September 11, 2025 • 38 mins
Apple has announced lots of new products. In this episode of Talking Technology, we recap their iPhone 17 event, exploring what’s new.
Mairead, Joe and David share their thoughts on the new AirPods, Apple Watches and iPhones, and decide if they will be purchasing any new toys following the event.
Let us know your thoughts with a WhatsApp voice note. The number you need is +353 86 199 0011
0:00 Intro
3:23 General event reactions from Joe and Mairead
4:26 All about the AirPods Pro 3
10:24 Apple Watch Series 11, Ultra 3 and SE 3
20:50 New iPhone 17, 17 Pro, and the very thin iPhone Air
36:46 Outro
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
This Vision Ireland podcast contains chapter
markers.
If you want to skip the intro ora topic you don't like, you can
use chapter markers to do so.
Chapter markers are onlysupported in some podcast apps.
Enjoy the show!
SPEAKER_00 (00:20):
Welcome to Talking Technology with VI Labs.
At VI Labs, we believetechnology is the single
greatest enabler for people withsight loss and all disabilities.
If you're looking for the latestnews and conversation on tech
from a more accessibleperspective, you've come to the
right place.
SPEAKER_04 (00:38):
You have, you know, you have come to the right
place.
Hello gang, welcome in toTalking Technology with VI Labs
episode number 95, where it isour second podcast this week.
We had a podcast on Tuesdaycovering all things pregnancy
tests.
A really interesting podcast sodo have a listen back to that if
(00:59):
you haven't already.
It's available on all thepodcast apps and on YouTube so
do have a listen to that.
But today's podcast though it'sgoing to be a slightly shorter
episode.
We won't have talking technologynews and all of that.
We are specifically focusing onone topic and one topic alone
and that is the Apple event thattook place on Tuesday evening.
(01:20):
For for us Irish time we havenew iPhones new Apple watches
and new AirPods from this eventwe're at the iPhone 17 now we've
reached the series 11 for theApple watches and the AirPods
Pro 3 were announced as well soAirPods also getting an upgrade
(01:40):
so we'll be chatting about allof that over the next short
while so do stick with us andhey we as always would love to
hear your thoughts are you upAre you going to sit this one
out?
We'd love to hear your thoughts.
And there are loads of ways thatyou can join the conversation.
So if you want to join theconversation with a WhatsApp
(02:01):
voice note, you can do that.
Maybe you'll be sending us avoice note from your new iPhone
17 Air.
Well, it's not even called 17Air, just your iPhone Air.
We'll talk about that in aminute.
You can do that on WhatsApp.
The number that you need,086-199-0011.
That's 086-199-0011.
double one a reminder that avoice note is not a call you
(02:24):
don't want to be doing the audiocall you want to use the voice
message button at the bottomright of the screen it's labeled
with a voiceover so just givethat a double tap and then
you'll be in the right directionand that will get to us you can
also if you would like send usan email the good old fashioned
way to content at vi.ie that'scontent at vi.ie so whether
you're sitting this one out orwhether you're getting loads of
(02:46):
new Apple devices we'd love tohear from you 086199 001 on
WhatsApp or content at vi.ie byemail.
And joining me to go through allthis from the Apple event, I am
delighted to be joined fromKilkenny by Mr.
Joe Lonergan.
Joe, how are you?
I'm good, David.
Excellent stuff.
(03:07):
And by Mairead O'Mahony fromKerry, who we've dragged her out
of the Braille team for the day.
We have dragged her out of aBraille meeting.
Mairead, how are you?
Good, thanks.
How are you, David?
Awesome.
Thank you.
Can't complain at all.
So, Joe, I'll start with you.
Let's jump right into this Appleevent then.
(03:28):
Did you watch it?
What were your thoughts?
What stood out to you?
SPEAKER_03 (03:32):
Yeah, I did watch it.
And look, as usual, I like it.
It's entertaining.
My general thoughts were a bitlike the stocks and shares.
I didn't get overexcited.
It went down a slight notchcompared to some other events.
There was some interestingthings, but in general, I
(03:55):
wouldn't be rushing out by a newiPhone, by the way.
SPEAKER_04 (03:58):
Okay.
And Maraid, yourself?
SPEAKER_02 (04:01):
Yeah, I tuned into little bits of it as well, and I
did a lot of reading up onlineon it as well.
Very similar to Joe as well,there was a good few software
updates for things like theAirPods and things.
Maybe I might consider upgradingthe AirPods and things, but as
for the watch and things at themoment, I think, you know, I'll
use what I have at the moment.
(04:22):
But the AirPods are kind ofstood out to me.
SPEAKER_04 (04:25):
Interesting.
Well, look, let's take the eventin order then.
So we started off with theAirPods.
And as you mentioned there andallude to Maraid, there is a new
upgrade to AirPods, namely theAirPods Pro 3 have been
announced.
We previously had the AirPodsPro 2.
They are getting a few newfeatures, new sensors.
(04:47):
They will now be able to trackyour heart rate during workouts
which is really cool and theyare also going to have better
noise cancelling more cleartransparency and just better
sound in general.
Mairead are those the kind ofthings that are exciting you
about the new AirPods and whatstood out to you from those
AirPods?
SPEAKER_02 (05:09):
Definitely the noise cancelling I always love when
there's an improvement on thenoise cancelling because while
you have the transparent optionsas well it's nice to have the
complete noise cancelling so Andfor me, it would be that and the
better sound as well,definitely, because I kind of I
rely on mine a lot, especiallywhen I'm doing a lot of
(05:29):
traveling and things.
So I just kind of think, youknow, I haven't I haven't
upgraded the AirPods in a coupleof years.
So the battery in mine is kindof draining now.
But anyway, I don't get as longout of the charge.
So I think, you know, that'sthat's for me.
SPEAKER_04 (05:42):
That's interesting.
And these, you know, I neverreally found myself using.
I have the Pro 2s, which I lovethem.
I think they're great earphones.
But I never really used theactive noise cancelling a whole
lot.
Do you think, you know, you usethat a lot and you like it?
SPEAKER_02 (06:02):
I would, yeah, on trains and buses definitely
because otherwise you can heareverybody's conversations and
especially when people are onspeakerphone and things.
And especially buses, I find,you know, the engine can be
quite loud on the buses and thenyou have the radio at the front
of the bus as well.
So it does kind of drown out alot of I kind of find it a bit
distracting if I'm hearing a lotof other things as well.
SPEAKER_04 (06:23):
Ah, you see, I'm nosy, Mairead.
I like hearing everybody else'sconversations.
SPEAKER_02 (06:27):
I guess with music, I just like to totally tune out
and, you know.
SPEAKER_04 (06:31):
Yeah, I
SPEAKER_02 (06:32):
get that.
Especially if I know I'm notgetting off the bus or train for
a bit.
You know, if I'm near a stop orif I'm only on it for 10
minutes, yeah, I'll have thetransparent mode on.
SPEAKER_04 (06:41):
Super.
There are new ear tip sizes aswell.
We're going to five differentstyle of ear tips and the actual
headphone itself is gettingslightly smaller, I believe,
from what I can tell here.
Is that of interest to you atall?
SPEAKER_02 (07:01):
Yeah, definitely smaller headphones.
I do still think they can be alittle bit big on the ears and I
think new ear tips are always agood thing too just to find, you
know, the perfect fit as well,you know, just to kind of make
it a more sealed fit as well.
SPEAKER_04 (07:15):
Awesome stuff.
Joe, do you use AirPods much?
What are you thinking?
SPEAKER_03 (07:19):
I do.
Generally, I love AirPods.
I don't like wearing them forlong, long periods of time.
I find they, like for peoplethat don't like something that
protrude into the ear, maybethese may not be for them But
that always helps with the noisecancellation, of course.
Someone said that stick outs,they might be a bit smaller, but
they stick out slightly more outof the ear.
(07:40):
Maybe that's to help with the,there's a new live translation
mode coming.
So when you put on livetranslation, it actually lowers
the other person's voice, thentranslates it almost in real
time into your ear.
And, well, the plan is for bothparties to have AirPods Pro 3,
(08:04):
but that's unlikely to happen.
So in the case that they don'thave the AirPods Pro 3, you can
show them what you're saying onyour phone.
Instead, you can hold out yourphone and show the person in the
other language what you've said.
So it will work out whatever wayyou do it.
But that was an interesting one,I thought, especially if you're
(08:24):
going on holidays or you'regoing, the example they showed
was if you went to America andyou're trying to get some of the
products that described are theprices and bargaining them down
and all that kind of stuff.
So that was interesting.
The extra couple of hours,battery life, of course, is good
for anyone who does like to wearthem for long periods of time.
But that's excluding myself.
(08:44):
Sometimes I fall asleep withthem in my ears, but that's
another story.
Yeah, I mean, and David, as yousaid, the best part of going on
the bus is listening to otherpeople's conversations.
SPEAKER_04 (08:53):
Absolutely.
100%.
Yeah, I think that interestingyou mentioned that live
translation.
I do wonder how good it will bebecause there's been a few
attempts now do you thinkthey'll crack it Joe?
SPEAKER_03 (09:08):
I never get a chance to use this thing you know what
I mean so I hope they crack it Ithink they just about will crack
it I'd love to get a recordingfrom somebody that tried it
maybe somebody from Ireland sendus in a clip of them actually
using it God knows we have adiverse community over here now
(09:29):
maybe we should have plenty ofopportunities to try try it, but
I've never got the opportunityto try it, and maybe I will down
the line somewhere.
I think they will crack it,yeah, they will eventually.
SPEAKER_04 (09:39):
Absolutely.
Well, that is the new AirPodsPro 3.
They are coming in at€249, whichis pricey, but not as pricey as
we expected.
Mireille, do you seem happy withthat price?
SPEAKER_02 (09:54):
Yeah, I definitely expected like the late 200s,
like 279 or a bit more even.
So I think that's probably thebest price they've had there in
a good few years with them.
SPEAKER_04 (10:05):
Interesting stuff.
Well, there you go.
Those, like most of the thingsthat we'll be discussing today,
pre-orders open now and theywill be available and shipping
on Friday as we record this.
So we're recording this onWednesday.
They will be available onFriday.
But let's move on then to AppleWatches.
(10:27):
Apple Watches were next on theagenda and we're We're getting
three new Apple Watches for thisround.
We're getting the Series 11, weare getting the SE3, and we are
getting the Ultra 3.
So the Series 11 is their kindof standard Apple Watch, I
guess, if you will.
Their SE3, it's the moreentry-level, so slightly more
(10:50):
affordable, but doesn't havequite as many features and so
on.
And then the Ultra 3, that'stheir Pro Watch, so a bit more
expensive and a little bit moreaffordable.
fancy, more bells and whistlesand so on and so forth.
Lots of interesting stuff.
Joe, are you an Apple Watch fan?
SPEAKER_03 (11:10):
Yeah, I have a 7 on my hand at the moment.
Yeah, I do.
I like the Apple Watch.
I wouldn't be fanatical about itnow, but I do have a habit.
I like wearing it, so I like totrack my steps and obviously
check the time.
The watch is for there, isn'tit?
Maybe not anymore.
Loads of
SPEAKER_04 (11:29):
different
SPEAKER_03 (11:31):
things now I take the odd call on it not very
often if my phone isn't withinreach I'll answer it yeah I
don't know if I'll upgrade yetthe SE is very interesting
though it's the new SE 3 it's ata very good price point as
you'll call out prices later onthe Ultra yeah I think not for
(11:55):
me yet it would be one I'dconsider but I just like the
fact that the battery life isgetting better on them all the
time on all the watches that'sthe biggest pain about the Apple
Watch is you can't send anycharge to it when you're wearing
it you have to take it off andsometimes then you can forget to
actually bring it with you ifyou're after charging I actually
SPEAKER_04 (12:15):
forgot to charge mine today believe it or not so
it's batteries low
SPEAKER_03 (12:20):
that's it you know so it's no good to you when it's
not on you so yeah like Fitbitshave a big advantage there they
have a 7 or 8 day battery lifeon some of them so yeah I long
for the day that we can getthat.
But sometimes when you have toomany features or gimmicks on a
watch, that does take from thebattery life.
It also has an always-on displayas well on the SE3 now.
(12:45):
So that was also a good thingfor some people.
SPEAKER_04 (12:47):
Yeah, there's lots in this.
So this was the area of theevent that was most exciting to
me.
I'm purchasing an Ultra 3 thistime around.
I have the Series 5, which is agood few years old at this point
and it's starting to wear itselfout now unfortunately and
voiceover just isn't asresponsive.
It's an antique David.
(13:08):
It's an antique you know it'sone of those a true classic Joe
but it's one of these thingswhere there's a lot of new
features coming to the series 11like the you know the new kind
of blood hypertension your bloodpressure monitoring that can be
(13:29):
checked over the course of amonth by the Apple Watch as well
as a number of other featureslike the workout body and stuff
like that but you're alsogetting I suppose for those who
do decide to upgrade now you'realso getting things like the
blood oxygen and stuff like thatwhich I don't have on the series
on the series 5 but they'readding lots of different things
(13:52):
5G support which is really niceyou know as you said the always
on display for the for the SEmodel there as well.
And the SE model starts at areally, really competitive price
point.
Actually, I think it's 269 it'sstarting at, which is a really,
(14:13):
really competitive price forsomeone who just wants to get
their foot in the door withApple Watch.
SPEAKER_03 (14:20):
Yeah, I think that's a great price point.
Almost getting to the stagewhere you could buy maybe one of
your kids one for Christmas ifthey're at that age, you know,
like anything above 300, you'resaying, look, they could take it
off, leave it somewhere,whatever, you know, I know that
can happen in anything, butFitbits are so much better for
kids because they don't have totake it off their arm so often.
(14:42):
But yeah, but they're getting tothe price point where they're, I
suppose, a little bit moreaffordable, you know, apart from
obviously the Ultra, the thepremium job there.
But yeah, definitely the SE, Ithink, I like the fact it's
under 300.
SPEAKER_04 (14:56):
Mairead, I do want to ask you, you have, I believe,
a Series 4, so yours is even, ifmine is ancient, yours is
antique.
Mine is more antique.
Yeah, yours is pure antique.
Now, you mentioned to mepreviously that you were
considering kind of just notupgrading the watch.
Why, first of all, and hasanything Apple announced changed
(15:19):
that kind of kind of view foryou?
SPEAKER_02 (15:23):
Well, I think for me, I guess, like, I'm a bit, I
suppose, in a way, I like thephysical Braille watch.
I like to be able to justdiscreetly check the time,
whereas I kind of find if you'rein a meeting and that kind of
thing, you know, that you'rekind of, if you press, if you
tip the watch or whatever,everybody can kind of hear it.
(15:43):
It's not discreet, whereas theBraille watch is very discreet.
I suppose another thing, like Ido, you know, you know, I don't
get very little use out of mySeries 4 now because the battery
is pretty much, I only get acouple of hours out of the
battery.
I can't update it anymore.
I would use it a lot, all right,for like when I'm doing park
runs and cycling and that kindof thing to track all that.
(16:06):
But outside of that, I kind ofdon't use it as much as I'd like
to use it because I kind of findevery time I tip off it, the
voiceover starts talking awayand I'd love if there was kind
of a lock feature on it thatyou'd really have to hold down
something kind of firm enoughbefore it would wake it up again
so I think the discreteness kindof I suppose stops me a little
bit at the moment plus I supposeeverything is on my phone as
(16:31):
well then and things as well soI just kind of I like the
physical braille.
SPEAKER_04 (16:34):
Would you be looking at something like a dot watch
and in that case then does thathave a lot of like do smart
braille watches have as many ofyour kind of fitness tracking
features is that?
SPEAKER_02 (16:47):
No they wouldn't have they wouldn't they'd be
just a really, the watch, thatkind of stuff, really.
I wouldn't kind of, yeah, I kindof just, I suppose, really get
used to just the old Braillewatch, really.
Now, I'd love if a smart Braillewatch came out, really, like
that was very, you know, modernand up-to-date and you could do
all that kind of thing on it.
That, yes, I would definitelysee myself going for.
SPEAKER_04 (17:08):
Interesting.
Interesting stuff.
Yeah, I've decided to go for theUltra.
Why do?
It's a good question, Joe.
I think, for me, it was eithergoing to be the Series 11 or the
Ultra 3.
And I was in two minds on whichto go for.
I've gone for the Ultra 3 for afew different reasons.
(17:32):
Firstly, the action button.
I like the idea of being able toquickly, you know, start
different things, run seriesshortcuts, all of that sort of
stuff from the action button onthe watch, on your wrist.
I think that's really helpful.
Also, the fact that it's just,frankly it's their best watch is
(17:54):
kind of part of it for me um iwould probably get away with the
series 11 um and i think for 99percent of people the series 11
is going to be the right fit ijust felt like i like where the
ultra 3 is going and maybe itmight kind of last a little bit
(18:15):
longer it's got slightly betterbattery life all of these things
um uh satellite support not thati'm ever going to use that like
realistically but i i do likejust where the ultra 3 is going
so that was what i i decided togo for uh but i certainly was in
two minds about it because thethe series 11 and indeed the se
(18:39):
are really good watches at thispoint i think um and yeah i
suppose that was the decision imade but i i could see a just a
standard Series 11 or SE.
SPEAKER_03 (18:53):
So what's the battery life on the Ultra then?
SPEAKER_04 (18:56):
They're saying, I believe, around kind of 36 hours
of kind of just general kind ofuse.
So you get the day and a half,you know, which is really good
that you get like the sleeptracking and stuff with it.
They did announce that on thenewer watches as well, they're
introducing things like sleepscore as well, which is a new
feature that is coming to thewatch.
(19:18):
So just better sleep tracking aswell as the the I guess blood
pressure monitoring and I also Iknow it sounds stupid I love the
idea of workout buddy and I knowthis is coming to the series 10
as well and other some of theother previous watches but I do
love the idea of being able toput in your your air pods and
(19:40):
get some encouraging notesbecause it's very it sounds
really accessible because whenI'm if I'm doing a walking walk
work out or whatever I have totouch my wrist to have voiceover
reads the information where thisseems to proactively tell you
you know with a bit ofencouragement hey David you're
(20:02):
doing a great job you've justcompleted a whole kilometer you
know I think that's actuallyquite cool and quite a unique
feature even though it hasn'tbeen considered as an
accessibility feature if youknow what I mean so I'm liking a
lot of what I'm seeing from thenew Apple Watches uh and I
suppose time will tell I'll haveone arriving soon enough and
(20:23):
we'll probably do a review forTech on Tap I guess
SPEAKER_03 (20:27):
as long as it doesn't keep saying David it's
time to stand you know you'redoing okay then
SPEAKER_04 (20:31):
yeah 50 what is it 10 to the hour there all the
time you know it's time to standup I'll have that shortly here
as well but look that's whatyou're up against isn't it but
there you go so Mairead you'renot upgrading Joe you're happy
kind of with what you got welltime will tell how these new
watches go go.
And let's move on then to thethird and I suppose the biggest
(20:56):
announcement for most peoplewhich is the new iPhone.
We are at 17 now.
So 17, 17 Pro and also theiPhone Air which we'll touch on
separately.
But let's start with the 17 fora minute.
So it's all the standard kind ofiPhone upgrade stuff.
(21:16):
Brighter screen, fasterprocessor, slightly better
cameras slightly better batterylife all of that in the same
kind of design interestingly thescreens are getting bigger now
but anything that stood out toyou here Joe?
SPEAKER_03 (21:35):
nothing majorly stood out on the 17.
To be honest with you, if I wasbuying a phone right now, I'd
probably buy a 16 because it'scheaper and the 17 doesn't
warrant me to pay an extra 300quid for it, you know what I
mean?
At this very moment.
I wouldn't put anybody off 100%for the 17 because obviously
(21:58):
it'll get the updates a bitlonger and stuff like that as
the A19 chip and bigger screenif you prefer that kind of thing
bigger screens are just gettingbigger because people are
watching more content online allof the time so like it's getting
to the stage where people havetheir phone in their hand at the
average of eight hours a day youknow and we'll be getting to a
(22:22):
more extreme of that goingforward I think with the way
people use their phone soscreens are naturally getting
bigger I know look everythinggoes in a circle there will be a
stage one time down the linethat might go back the other way
but I I think the 17 didn'tstand out enough for me to say,
oh, there's an amazing featureon this, and I'm going to go out
(22:43):
and purchase this phone.
It has a new color, of course.
I think the 17 has a new orangecolor, if your color is a big
thing.
It's a 48-megapixel front cameraas well, selfie camera.
So that's obviously a good thingfor doing your conference calls
or just your FaceTime calls andthings like that.
(23:04):
And centre
SPEAKER_04 (23:06):
stage crucially coming for blind or visually
impaired people centre stagecoming to the iPhone now I think
is a big thing as well
SPEAKER_03 (23:14):
Yeah that's definitely a big thing I know
some people are trying to getaway from conference calls a
little bit and they were biggerback a couple of years ago but
anytime we can get a hand ofhaving us look I suppose more
generally like anyone else andget our faces in the middle of
of the camera middle of thescreen it's always a good thing
(23:39):
there's nothing worse thanhaving to ask somebody am I in
the centre or whatever at leastyou're ready you're ready and
you're able and you're ready togo for a meeting and look
professional I always lookprofessional Joe well that's
good sometimes we have to turnoff the old camera but when you
have the camera on we're readyto go have the shirt and tie on
and you're in the centre andwe're all go so yeah I think
(24:02):
centre stage coming to theiPhone yeah, it's a good thing.
SPEAKER_04 (24:06):
Absolutely.
I look very stylish on camera,must confirm.
But there you go.
So, yeah, so there's a fewdifferent bits with this as
well.
As you say, the center stagecamera, you will be able as well
to record on both the front andback camera at the same time,
which is interesting.
So if you want to, you know,let's say you want to get your
(24:29):
reaction as you're watchingsomething, you can do that as
well.
But ultimately nothing too crazyout of these new forms
SPEAKER_03 (24:40):
I missed that one actually David that's quite a
good one especially for contentmakers you know I actually
missed that one somehow but yeahI've seen a lot of that now and
especially in the big GA matchesover the summer there they seem
to get the analysts reactions onand when goals go in and stuff
like that so I suppose for apersonal content creator maybe
(25:04):
there seems to be a lot of thoseinfluencers at matches now
that'll be an interesting one tosee if they're going to use this
feature
SPEAKER_04 (25:11):
Absolutely Mairead anything with the new 17 or 17
Pro that stood out to you?
SPEAKER_02 (25:18):
I like definitely the better camera for people
alright especially if they'retaking pictures and things and
you know scanning documents thatkind of thing but for me I
suppose I have the 15 Pro so tobe a while before I'll do any
upgrades I think I'll probablykeep mine going as long as I can
but yeah I'd agree with Joethere like you'd probably go
(25:43):
with the 16 maybe some peoplemight anyway because it is does
cost a little bit less and to behonest you'll still get even
with the 15 and the 16 you'llget a lot of the new updates as
well with software with iOSupdates and things as well it's
just you know physical thingslike the better camera you may
not you won't have access to butI think the majority features
(26:04):
you will have with slightlyolder phones
SPEAKER_04 (26:07):
Phones like the 16E as well are still going to be
great models there's no 17E yetbut you know there's still some
brilliant phones in the 16 lineup so that is going to be
interesting to see what peopleend up opting for.
But shall we move on to theelephant in the room, which is
(26:28):
the iPhone Air.
And I know we skipped that alittle bit there, but the iPhone
Air is in the middle of the twophones price-wise.
So it's over a thousand euroshere in Ireland.
So it's meant to be kind of pro,but just not quite as pro as the
real pro.
(26:48):
But it's also very thin.
It's got a slightly uniquedesign.
There seems to be, from what Iunderstand, there's kind of like
a lump on the back of the thing.
So like the top kind of half ofthe phone is like bulkier than
the bottom half of the phone, Ibelieve.
So it's a slightly new designfor the iPhone.
(27:12):
But Joe, this is a really oddkind of phone in a lot of ways,
especially considering itsprice.
SPEAKER_03 (27:19):
Yeah, a lump on the back of it, that's a very
technically put...
Those
SPEAKER_04 (27:24):
are the words Apple used, a lump.
SPEAKER_03 (27:27):
A lump, okay.
I don't know, a lump is acondition you might have.
But yeah, I think it appealed tome first when I heard about it
at first hand, but then readinginto it more, I hear it only has
one speaker and the one speakeris situated at the earpiece.
(27:50):
And I could imagine forvoiceover users that Well, first
of all, if it happens at onespeaker and it gets a bit
muffled, it's going to be adisaster.
But will it sound any good?
Can you get any sort of stereosound out of the phone?
Then maybe not.
I'd have to have it in my handreally to, I suppose, really
(28:10):
give a proper answer on all ofthat.
But the one speaker thing, I donot like the sound of.
Also, battery life, it's alittle bit smaller of a smaller
battery, but it's probablybetter battery than most phones
people have in their hand rightnow.
now but you can buy an accessorywhich is a MagSafe cover which
MagSafe battery cover which willgive you up to 40 hours battery
(28:34):
life but this means spendingmore money again you know so not
too bad for someone that yeah atthat point at that
SPEAKER_04 (28:41):
point you're as well off I think going for a pro
rather than buying the air and abattery case for it I wouldn't
see a whole lot of reasons notto go for a pro at that point
SPEAKER_03 (28:54):
at that point you Yeah, sure.
The battery cover obviously isgoing to add a little bit more.
I thought the whole idea ofhaving an Air is to have this
slim, cute phone in your handthat you love holding, you know,
but then you're going to add abattery pack to it, which I
presume is nice and slim aswell, but obviously we'll have
to add a little bit to thephone.
(29:15):
It might feel great, though.
Jewelry is out for me, though,you know, especially in some of
these accessories.
It's the fairly slow chargingMagSafe cover as well, as far as
I'm aware.
So look, I think the Air doesn'tappeal to me right now.
It did at first.
I said, oh, cool, they'rebringing out a real slim, nice
(29:39):
phone to hold in your hand.
But from a couple of littlethings that I've listened to and
read about it, I think the 17will appeal more to me now if I
had to buy a new phone rightnow.
SPEAKER_04 (29:50):
Sure.
Mairead, your thoughts?
SPEAKER_02 (29:53):
Yeah, I'd be very similar as well.
I think, yeah, with the way itis, you may as well go with the
Pro One speaker, I think, yeah.
Even for headphones, I don'tthink it would sound great when
you'd have headphones in it.
But I guess we'll have to kindof see when it comes out and,
you know, see if we get toexperience using any of them to
(30:16):
see what they're like.
SPEAKER_03 (30:17):
Yeah, for sure.
And David, it's eSIM only, soI'm not sure about Every carrier
over here in Ireland does eSIM,but I'm presumed they're going
to have to push towards thatnow.
Obviously eSIM so that they canmake more room for the limited
battery space.
(30:37):
Yeah, and the camera at the backis obviously not as good as the
other phones.
It's obviously very good, butnot as good as the Pro and the
17.
It doesn't have some version ofoptical zoom.
I'm not sure how much differencethat makes to all of us, but if
camera and photography is yourthing the Air is not the way to
(30:58):
go.
SPEAKER_04 (30:58):
Probably will impact some people with the magnifier
as well I'd suspect but it isone of these interesting things.
Like I'll be honest for me thisjust doesn't look like a great
phone especially for its pricebut I'm open to being proven
wrong on that.
I will be curious to see thereviews of it but I think nearly
(31:20):
the 17 is nearly looking like abetter phone in a lot of ways um
maybe this is aestheticallydifferent and it does have a
bigger screen so the standard 16sorry the standard 17 is 6.3
inches uh for the screen andthen that's six and a half for
the uh for the air now lookthere is a bit of a difference
(31:44):
there uh might be a betterscreen but i just don't know
this doesn't this phone doesn'texcite me so look time will tell
on that.
Is there anything we missed Joeor is that the Apple event in a
nutshell?
SPEAKER_03 (32:00):
There was no massive headlines on the phone.
I think that's why the stockswere down a little bit.
I know I brought that up earlieron but when there is a massive
headline and it excites a fewpeople you know the stocks go up
and people rush out to buy thephones.
I don't think there's anyonerushing out to buy these phones
you know what I mean as suchunless they were just holding
out to buy a new one anyway.
(32:20):
Saying that Apple did haverecord breakings sales in the
last year but it's a lot ofstuff is about hype and
marketing but I don't think theevent overall I think the
AirPods were my most excitingimprovement on things and the
(32:43):
watches were okay too especiallythe SE3 so I think that's where
I would go and the 17 phone thePro to be to me unless it's for
a work environment and you needa pro phone because of all that
extra battery life and stuff Iwouldn't be paying over 1300
euros for it myself but I justthink it's overpriced for what
(33:04):
it is 15 pro 16 pro do almost asgood a job and I think look yeah
if I was advising anyone to gobuy a phone right now personally
I'd be pushing them and theywanted an iPhone of course if
they were in that eco system Iwould be pushing them to say
(33:26):
look think about the 16 or the16E personally right now at this
very moment or else wait for thenext version of the E could be
the 17E or the 18E but that'sjust me David so yeah that's my
summary on the whole situation.
SPEAKER_04 (33:41):
Mairead what was your standout if you had to pick
one?
SPEAKER_02 (33:46):
Yeah, for me, again, it would be the AirPods because
I haven't upgraded mine in agood few years.
So again, like with the slightlyolder phones as well, you'll
pretty much get all the featuresin the iOS updates.
So unless you really need toupgrade, I'd be holding off for
(34:06):
now or get a 15 or 16.
SPEAKER_04 (34:09):
Interesting stuff.
Interestingly, for those who areinterested, there is an iPhone,
I suppose, Pro Max, the 17 ProMax, and it's going to be the
first iPhone ever to have twoterabytes of storage.
This is going to be their mostexpensive phone.
(34:31):
Any guesses on what this newphone is going to be costing?
Joe, do you want to go first andthen we'll go to Murray to see
who gets closer?
SPEAKER_03 (34:40):
I didn't look it up now, to be honest with you,
because I wouldn't be in themarket for that particular
phone.
But look, let me get That's2,200 euros.
Hooray,
SPEAKER_04 (34:48):
let's go for it.
SPEAKER_02 (34:51):
I would say 1,700.
SPEAKER_04 (34:54):
Joe, you are closer, sir, but still under at a cost
of 2,489 euro for the iPhone 17Pro Max with two terabytes of
storage.
Their most expensive phone.
Crazy
SPEAKER_03 (35:11):
money.
Wow.
SPEAKER_02 (35:12):
They're really cashing in on the storage.
SPEAKER_03 (35:15):
They really are.
Look, I do think there is acertain cohort out there that do
need two terabytes at this stagein life.
Whether it's people that aresaving everything from their
metal glasses onto their phoneor photographers or maybe sound
engineers or podcasters, there'sjust so many gigabytes that
(35:36):
people need to save nowadaysthat I can see a market out
there for that phone, but notfor me at 2,000, I think you
said 400.
So look, but yeah, that'smassive.
That's a massive price for aphone.
SPEAKER_04 (35:49):
It really is.
I think, yeah, yeah no twoterabytes is definitely needed
in some contexts like oneepisode of talking technology
for us at this point is like twogigabytes alone um so and you
know that's not factoring invideo and all of the other stuff
that you know even i'm lookingat from my point of view but the
(36:11):
idea of paying uh that kind ofprice 2489 euro um vision
ireland don't pay that well joe
SPEAKER_03 (36:20):
Not that well, no.
Look, we won't even dwell onthat phone for a while.
But anyone that is going topurchase that particular phone,
we'd love to hear about it andhear why and what you use all
those terabytes for.
SPEAKER_04 (36:39):
Absolutely.
Yeah, I see the appeal, but notat that price.
But there you go.
So, hey, as Joe said, do let usknow your thoughts.
Are you going to be upgrading toany of these phones What are
your thoughts on them?
What about the watches?
What about the AirPods?
Anything that stood out to youfrom the event?
We'd love to hear it.
You can send us a WhatsApp voicenote.
(37:01):
The way to do that is086-199-00001.
You want to use the voicemessage button that is labeled
with voiceover at the bottomright-hand corner of your
screen.
You can also send us an email ifyou'd like to content at vi.ie.
And do tell us all about yourApple event.
thoughts.
But that is about our lot forthis episode of Talking
(37:24):
Technology.
As I said, shorter episode todayand we will be back in two weeks
time.
But for now, Joe, thank you verymuch.
Mairead, thank you very much.
And thank you for listening too.
We will see you in two weekstime for another episode of
Talking Technology with VLabs.
See you then.
Music
SPEAKER_00 (37:45):
Thanks for watching.
This Vision Ireland podcast contains chapter
markers.
If you want to skip the intro ora topic you don't like, you can
use chapter markers to do so.
Chapter markers are onlysupported in some podcast apps.
Enjoy the show!
SPEAKER_00 (00:20):
Welcome to Talking Technology with VI Labs.
At VI Labs, we believetechnology is the single
greatest enabler for people withsight loss and all disabilities.
If you're looking for the latestnews and conversation on tech
from a more accessibleperspective, you've come to the
right place.
SPEAKER_04 (00:38):
You have, you know, you have come to the right
place.
Hello gang, welcome in toTalking Technology with VI Labs
episode number 95, where it isour second podcast this week.
We had a podcast on Tuesdaycovering all things pregnancy
tests.
A really interesting podcast sodo have a listen back to that if
(00:59):
you haven't already.
It's available on all thepodcast apps and on YouTube so
do have a listen to that.
But today's podcast though it'sgoing to be a slightly shorter
episode.
We won't have talking technologynews and all of that.
We are specifically focusing onone topic and one topic alone
and that is the Apple event thattook place on Tuesday evening.
(01:20):
For for us Irish time we havenew iPhones new Apple watches
and new AirPods from this eventwe're at the iPhone 17 now we've
reached the series 11 for theApple watches and the AirPods
Pro 3 were announced as well soAirPods also getting an upgrade
(01:40):
so we'll be chatting about allof that over the next short
while so do stick with us andhey we as always would love to
hear your thoughts are you upAre you going to sit this one
out?
We'd love to hear your thoughts.
And there are loads of ways thatyou can join the conversation.
So if you want to join theconversation with a WhatsApp
(02:01):
voice note, you can do that.
Maybe you'll be sending us avoice note from your new iPhone
17 Air.
Well, it's not even called 17Air, just your iPhone Air.
We'll talk about that in aminute.
You can do that on WhatsApp.
The number that you need,086-199-0011.
That's 086-199-0011.
double one a reminder that avoice note is not a call you
(02:24):
don't want to be doing the audiocall you want to use the voice
message button at the bottomright of the screen it's labeled
with a voiceover so just givethat a double tap and then
you'll be in the right directionand that will get to us you can
also if you would like send usan email the good old fashioned
way to content at vi.ie that'scontent at vi.ie so whether
you're sitting this one out orwhether you're getting loads of
(02:46):
new Apple devices we'd love tohear from you 086199 001 on
WhatsApp or content at vi.ie byemail.
And joining me to go through allthis from the Apple event, I am
delighted to be joined fromKilkenny by Mr.
Joe Lonergan.
Joe, how are you?
I'm good, David.
Excellent stuff.
(03:07):
And by Mairead O'Mahony fromKerry, who we've dragged her out
of the Braille team for the day.
We have dragged her out of aBraille meeting.
Mairead, how are you?
Good, thanks.
How are you, David?
Awesome.
Thank you.
Can't complain at all.
So, Joe, I'll start with you.
Let's jump right into this Appleevent then.
(03:28):
Did you watch it?
What were your thoughts?
What stood out to you?
SPEAKER_03 (03:32):
Yeah, I did watch it.
And look, as usual, I like it.
It's entertaining.
My general thoughts were a bitlike the stocks and shares.
I didn't get overexcited.
It went down a slight notchcompared to some other events.
There was some interestingthings, but in general, I
(03:55):
wouldn't be rushing out by a newiPhone, by the way.
SPEAKER_04 (03:58):
Okay.
And Maraid, yourself?
SPEAKER_02 (04:01):
Yeah, I tuned into little bits of it as well, and I
did a lot of reading up onlineon it as well.
Very similar to Joe as well,there was a good few software
updates for things like theAirPods and things.
Maybe I might consider upgradingthe AirPods and things, but as
for the watch and things at themoment, I think, you know, I'll
use what I have at the moment.
(04:22):
But the AirPods are kind ofstood out to me.
SPEAKER_04 (04:25):
Interesting.
Well, look, let's take the eventin order then.
So we started off with theAirPods.
And as you mentioned there andallude to Maraid, there is a new
upgrade to AirPods, namely theAirPods Pro 3 have been
announced.
We previously had the AirPodsPro 2.
They are getting a few newfeatures, new sensors.
(04:47):
They will now be able to trackyour heart rate during workouts
which is really cool and theyare also going to have better
noise cancelling more cleartransparency and just better
sound in general.
Mairead are those the kind ofthings that are exciting you
about the new AirPods and whatstood out to you from those
AirPods?
SPEAKER_02 (05:09):
Definitely the noise cancelling I always love when
there's an improvement on thenoise cancelling because while
you have the transparent optionsas well it's nice to have the
complete noise cancelling so Andfor me, it would be that and the
better sound as well,definitely, because I kind of I
rely on mine a lot, especiallywhen I'm doing a lot of
(05:29):
traveling and things.
So I just kind of think, youknow, I haven't I haven't
upgraded the AirPods in a coupleof years.
So the battery in mine is kindof draining now.
But anyway, I don't get as longout of the charge.
So I think, you know, that'sthat's for me.
SPEAKER_04 (05:42):
That's interesting.
And these, you know, I neverreally found myself using.
I have the Pro 2s, which I lovethem.
I think they're great earphones.
But I never really used theactive noise cancelling a whole
lot.
Do you think, you know, you usethat a lot and you like it?
SPEAKER_02 (06:02):
I would, yeah, on trains and buses definitely
because otherwise you can heareverybody's conversations and
especially when people are onspeakerphone and things.
And especially buses, I find,you know, the engine can be
quite loud on the buses and thenyou have the radio at the front
of the bus as well.
So it does kind of drown out alot of I kind of find it a bit
distracting if I'm hearing a lotof other things as well.
SPEAKER_04 (06:23):
Ah, you see, I'm nosy, Mairead.
I like hearing everybody else'sconversations.
SPEAKER_02 (06:27):
I guess with music, I just like to totally tune out
and, you know.
SPEAKER_04 (06:31):
Yeah, I
SPEAKER_02 (06:32):
get that.
Especially if I know I'm notgetting off the bus or train for
a bit.
You know, if I'm near a stop orif I'm only on it for 10
minutes, yeah, I'll have thetransparent mode on.
SPEAKER_04 (06:41):
Super.
There are new ear tip sizes aswell.
We're going to five differentstyle of ear tips and the actual
headphone itself is gettingslightly smaller, I believe,
from what I can tell here.
Is that of interest to you atall?
SPEAKER_02 (07:01):
Yeah, definitely smaller headphones.
I do still think they can be alittle bit big on the ears and I
think new ear tips are always agood thing too just to find, you
know, the perfect fit as well,you know, just to kind of make
it a more sealed fit as well.
SPEAKER_04 (07:15):
Awesome stuff.
Joe, do you use AirPods much?
What are you thinking?
SPEAKER_03 (07:19):
I do.
Generally, I love AirPods.
I don't like wearing them forlong, long periods of time.
I find they, like for peoplethat don't like something that
protrude into the ear, maybethese may not be for them But
that always helps with the noisecancellation, of course.
Someone said that stick outs,they might be a bit smaller, but
they stick out slightly more outof the ear.
(07:40):
Maybe that's to help with the,there's a new live translation
mode coming.
So when you put on livetranslation, it actually lowers
the other person's voice, thentranslates it almost in real
time into your ear.
And, well, the plan is for bothparties to have AirPods Pro 3,
(08:04):
but that's unlikely to happen.
So in the case that they don'thave the AirPods Pro 3, you can
show them what you're saying onyour phone.
Instead, you can hold out yourphone and show the person in the
other language what you've said.
So it will work out whatever wayyou do it.
But that was an interesting one,I thought, especially if you're
(08:24):
going on holidays or you'regoing, the example they showed
was if you went to America andyou're trying to get some of the
products that described are theprices and bargaining them down
and all that kind of stuff.
So that was interesting.
The extra couple of hours,battery life, of course, is good
for anyone who does like to wearthem for long periods of time.
But that's excluding myself.
(08:44):
Sometimes I fall asleep withthem in my ears, but that's
another story.
Yeah, I mean, and David, as yousaid, the best part of going on
the bus is listening to otherpeople's conversations.
SPEAKER_04 (08:53):
Absolutely.
100%.
Yeah, I think that interestingyou mentioned that live
translation.
I do wonder how good it will bebecause there's been a few
attempts now do you thinkthey'll crack it Joe?
SPEAKER_03 (09:08):
I never get a chance to use this thing you know what
I mean so I hope they crack it Ithink they just about will crack
it I'd love to get a recordingfrom somebody that tried it
maybe somebody from Ireland sendus in a clip of them actually
using it God knows we have adiverse community over here now
(09:29):
maybe we should have plenty ofopportunities to try try it, but
I've never got the opportunityto try it, and maybe I will down
the line somewhere.
I think they will crack it,yeah, they will eventually.
SPEAKER_04 (09:39):
Absolutely.
Well, that is the new AirPodsPro 3.
They are coming in at€249, whichis pricey, but not as pricey as
we expected.
Mireille, do you seem happy withthat price?
SPEAKER_02 (09:54):
Yeah, I definitely expected like the late 200s,
like 279 or a bit more even.
So I think that's probably thebest price they've had there in
a good few years with them.
SPEAKER_04 (10:05):
Interesting stuff.
Well, there you go.
Those, like most of the thingsthat we'll be discussing today,
pre-orders open now and theywill be available and shipping
on Friday as we record this.
So we're recording this onWednesday.
They will be available onFriday.
But let's move on then to AppleWatches.
(10:27):
Apple Watches were next on theagenda and we're We're getting
three new Apple Watches for thisround.
We're getting the Series 11, weare getting the SE3, and we are
getting the Ultra 3.
So the Series 11 is their kindof standard Apple Watch, I
guess, if you will.
Their SE3, it's the moreentry-level, so slightly more
(10:50):
affordable, but doesn't havequite as many features and so
on.
And then the Ultra 3, that'stheir Pro Watch, so a bit more
expensive and a little bit moreaffordable.
fancy, more bells and whistlesand so on and so forth.
Lots of interesting stuff.
Joe, are you an Apple Watch fan?
SPEAKER_03 (11:10):
Yeah, I have a 7 on my hand at the moment.
Yeah, I do.
I like the Apple Watch.
I wouldn't be fanatical about itnow, but I do have a habit.
I like wearing it, so I like totrack my steps and obviously
check the time.
The watch is for there, isn'tit?
Maybe not anymore.
Loads of
SPEAKER_04 (11:29):
different
SPEAKER_03 (11:31):
things now I take the odd call on it not very
often if my phone isn't withinreach I'll answer it yeah I
don't know if I'll upgrade yetthe SE is very interesting
though it's the new SE 3 it's ata very good price point as
you'll call out prices later onthe Ultra yeah I think not for
(11:55):
me yet it would be one I'dconsider but I just like the
fact that the battery life isgetting better on them all the
time on all the watches that'sthe biggest pain about the Apple
Watch is you can't send anycharge to it when you're wearing
it you have to take it off andsometimes then you can forget to
actually bring it with you ifyou're after charging I actually
SPEAKER_04 (12:15):
forgot to charge mine today believe it or not so
it's batteries low
SPEAKER_03 (12:20):
that's it you know so it's no good to you when it's
not on you so yeah like Fitbitshave a big advantage there they
have a 7 or 8 day battery lifeon some of them so yeah I long
for the day that we can getthat.
But sometimes when you have toomany features or gimmicks on a
watch, that does take from thebattery life.
It also has an always-on displayas well on the SE3 now.
(12:45):
So that was also a good thingfor some people.
SPEAKER_04 (12:47):
Yeah, there's lots in this.
So this was the area of theevent that was most exciting to
me.
I'm purchasing an Ultra 3 thistime around.
I have the Series 5, which is agood few years old at this point
and it's starting to wear itselfout now unfortunately and
voiceover just isn't asresponsive.
It's an antique David.
(13:08):
It's an antique you know it'sone of those a true classic Joe
but it's one of these thingswhere there's a lot of new
features coming to the series 11like the you know the new kind
of blood hypertension your bloodpressure monitoring that can be
(13:29):
checked over the course of amonth by the Apple Watch as well
as a number of other featureslike the workout body and stuff
like that but you're alsogetting I suppose for those who
do decide to upgrade now you'realso getting things like the
blood oxygen and stuff like thatwhich I don't have on the series
on the series 5 but they'readding lots of different things
(13:52):
5G support which is really niceyou know as you said the always
on display for the for the SEmodel there as well.
And the SE model starts at areally, really competitive price
point.
Actually, I think it's 269 it'sstarting at, which is a really,
(14:13):
really competitive price forsomeone who just wants to get
their foot in the door withApple Watch.
SPEAKER_03 (14:20):
Yeah, I think that's a great price point.
Almost getting to the stagewhere you could buy maybe one of
your kids one for Christmas ifthey're at that age, you know,
like anything above 300, you'resaying, look, they could take it
off, leave it somewhere,whatever, you know, I know that
can happen in anything, butFitbits are so much better for
kids because they don't have totake it off their arm so often.
(14:42):
But yeah, but they're getting tothe price point where they're, I
suppose, a little bit moreaffordable, you know, apart from
obviously the Ultra, the thepremium job there.
But yeah, definitely the SE, Ithink, I like the fact it's
under 300.
SPEAKER_04 (14:56):
Mairead, I do want to ask you, you have, I believe,
a Series 4, so yours is even, ifmine is ancient, yours is
antique.
Mine is more antique.
Yeah, yours is pure antique.
Now, you mentioned to mepreviously that you were
considering kind of just notupgrading the watch.
Why, first of all, and hasanything Apple announced changed
(15:19):
that kind of kind of view foryou?
SPEAKER_02 (15:23):
Well, I think for me, I guess, like, I'm a bit, I
suppose, in a way, I like thephysical Braille watch.
I like to be able to justdiscreetly check the time,
whereas I kind of find if you'rein a meeting and that kind of
thing, you know, that you'rekind of, if you press, if you
tip the watch or whatever,everybody can kind of hear it.
(15:43):
It's not discreet, whereas theBraille watch is very discreet.
I suppose another thing, like Ido, you know, you know, I don't
get very little use out of mySeries 4 now because the battery
is pretty much, I only get acouple of hours out of the
battery.
I can't update it anymore.
I would use it a lot, all right,for like when I'm doing park
runs and cycling and that kindof thing to track all that.
(16:06):
But outside of that, I kind ofdon't use it as much as I'd like
to use it because I kind of findevery time I tip off it, the
voiceover starts talking awayand I'd love if there was kind
of a lock feature on it thatyou'd really have to hold down
something kind of firm enoughbefore it would wake it up again
so I think the discreteness kindof I suppose stops me a little
bit at the moment plus I supposeeverything is on my phone as
(16:31):
well then and things as well soI just kind of I like the
physical braille.
SPEAKER_04 (16:34):
Would you be looking at something like a dot watch
and in that case then does thathave a lot of like do smart
braille watches have as many ofyour kind of fitness tracking
features is that?
SPEAKER_02 (16:47):
No they wouldn't have they wouldn't they'd be
just a really, the watch, thatkind of stuff, really.
I wouldn't kind of, yeah, I kindof just, I suppose, really get
used to just the old Braillewatch, really.
Now, I'd love if a smart Braillewatch came out, really, like
that was very, you know, modernand up-to-date and you could do
all that kind of thing on it.
That, yes, I would definitelysee myself going for.
SPEAKER_04 (17:08):
Interesting.
Interesting stuff.
Yeah, I've decided to go for theUltra.
Why do?
It's a good question, Joe.
I think, for me, it was eithergoing to be the Series 11 or the
Ultra 3.
And I was in two minds on whichto go for.
I've gone for the Ultra 3 for afew different reasons.
(17:32):
Firstly, the action button.
I like the idea of being able toquickly, you know, start
different things, run seriesshortcuts, all of that sort of
stuff from the action button onthe watch, on your wrist.
I think that's really helpful.
Also, the fact that it's just,frankly it's their best watch is
(17:54):
kind of part of it for me um iwould probably get away with the
series 11 um and i think for 99percent of people the series 11
is going to be the right fit ijust felt like i like where the
ultra 3 is going and maybe itmight kind of last a little bit
(18:15):
longer it's got slightly betterbattery life all of these things
um uh satellite support not thati'm ever going to use that like
realistically but i i do likejust where the ultra 3 is going
so that was what i i decided togo for uh but i certainly was in
two minds about it because thethe series 11 and indeed the se
(18:39):
are really good watches at thispoint i think um and yeah i
suppose that was the decision imade but i i could see a just a
standard Series 11 or SE.
SPEAKER_03 (18:53):
So what's the battery life on the Ultra then?
SPEAKER_04 (18:56):
They're saying, I believe, around kind of 36 hours
of kind of just general kind ofuse.
So you get the day and a half,you know, which is really good
that you get like the sleeptracking and stuff with it.
They did announce that on thenewer watches as well, they're
introducing things like sleepscore as well, which is a new
feature that is coming to thewatch.
(19:18):
So just better sleep tracking aswell as the the I guess blood
pressure monitoring and I also Iknow it sounds stupid I love the
idea of workout buddy and I knowthis is coming to the series 10
as well and other some of theother previous watches but I do
love the idea of being able toput in your your air pods and
(19:40):
get some encouraging notesbecause it's very it sounds
really accessible because whenI'm if I'm doing a walking walk
work out or whatever I have totouch my wrist to have voiceover
reads the information where thisseems to proactively tell you
you know with a bit ofencouragement hey David you're
(20:02):
doing a great job you've justcompleted a whole kilometer you
know I think that's actuallyquite cool and quite a unique
feature even though it hasn'tbeen considered as an
accessibility feature if youknow what I mean so I'm liking a
lot of what I'm seeing from thenew Apple Watches uh and I
suppose time will tell I'll haveone arriving soon enough and
(20:23):
we'll probably do a review forTech on Tap I guess
SPEAKER_03 (20:27):
as long as it doesn't keep saying David it's
time to stand you know you'redoing okay then
SPEAKER_04 (20:31):
yeah 50 what is it 10 to the hour there all the
time you know it's time to standup I'll have that shortly here
as well but look that's whatyou're up against isn't it but
there you go so Mairead you'renot upgrading Joe you're happy
kind of with what you got welltime will tell how these new
watches go go.
And let's move on then to thethird and I suppose the biggest
(20:56):
announcement for most peoplewhich is the new iPhone.
We are at 17 now.
So 17, 17 Pro and also theiPhone Air which we'll touch on
separately.
But let's start with the 17 fora minute.
So it's all the standard kind ofiPhone upgrade stuff.
(21:16):
Brighter screen, fasterprocessor, slightly better
cameras slightly better batterylife all of that in the same
kind of design interestingly thescreens are getting bigger now
but anything that stood out toyou here Joe?
SPEAKER_03 (21:35):
nothing majorly stood out on the 17.
To be honest with you, if I wasbuying a phone right now, I'd
probably buy a 16 because it'scheaper and the 17 doesn't
warrant me to pay an extra 300quid for it, you know what I
mean?
At this very moment.
I wouldn't put anybody off 100%for the 17 because obviously
(21:58):
it'll get the updates a bitlonger and stuff like that as
the A19 chip and bigger screenif you prefer that kind of thing
bigger screens are just gettingbigger because people are
watching more content online allof the time so like it's getting
to the stage where people havetheir phone in their hand at the
average of eight hours a day youknow and we'll be getting to a
(22:22):
more extreme of that goingforward I think with the way
people use their phone soscreens are naturally getting
bigger I know look everythinggoes in a circle there will be a
stage one time down the linethat might go back the other way
but I I think the 17 didn'tstand out enough for me to say,
oh, there's an amazing featureon this, and I'm going to go out
(22:43):
and purchase this phone.
It has a new color, of course.
I think the 17 has a new orangecolor, if your color is a big
thing.
It's a 48-megapixel front cameraas well, selfie camera.
So that's obviously a good thingfor doing your conference calls
or just your FaceTime calls andthings like that.
(23:04):
And centre
SPEAKER_04 (23:06):
stage crucially coming for blind or visually
impaired people centre stagecoming to the iPhone now I think
is a big thing as well
SPEAKER_03 (23:14):
Yeah that's definitely a big thing I know
some people are trying to getaway from conference calls a
little bit and they were biggerback a couple of years ago but
anytime we can get a hand ofhaving us look I suppose more
generally like anyone else andget our faces in the middle of
of the camera middle of thescreen it's always a good thing
(23:39):
there's nothing worse thanhaving to ask somebody am I in
the centre or whatever at leastyou're ready you're ready and
you're able and you're ready togo for a meeting and look
professional I always lookprofessional Joe well that's
good sometimes we have to turnoff the old camera but when you
have the camera on we're readyto go have the shirt and tie on
and you're in the centre andwe're all go so yeah I think
(24:02):
centre stage coming to theiPhone yeah, it's a good thing.
SPEAKER_04 (24:06):
Absolutely.
I look very stylish on camera,must confirm.
But there you go.
So, yeah, so there's a fewdifferent bits with this as
well.
As you say, the center stagecamera, you will be able as well
to record on both the front andback camera at the same time,
which is interesting.
So if you want to, you know,let's say you want to get your
(24:29):
reaction as you're watchingsomething, you can do that as
well.
But ultimately nothing too crazyout of these new forms
SPEAKER_03 (24:40):
I missed that one actually David that's quite a
good one especially for contentmakers you know I actually
missed that one somehow but yeahI've seen a lot of that now and
especially in the big GA matchesover the summer there they seem
to get the analysts reactions onand when goals go in and stuff
like that so I suppose for apersonal content creator maybe
(25:04):
there seems to be a lot of thoseinfluencers at matches now
that'll be an interesting one tosee if they're going to use this
feature
SPEAKER_04 (25:11):
Absolutely Mairead anything with the new 17 or 17
Pro that stood out to you?
SPEAKER_02 (25:18):
I like definitely the better camera for people
alright especially if they'retaking pictures and things and
you know scanning documents thatkind of thing but for me I
suppose I have the 15 Pro so tobe a while before I'll do any
upgrades I think I'll probablykeep mine going as long as I can
but yeah I'd agree with Joethere like you'd probably go
(25:43):
with the 16 maybe some peoplemight anyway because it is does
cost a little bit less and to behonest you'll still get even
with the 15 and the 16 you'llget a lot of the new updates as
well with software with iOSupdates and things as well it's
just you know physical thingslike the better camera you may
not you won't have access to butI think the majority features
(26:04):
you will have with slightlyolder phones
SPEAKER_04 (26:07):
Phones like the 16E as well are still going to be
great models there's no 17E yetbut you know there's still some
brilliant phones in the 16 lineup so that is going to be
interesting to see what peopleend up opting for.
But shall we move on to theelephant in the room, which is
(26:28):
the iPhone Air.
And I know we skipped that alittle bit there, but the iPhone
Air is in the middle of the twophones price-wise.
So it's over a thousand euroshere in Ireland.
So it's meant to be kind of pro,but just not quite as pro as the
real pro.
(26:48):
But it's also very thin.
It's got a slightly uniquedesign.
There seems to be, from what Iunderstand, there's kind of like
a lump on the back of the thing.
So like the top kind of half ofthe phone is like bulkier than
the bottom half of the phone, Ibelieve.
So it's a slightly new designfor the iPhone.
(27:12):
But Joe, this is a really oddkind of phone in a lot of ways,
especially considering itsprice.
SPEAKER_03 (27:19):
Yeah, a lump on the back of it, that's a very
technically put...
Those
SPEAKER_04 (27:24):
are the words Apple used, a lump.
SPEAKER_03 (27:27):
A lump, okay.
I don't know, a lump is acondition you might have.
But yeah, I think it appealed tome first when I heard about it
at first hand, but then readinginto it more, I hear it only has
one speaker and the one speakeris situated at the earpiece.
(27:50):
And I could imagine forvoiceover users that Well, first
of all, if it happens at onespeaker and it gets a bit
muffled, it's going to be adisaster.
But will it sound any good?
Can you get any sort of stereosound out of the phone?
Then maybe not.
I'd have to have it in my handreally to, I suppose, really
(28:10):
give a proper answer on all ofthat.
But the one speaker thing, I donot like the sound of.
Also, battery life, it's alittle bit smaller of a smaller
battery, but it's probablybetter battery than most phones
people have in their hand rightnow.
now but you can buy an accessorywhich is a MagSafe cover which
MagSafe battery cover which willgive you up to 40 hours battery
(28:34):
life but this means spendingmore money again you know so not
too bad for someone that yeah atthat point at that
SPEAKER_04 (28:41):
point you're as well off I think going for a pro
rather than buying the air and abattery case for it I wouldn't
see a whole lot of reasons notto go for a pro at that point
SPEAKER_03 (28:54):
at that point you Yeah, sure.
The battery cover obviously isgoing to add a little bit more.
I thought the whole idea ofhaving an Air is to have this
slim, cute phone in your handthat you love holding, you know,
but then you're going to add abattery pack to it, which I
presume is nice and slim aswell, but obviously we'll have
to add a little bit to thephone.
(29:15):
It might feel great, though.
Jewelry is out for me, though,you know, especially in some of
these accessories.
It's the fairly slow chargingMagSafe cover as well, as far as
I'm aware.
So look, I think the Air doesn'tappeal to me right now.
It did at first.
I said, oh, cool, they'rebringing out a real slim, nice
(29:39):
phone to hold in your hand.
But from a couple of littlethings that I've listened to and
read about it, I think the 17will appeal more to me now if I
had to buy a new phone rightnow.
SPEAKER_04 (29:50):
Sure.
Mairead, your thoughts?
SPEAKER_02 (29:53):
Yeah, I'd be very similar as well.
I think, yeah, with the way itis, you may as well go with the
Pro One speaker, I think, yeah.
Even for headphones, I don'tthink it would sound great when
you'd have headphones in it.
But I guess we'll have to kindof see when it comes out and,
you know, see if we get toexperience using any of them to
(30:16):
see what they're like.
SPEAKER_03 (30:17):
Yeah, for sure.
And David, it's eSIM only, soI'm not sure about Every carrier
over here in Ireland does eSIM,but I'm presumed they're going
to have to push towards thatnow.
Obviously eSIM so that they canmake more room for the limited
battery space.
(30:37):
Yeah, and the camera at the backis obviously not as good as the
other phones.
It's obviously very good, butnot as good as the Pro and the
17.
It doesn't have some version ofoptical zoom.
I'm not sure how much differencethat makes to all of us, but if
camera and photography is yourthing the Air is not the way to
(30:58):
go.
SPEAKER_04 (30:58):
Probably will impact some people with the magnifier
as well I'd suspect but it isone of these interesting things.
Like I'll be honest for me thisjust doesn't look like a great
phone especially for its pricebut I'm open to being proven
wrong on that.
I will be curious to see thereviews of it but I think nearly
(31:20):
the 17 is nearly looking like abetter phone in a lot of ways um
maybe this is aestheticallydifferent and it does have a
bigger screen so the standard 16sorry the standard 17 is 6.3
inches uh for the screen andthen that's six and a half for
the uh for the air now lookthere is a bit of a difference
(31:44):
there uh might be a betterscreen but i just don't know
this doesn't this phone doesn'texcite me so look time will tell
on that.
Is there anything we missed Joeor is that the Apple event in a
nutshell?
SPEAKER_03 (32:00):
There was no massive headlines on the phone.
I think that's why the stockswere down a little bit.
I know I brought that up earlieron but when there is a massive
headline and it excites a fewpeople you know the stocks go up
and people rush out to buy thephones.
I don't think there's anyonerushing out to buy these phones
you know what I mean as suchunless they were just holding
out to buy a new one anyway.
(32:20):
Saying that Apple did haverecord breakings sales in the
last year but it's a lot ofstuff is about hype and
marketing but I don't think theevent overall I think the
AirPods were my most excitingimprovement on things and the
(32:43):
watches were okay too especiallythe SE3 so I think that's where
I would go and the 17 phone thePro to be to me unless it's for
a work environment and you needa pro phone because of all that
extra battery life and stuff Iwouldn't be paying over 1300
euros for it myself but I justthink it's overpriced for what
(33:04):
it is 15 pro 16 pro do almost asgood a job and I think look yeah
if I was advising anyone to gobuy a phone right now personally
I'd be pushing them and theywanted an iPhone of course if
they were in that eco system Iwould be pushing them to say
(33:26):
look think about the 16 or the16E personally right now at this
very moment or else wait for thenext version of the E could be
the 17E or the 18E but that'sjust me David so yeah that's my
summary on the whole situation.
SPEAKER_04 (33:41):
Mairead what was your standout if you had to pick
one?
SPEAKER_02 (33:46):
Yeah, for me, again, it would be the AirPods because
I haven't upgraded mine in agood few years.
So again, like with the slightlyolder phones as well, you'll
pretty much get all the featuresin the iOS updates.
So unless you really need toupgrade, I'd be holding off for
(34:06):
now or get a 15 or 16.
SPEAKER_04 (34:09):
Interesting stuff.
Interestingly, for those who areinterested, there is an iPhone,
I suppose, Pro Max, the 17 ProMax, and it's going to be the
first iPhone ever to have twoterabytes of storage.
This is going to be their mostexpensive phone.
(34:31):
Any guesses on what this newphone is going to be costing?
Joe, do you want to go first andthen we'll go to Murray to see
who gets closer?
SPEAKER_03 (34:40):
I didn't look it up now, to be honest with you,
because I wouldn't be in themarket for that particular
phone.
But look, let me get That's2,200 euros.
Hooray,
SPEAKER_04 (34:48):
let's go for it.
SPEAKER_02 (34:51):
I would say 1,700.
SPEAKER_04 (34:54):
Joe, you are closer, sir, but still under at a cost
of 2,489 euro for the iPhone 17Pro Max with two terabytes of
storage.
Their most expensive phone.
Crazy
SPEAKER_03 (35:11):
money.
Wow.
SPEAKER_02 (35:12):
They're really cashing in on the storage.
SPEAKER_03 (35:15):
They really are.
Look, I do think there is acertain cohort out there that do
need two terabytes at this stagein life.
Whether it's people that aresaving everything from their
metal glasses onto their phoneor photographers or maybe sound
engineers or podcasters, there'sjust so many gigabytes that
(35:36):
people need to save nowadaysthat I can see a market out
there for that phone, but notfor me at 2,000, I think you
said 400.
So look, but yeah, that'smassive.
That's a massive price for aphone.
SPEAKER_04 (35:49):
It really is.
I think, yeah, yeah no twoterabytes is definitely needed
in some contexts like oneepisode of talking technology
for us at this point is like twogigabytes alone um so and you
know that's not factoring invideo and all of the other stuff
that you know even i'm lookingat from my point of view but the
(36:11):
idea of paying uh that kind ofprice 2489 euro um vision
ireland don't pay that well joe
SPEAKER_03 (36:20):
Not that well, no.
Look, we won't even dwell onthat phone for a while.
But anyone that is going topurchase that particular phone,
we'd love to hear about it andhear why and what you use all
those terabytes for.
SPEAKER_04 (36:39):
Absolutely.
Yeah, I see the appeal, but notat that price.
But there you go.
So, hey, as Joe said, do let usknow your thoughts.
Are you going to be upgrading toany of these phones What are
your thoughts on them?
What about the watches?
What about the AirPods?
Anything that stood out to youfrom the event?
We'd love to hear it.
You can send us a WhatsApp voicenote.
(37:01):
The way to do that is086-199-00001.
You want to use the voicemessage button that is labeled
with voiceover at the bottomright-hand corner of your
screen.
You can also send us an email ifyou'd like to content at vi.ie.
And do tell us all about yourApple event.
thoughts.
But that is about our lot forthis episode of Talking
(37:24):
Technology.
As I said, shorter episode todayand we will be back in two weeks
time.
But for now, Joe, thank you verymuch.
Mairead, thank you very much.
And thank you for listening too.
We will see you in two weekstime for another episode of
Talking Technology with VLabs.
See you then.
Music
SPEAKER_00 (37:45):
Thanks for watching.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Football’s funniest family duo — Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs — team up to provide next-level access to life in the league as it unfolds. The two brothers and Super Bowl champions drop weekly insights about the weekly slate of games and share their INSIDE perspectives on trending NFL news and sports headlines. They also endlessly rag on each other as brothers do, chat the latest in pop culture and welcome some very popular and well-known friends to chat with them. Check out new episodes every Wednesday. Follow New Heights on the Wondery App, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free, and get exclusive content on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And join our new membership for a unique fan experience by going to the New Heights YouTube channel now!