maps on my phone but only as a backup. Apple Maps has never let me down – and yesterday it performed as well as ever.
I have Apple CarPlay which makes using Apple Maps even easier with its neat wireless integration and CarPlay comes into its own again when it comes to music doubling up as the infotainment system.
I’ve never bought into Spotify for one simple reason – I have a huge music collection of my own – rare CDs and albums that I’ve added to my collection over the years. I know I am flying against the popular swell with this one, but with Spotify being solely a streaming platform you are reliant on them having the music you want to listen to – and for me, that just doesn’t work. I don’t need AI to suggest the next track, album or artist I want to listen to.
The direct comparison to Spotify for us behind Apple’s walled garden is Apple Music – and recently got a whole lot better. With SharePlay in the car now everyone can contribute to what’s playing just by scanning a QR code. You can finally crossfade tracks and to help Apple’s AI learn better what music you like you can star and favourite artists. So far, on the odd times, I have relied on Apple Music to follow up with suggestions it has seemed way better tailored.
As a side note my phone’s battery yesterday was just fine – leaving home with it at 100% and having put it through a pretty heavy day of use which included some ProRes shooting to an SSD (which drains the battery) I still got home with about 45% left after an 8 hour day. I still inexplicably have good and bad – or rather better and not-so-good days when it comes to this year’s iPhone but yesterday it was on song.
The lighter weight of my iPhone 15 Pro Max with its titanium frame makes a huge difference on long days like yesterday and those softer, rounded edges make it super comfortable to hold and use too.
Whilst in Rome…
I mentioned I headed into town yesterday – I went to Battersea and while there having a mooch, shop and some lunch I took a few minutes out of the day to pop into what has become my home Apple Store.
The design and layout of Apple Battersea are gorgeous and it has become the flagship store in the UK and one which Apple has decided to use as a template for other stores around the world.
It’s spacious, with loads of staff always on hand and as you’d expect every Apple product and accessory you could wish for is there. The Genius Bar is back with a more informal feel and there is a space in the store that will change for new product releases – I can already picture Apple Vision Pro there next year.
If you find yourself in London, Apple Battersea is well worth a visit.
It keeps giving…
Back home the iPhone still sits centre to what’s going on.
I consume nearly all my content whether that’s YouTube or TV through my 4K Apple TV and HomePod – it’s a brilliant combination and I often use my iPhone as the remote control simply because that is nearly always within reach. That’s another super neat little feature that’s often overlooked – but it’s there for you in the Control Centre.
It’s not over yet
The fact I’m a rubbish sleeper is of no interest, but the fact I am means I consume a vast amount of podcasts.
Throughout the night I nearly always have AirPods Pro in listening to tech podcasts. I know there are other podcast apps out there, but sometimes I think we can be guilty of over-complicating an issue that isn’t there.
All a podcast app surely needs to do is download the latest episodes in an easy-to-understand directory and let you play them – and for me, Apple’s native podcast app does just that. The fact it also pairs with Apple Watch is another win.
Ever present
I love the Apple gear I have around me – the new M3 iMac is proving to be a bit of wolf in sheep’s clothing and the M1 Max MacBook Air continues to gobble up pretty much anything I throw at it. The M2 MacBook Air is a brilliant sofa and travel companion and the Studio Display simply makes my working day that much better.
Every year we expect more and more from it, but as I reminded myself yesterday, whatever we ask of it, the iPhone is at the heart of it all.
I use it to unlock my car and with Apple Pay, I can’t recall the last time I had to take credit cards out with me. I use it for banking, and after my recent cyber scare, I also have Google Authenticator on it as well.
Adding to reminders with the family is so easy and I have my local supermarket app on there as well – so whizzing around the store, and scanning as I go is super quick. I pretty much run my YouTube channel from the iPhone, check mail and of course, there is iMessage as well.
I think it’s easy to forget just how lucky we are to have this beast at the heart of our Apple ecosystem and our day-to-day lives. While it’s all too easy to get caught up in all the latest great features – 5x zoom, ProRes Log, USB-C, the Action Button, Dynamic Island…at its heart, at the very core of your iPhone is the beating heart of our Apple existence. Without that, nothing else functions.
And yeah, I guess Android users would argue that much of this is possible with a Pixel 8 Pro or Samsung S23 Pro but the way everything fits, flows and functions with iPhone is just too damned good, convenient and easy.
I know it’s popular and offers great clickbait to say ‘I’m quitting the iPhone and the ecosystem’, but I won’t be one of them. Yesterday just drove home how much I love the iPhone and how bloody good it is at what it does.
Simply put my day is better because of iPhone…
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