Apple AirPods Pro Service Program for Sound Issues (Recall)

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Are you having ANY of the following issues with either;

  1. Cracking or static sounds that increase in loud environments

  2. Active Noise Cancelling not working properly, such as a loss of bass or an increase in background sounds

for your AirPods Pro?

You are in luck. Apple announced a recall for such issues, for all AirPods manufactured before October 2020, so literally everyone who has bought a pair of AirPods Pro so far are likely covered.

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I went to Apple Orchard today to get my AirPods Pro exchanged, and as usual the process is smooth and fast. Check-in, sit at the table, genius comes and did an inspection of my AirPods Pro, and promptly exchanged them after a short chat.

Do you have any problems with your AirPods Pro? Get them exchanged today! Remember to book an appointment on Apple’s site or using the Apple Support app first as it is unlikely you will be able to get a same-day appointment if you try to do a walk-in.

If you are instead aiming to buy a full size set of headphones, rumors are that Apple might announce something known as the “AirPods Studio” during their November event.

First Impressions of the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro, and Also the iPad Air

iPhone 12

I did not order one of the 6.1 inch iPhone 12s, simply because I am way more interested in either the iPhone 12 mini and the iPhone 12 Pro Max. So no physical phone for me to play for now.

How does one get to see the actual phones in an Apple Store in these pandemic days? Why, an Apple Shopping Session of course.

I booked one for Saturday at the nearest Apple Store to me, Apple Jewel Changi Airport.

After a good dinner, some queuing and the usual check-in process, I was accomplished by an elderly female staff member, who was friendly and tried her best to accomolate my wishes to see the various items. She was unfortunately probably the most clueless staff that I have ever met in a local Apple Store, often making mistakes about very basic terms and features and unable to answer any of my questions. I always wonder what standard makes the cut for being an Apple Staff, I guess being friendly and unthreatening is all that is required these days.

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The Store was not too crowded when I arrived around 5pm (my appointment was at 7:30pm), but by the time my appointment rolled by there was a long queue just to get in. The Store was pretty crowded when I got served. The female Staff led me to a table where there were only four iPhone 12/Pros, as the table with all the current models was occupied. After some attempt by her to give me a basic sales talk, I got to some serious scrutinizing.

The first thing that struck me was the screen. The OLED screen on the 12/Pro look really crisp and nice, even though it was supposed to be on the same level as that of my iPhone 11 Pro Max. Maybe I am not just used to seeing the OLED screens without any glass screen protectors in between, but they were really nice. The new body shape definitely feels a lot nicer in the hand, and MagSafe for iPhone is COOOLLLL. Decided to go MagSafe for my eventual iPhone 12 charging right there and then.

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The most important aspect of the iPhone 12/Pros is of course, the colours.

This year’s lineup of colors for the non-Pro models are pretty lame, with a mint and pale green and a salmon red colour that is closer to orange than to red. The white model also looks like it has a slight champagne tone in the Apple Store lighting. While I will have definitely preferred a more vibrant blue, there is no mistaking that the iPhone 12 Blue is the best colour in the whole line-up, both non-Pro and Pro phones. The Black is nice too. Anyone going for a non-Pro iPhone 12 should go for either the Blue or the Black, the other colours really do not cut it.

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Pro-wise, all the colours are pretty dull and average, even compared to last year. Apple is pushing Pacific Blue as the colour to buy, but I have to say that it is probably even more boring than Midnight Green last year. Graphite is looking decent and safe, and Gold is for the rich Asians/wannabes. Buy Silver if you want to polish the stainless steel frame after every scratch. If you have to get a iPhone 12 Pro or Pro Max, maybe buy the Pacific Blue or Graphite. But actually they are all decently average, so any colour is fine. The expensive iPhones never had the best colours anyway.

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Now you know that with the Apple Store’s lighting it was next to impossible to test the capablities of the iPhone 12’s cameras, but on first looks they do not seem too different from the cameras of the iPhone 11 and 11 Pros. The biggest upgrade has to be the availablity of Night Mode in all the cameras, instead of just the wide cameras in the 11 series. Again, cannot be test in store. You just have to take Apple’s word for it that they are better this year.

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Oh, and the Apple Silicon cases are totally a must-buy this year. For the first time since Apple made iPhone cases (non-battery ones) they have a range of cases that cover the bottom of the iPhone. Pair that with the MagSafe capability makes the Silicon Case a must buy this time round.

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Lastly, I took a look at new iPad Air colours before leaving. Sky Blue is so nice on the Air. Why do we not have that colour on the iPhones? Apple (or Alan Dye) is an arse.

Which iPhone 12 Should You Buy?

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Writing this after the 6.1 inches 12 and 12 Pro preorder day is over sounds counterproductive, but despite recent reports of Apple’s own predictions of which iPhone 12 will sell well, for the bulk of people who are likely to be early buyers, the iPhone 12 mini and the iPhone 12 Pro Max are more likely to be the preferred models.

Coming from a Singaporean perspective, the easy answer here is to buy either the 128GB or the 256GB models of the 12 Pro Max, with the rational that since you are already spending upwards of 1.5K for most of the regular sized models, the Max at 1.8/1.9K is not that far off price wise, not to mention that the Max is spec-wise, the best iPhone 12 in the whole line-up with its improved camera sensor.

What about the regular 12 and 12 mini then? The mini’s price points this year is exactly the same as that of last year’s iPhone 11, and simply put, if you are unwilling to spend the kind of money needed to buy a Pro iPhone, the ambiguous prices for the regular 12 ($1369 for 128GB, $1539 for 256GB) and the kind of tradeoffs (no zoom lens, aluminum frame, less ram, no ProRAW) versus the Pro make the regular 12 the phone NOT to buy if you are looking for the best cost-performance ratio.

The mini, however, is quite a bit cheaper than the Pro Max for the same capacities (mini at $1219 for 128GB vs Max at $1799 for 128GB), has the highest PPI screen, and the added benefit of fitting the one hand use of people who refused to add a bunker ring to the back of their phone cases. With the allure of the MagSafe charger and accessories this year (making it hard to add a bunker ring if you want to use them), a small phone is very attractive. If you do not want to spend Pro Max money, and want to use your iPhone with MagSafe, and have no problem with the smaller screen, the mini is your iPhone 12 of choice.

Lastly, the regular Pro is really only for people who absolutely refused to buy the Max, for the price difference is only $150 but you get the better sensor, you get the longer range zoom lens, and you get a bigger display for what you will spend for lunch for three people in a stationary Airbus A380.

All prices in Singapore dollars

The Singapore Apple Store’s location is finally confirmed

After a number of years of showing interest in opening an official Apple Store in Orchard Road, it is finally happening.

The Pure Group, owners of the Pure Fitness gym at Knightsbridge (also known as the Grand Park Orchard Hotel building, where the local Abercrombie & Fitch store is located), announced via an email to its members that;

…we, along with other tenants of the building, will be handling back space to the landlord to make way for the opening of Singapore’s first Apple Store later in 2016.

Obviously they leaked this because they are pissed that the landlord is forcing them out to make way for Apple.

Seriously, ANY LANDLORD will give the utmost priority for an Apple Store, so suck it, Pure Fitness.

Nevertheless, it is finally good to get some closure to the whole “Apple Store in Singapore” thing that had been going on since 2012.

Two months with the Apple Watch

When the watch was first announced to launch in only several countries that excluded Singapore, I was slightly upset but for the first time in many years, I did not feel an absolute need to get the Watch on launch day.

I have owned a Pebble since when they were on Kickstarter, and thanks to the bad customer service and the cheap looking watch body, and the constant need to recharge the watch, I gave up wearing it after a few weeks. I did not know if the Apple Watch will be any different, and the biggest features that was announced like the health related stuff really was not what an obese guy like me wanted in life.

I resigned to my fate and decided to wait for a Singapore launch.

Then somehow I got a chance to purchase some Apple Watches for launch day, and bought a Space Grey Sport and a Apple Watch (Stainless Steel) with Black Sports Band. The Sport I gave to my brother, the nicer one I kept for myself.

And I started wearing the Watch.

At first I would only wear it when I go out of the house, and try to keep the Watch safe if I was going to be in a situation where I would be rough doing work. It was, after all, the first time I own a 800-dollar watch. Then I started wearing it more and more. Even on days when I don’t leave the house. Even when I enter the shower. Sometimes even when I sleep. It just felt natural because the Black Sport Band is so comfortable when you put it on that it hardly feels like a watch on your arm.

It was convenient after all, I could take calls anywhere in the house even when I was away from my iPhone (it works over wifi), I could text friends through dictation, see my emails and decide if they were important or urgent enoguh that I need to get up from the sofa and walk into my room to reply, send my friends stickers over Line, run some Automator-ish workflows from Workflow, and even add reminders to my phone as and when I remember something in any part of my house.

One function that I did not anticipate using much was the heart rate sensor function/Glance. It informed me that I have a high resting heart rate, and I started monitoring my heart rate measurements using the Health app on my iPhone, as the watch will automatically record the measurements and send them to your phone. The Activity Glance, which I did not anticipate that I will even use, turned out to effective enough at forcing me to clear some of the easiest goals set by the app on default, daily.

Notifications. Need I even explain how this can literally be why anyone will purchase a Apple Watch? Fine tuning the kind of notifications you receive on your watch is absolutely necessary, right from the get on. You should only set to receive notifications from important apps and turn off stupid notifications like say, from games or other spammish apps you have on your phone. And it never fails to tap you on your wrist everytime a notification comes in, even if your phone is in your bag, or if you can’t feel the vibration of the phone in your jeans’ pocket.

When you receive a notification, if you mute the watch, no one else will know that a notification came in except for you yourself, for the screen will NOT light up, unless you lift your arm to read the message. Which means that it is not going to affect you in your important meeting when some idiotic friends of yours suddenly started spam messaging you to sob about their sad sad love story. You’ll feel her sadness on your wrist, but no one else will realise that (so long you do not keep lifting your arm to read the messages).

Charging is so simple, you literally just plug in another cable (to a usb charger) next to your iPhone, and when you charge your phone for the night you just charge the watch next to it as well. Battery life does last way more than an average day but unlike the Pebble, there are so many things that you want to do with your watch everyday that charging it daily is not a chore. Not to mention how the shitty charging cable Pebble has keeps falling off the magnetic contacts everytime you lightly touch it – the Apple Watch’s magnetic charging cable fits snugly but does not require much torch to separate it from the watch in the morning.

There are so many things more I can say about this lovely “device” that I put on my wrist everyday – how much easier it is to put on compared to a normal watch band after you get the hang of it, how inconspicuous it is (despite wearing it around for 2 months only three people noticed the watch, and that was because I was playing with it) if you select one with a band that is not the Pink, Blue or Green sport band, so it works well for professional work places as well, etc, etc, etc.

I Will be getting more bands for my Apple watch. Probably the Pink Sport Band since the Sport Bands are so comfortable.

I love my Apple Watch.

MI (Multimedia Integrated) Closes Down

Recently I was in Funan for lunch and noticed something slightly different when I walked past Gamescore.

MI (Multimedia Integrated) closed down.

A quick check to its website revealed this;

with a QQ number to facilitate the possible sale of its domain name to Xiaomi, since anyone searching for Xiaomi Singapore is likely to go to www.mi.com.sg instead of Xiaomi’s www.mi.com/sg domain.

In the old days, MI was one of the big boys in the local Apple retail scene, together with iShop and Epicentre. Epicentre became a big shot, and we all knew what happened to iShop.

Seems like with Apple favoring only retailers with big capital these days (nuBox and Epi) and the skyrocketing local rent, sheer “legacy” is no longer enough to keep certain retail stores alive.

I did not know anyone in MI even in the past, but it is still sad to see another part of local Apple legacy go.

I give up trying to find a job in Apple Singapore

Who am I kidding really? I was never really eligible for any position within Apple Singapore. I graduated with a BA in Communications and New Media, hardly something Apple Singapore wants. I don’t have a computer science degree, I don’t know Unix inside out, I don’t have call center work experience, The only vague Apple-related work experience is from my annual sales gig selling Macs to tertiary freshmen in the various polytechnics and universities, and well, all the nonsense I made Apple Singapore do for us when I was still president at MacNUS.

So yeah, on paper, I was no good. In reality, I am probably no good too.

I am probably really only half-decently-good at piecing together information from my various sources and churning out articles/posts that detail sometimes-decently-accurate information that Apple has no intend of letting the world know. And as any hardcore Apple fan know, that’s a surefire way to make the recruiters trash bin my resume the minute they spot my name.

During the first few years after graduating from the now-infamous-pro-PRC-anti-Singaporean NUS, I did try my best to get onto the interviewee list, and every single time I fail to get past the first/second stage. I failed the interview for the japanese language call centre support job “because I asked about what the 1-year contract entails”, I failed the interview for call centre support because I told them I was only available in one month, I even got cancelled for part-time work for processing Back to School Promo documents for the Taiwan store last minute, among other rejections at Apple (To my credit, the non-Apple interviews I went for are all pretty successful). I can’t even remember how many times I was at the Ang Mo Kio Campus for interviews already.

With all these rejections taking a toll on my confidence, “Applying for a job at Apple Singapore” eventually became “every few months, check the Apple Jobs site, send in a few automatic applications with the 3-year-old resume, and wait for a call”. And of course the calls usually don’t come.

Apple, Apple Singapore at least, does not seem to like to hire its diehard fans, usually preferring to hire “people with results” away from other PC companies through word of mouth, in particular IBM. It totally does not matter that their internal staff have absolutely no experience nor knowledge of the Mac platform, so long they can perform their job scopes, like sales or marketing, very well (to say the truth, their performance was suspect, but whatever).

It was thus music to my ears when the then Head of Education Sales informally offered to find me a job in Apple Singapore in my graduating year. He eventually did not find me a job. And sort of disappeared after that year.

As anyone around me for the past 8 years will know, I am a fanatic Steve Jobs supporter before I am an Apple fan, so maybe in this world where Steve is no longer around, my stubborn insistence on adding Apple Inc to my resume can end. I suspect I will still send in the occasional application, but it will not be the same.

I give up.

You can follow MacRyu at @ryuworks on Twitter and @ryu on App.net.

iPhone 4 in Singapore

I’m sure this is no big news, but according to at least 2 different inside sources and another well-informed source, a shipment of iPhone 4s are already on Singapore shores since more than a week or two ago and more than a couple of people have already touched the phone.

Oh and the lucky Apple Singapore execs who get to get (not buy) the iPhone 4 quite a bit earlier than the Singaporean launch for themselves and their families.

And what can the common people like us folks look forward to?

Oh well, at least there will be some iPhone 4s locally for a July launch. And we won’t be forced to wait until August or something.