With Apple’s announcements last week, I doubt anyone will be surprised that’s going to be my main topic. Additionally though, there was the announcement of the new PS4 Pro.

PlayStation 4 Pro

It was rumored for a while that Sony was building a PlayStation 4.5, a console that has upgraded specs but is compatible with the existing PS4. Last week this was officially announced and it was a bit of what was expected: a nice spec bump that should help with their VR efforts, and the demand that all games run on the older model as well.

So, why the spec bump? There was a 7 year gap between the PS3 and PS4 without an updated version, so why do they suddenly want this? There are a couple of reasons of course, first is the introduction of 4K and HDR televisions. These aren’t truly supported in the original PS4¹, but people have started buying them and want their consoles to make use of it.

The other reasons however is competition from smart phones. Smart phones have basically taken away the casual gamer market (why spend hundreds of dollars on a console and 60 dollar per game when you can just play something on your phone), but obviously haven’t done so yet for the whole market. This will probably change at some point though. Phone CPUs and GPUs make big jumps every year, and will eventually catch up with the consoles. Well, with the current generation consoles as the previous generations have already been surpassed.

Don’t misunderstand me here by the way, I’m not talking about gaming on the phone, I’m talking about using the phone as a console: hooked up to your TV. You have the cable plugged into your TV at all times and simply hook it up and go for it. Let’s just assume that there will at least be one port left in the iPhone by that time.

Now, the current phones aren’t even close to matching even the original PS4 in sheer graphics performance. This is helped a lot by the size and therefore cooling capabilities of a console, but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if this upgraded version² is in part to ensure that stays the case until the release of the PS5.

iPhone 7

The yearly complaints about Apple’s new phone have started. Whatever “gate” can be found, complaining about Apple’s latest phone always guarantees lots of traffic to a website and therefore advertising revenue³. Of course, this time there might actually be something to complain about: Apple once again removed something that has always been there and doesn’t have a decent replacement! Oh no! This is terrible!

Now that the (fake) hysterics are over, let’s have a realistic look. Yes, the headphone jack was removed. Yes, I’m sure this is going to be inconvenient for a number of people. For the sake of argument though, let’s assume that Apple has statistics about how people use their phones⁴ and at least partially base their decisions on that. So, let’s assume that based on data they find that most people use the headphones that come with the phone, and don’t usually charge it while using these headphones⁵. Additionally they’ve somehow learned that people like battery life and might prefer a second speaker as they often don’t use headphones at all⁶!

Unless they make the phone bigger⁷, this obviously means they have to make a choice in what they want to keep. And they chose to get rid of a thing that is slowly fading out of use. Personally I only use the headphone jack on airplanes now, when I plug in my noise cancelling fancy headphones. I tend to use Bluetooth headphones while walking on the street, and when working I plug my headphones into my computer. For now, I’m willing to use an adapter on the airplane⁸ until I replace those with Bluetooth ones as well. Because while charging your headphones is slightly annoying, I get more annoyed by the cables that are always in the way and tend to put themselves into ridiculous knots.

How about the rest of the phone? It sounds like a decent upgrade. I like the water resistance, which means I don’t have to worry about it while I’m at the beach or that I drop it somewhere else. You can even use it in bath without worrying it falls in⁹, because it will survive. It’s faster again, has a better camera and comes in both black and black¹⁰. Not to mention they doubled the storage space across the board, which means they finally got rid of the ridiculously low 16GB starting model.

The other big “controversial” change, although it slips a bit under the radar compared to the headphone jack, is the removal of the home button. Or rather, changing it to something akin to the current force/3D touch¹¹ trackpads: something that pretends to be clickable, but isn’t. No idea how that’s going to work, but I’m fine with the feel of the trackpad on my MacBook Pro so I’m not too worried¹². So yes, I’ll get one, and will enjoy it even without a headphone jack.

AirPods

Ok, just a little bit about the AirPods as well. They’re interesting. I like how easily they can be paired to your phone and through that your other Apple devices (connecting Bluetooth headphones and speakers can be annoying), while still also offering regular Bluetooth connections¹³. Using the case as a charger is also nice and ensures you don’t need to always bring a charging cable. What I don’t like is that there’s no way to skip unless you talk to Siri. And while they’re priced comparable to other similarly specked Bluetooth headphones, that’s still quite a bit of money. For now I’ll keep using my current ones, and when I need to replace those I’ll see how the AirPods match up against other Bluetooth headphones in reviews.

Apple Watch

The only other big thing that was announced¹⁴ is the hardware refresh for the Apple Watch. It’s basically adding a GPS, making it waterproof, and speeding up the CPU. Interestingly they also updated the CPU in the old models that they keep selling for a lower price. There isn’t all that much to say about it though, other than saying that it being waterproof makes me a lot more interested.

I’ll probably have a look again to see if I want one, but I’m not sure if I’ll get it yet. And if I do I will probably just go for a “cheap” one to see if I actually like it.