Ryan Malesevich

amateur runner, technology enthusiast, and friend to all dogs

Apple Christmas

25 September 2024

On the most recent episode of the podcast, Cortex, one of the hosts CGP Grey mentioned the phrase ‘Apple Christmas’ that I particularly liked. Apple releases new iPhones and Apple Watches every September along with updates to all their operating systems. Getting these goodies does feel like Apple Christmas. Because I upgraded my phone and watch this year, I wanted to capture the reasons why I chose the devices that I did. It’ll help me next year when this train comes around again and I’m tempted to spend absurd money on incremental improvements.

iPhone

This is the first year that I upgraded my iPhone after having the old model for just one year. I feel bad for my blatant capitalism. The iPhone 15 Pro I was upgrading was fine, but it was the year my wife was upgrading and I didn’t want her to have a better phone than me 🫠. I know. SHAME!1

The main genesis to this post is that last year when I bought the iPhone 15 Pro, I opted to get 512 GB. Paying for a double memory boost hurt the pocket book but I was so excited to capture spatial video to be played on Apple Vision Pro. It turns out that Apple Vision Pro wasn’t for me. I never recorded any spatial video and my real usage was only 170 GB. What a waste. I didn’t know better, but remembering that led to what I chose this year.

My choice: iPhone 16 Pro 256GB Black Titanium.

I’ll give Apple credit. This year they made the choice between the regular iPhone 16 and the iPhone 16 Pro more difficult. They raised the bar on the lower-end phone such that I had to pause. The iPhone 16 colors are so much more fun than the Pro model. Both models had the camera control and the action button. I would say only two things swayed me back to the Pro: ProMotion and the 5x camera. I’ve been so used to 120mhz refresh rate that I don’t think I could go back to 60mhz without constantly noticing it. The 5x camera was almost a reason why I went with the iPhone 15 Pro Max last year. Alas, I’m not a large phone person, so I was happy that they brought this camera to the regular size Pro Phone.

I mentioned the storage size above. I went with 256 GB and after clearing out a few things, I think I’ll have plenty of space for this year.

The colors were disappointing, but I went with the Black because it matches what I got for the Apple Watch (spoilers for the next section). I would love some fun colors but in 2024/2025 I’m going back to the black = Pro motif. I tried to bridge out last year with the white titanium phone but I guess I’m still hung up on not getting a “BlackBook” in the Core 2 Duo days of the MacBook and will always find myself drawn to it.

New for this year is that I am going back to the silicone case. Last year I bought the FineWoven debacle, hated it, threw it away, and went case-less for the year. It did result in a few small scratches on the screen that were annoying but didn’t impact usage. So far the silicone case is working fine.

I’ve had the phone for almost a week. I like it. I won’t do a full review, but the things I like so far (list inclusive to the feature upgrades found in iOS 18):

  • The 5x camera is everything I thought it was going to be and more.
  • I like the Camera Control to launch the camera and take pictures. I’m not sold on using it to adjust settings. It’s not very intuitive on switching things, but maybe in future iOS versions they’ll tweak it and make it easier?
  • Freeing up the Action Button to something new is great. I was using a custom Shortcut that would set a Wind Down scene if I was at home and passed a certain time otherwise open the camera. I ended up switching to the Flashlight since I found myself using that a lot.
  • Customizing the Control Center has been great. I moved my Wind Down shortcut to there.
  • The enhancements to the Messages have been great. I love the new interactions and being able to send things later. Also RCS should help with my friends on Android when we are sharing pictures and the likes.
  • I’m intrigued to try the audio recording in the Notes app to get transcriptions.

Apple Watch

This was partially spoiled above. I bought the first Apple Watch Ultra two years ago. As a runner and someone doing outside walks/hikes all the time battery life is what I prioritize. It turns out that I fell in love with the watch and the size. I skipped the Apple Watch Ultra 2 and was really hoping there would be an Apple Watch Ultra 3 announced. Sadly that was not the case. the Apple Watch Series 10 was announced with a bigger screen, but battery life is what I wanted so I knew I wouldn’t go back.

My choice: Apple Watch Ultra 2 GPS + Cellular, 49mm Black Titanium Case with Ice Blue Ocean Band

I probably would have been fine waiting one more year, but my wife has been looking longingly at the battery life and requested that she get my current Ultra after new ones came out. I had to shell out the $800 to get the Black Ultra 2. It was my wive’s fault! I’m a little bummed to get last year’s Ultra model. I’m a little disappointed that Apple still hasn’t figgured out the patent dispute on the blood oxygen sensor and I won’t be getting those metrics. But, I would have to say the black on the Ultra looks incredible. It goes with the Black Titanium iPhone 16 Pro, my MacBook Pro Max M3, and the iPad Pro M4 that I bought within the last year. That hurts writing that out when I add up the totals.

I chose the Ice Blue Ocean Band because I really like that style of watch band. They look cool. I can use it when working out and just being out and about. It’s versatile and comfortable. The Ice Blue looks pretty sharp with the Black Titanium.

Like above, here are my notes so far:

  • Did I mention the black looks incredible?
  • I like the addition of the Vitals app to see some metrics right away.
  • I probably won’t change anything, but it’s nice to pause the streaks and setting different goals by day.
  • The battery is still incredible.
  • It seems to connect to my AirPods Pro more quickly when going for a run without the phone.
  • I love the Check in as I often will run with just my watch. Having my wife automatically notified, especially if I’m going on runs or hikes when I’m traveling will be really helpful if/when I get into trouble out there.
  1. Don’t worry. We didn’t need to follow The Marco Offset as yearly we donate to St. Jude Research Hospital more than the offset. 

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