Apple officially announces special event for April 20: ‘Spring Loaded’

Craigels

So who here is planning on ordering an iPad on the 30th which model are you going for and where will you order from ?

Leftwaffe

Gregor Samsa wrote: »

If someone hides one in your car or bag, it'll beep and alert you that it's travelling with you unaccompanied by its owner after a certain period of time. So it can't be used for secretly tracking someone.

If you give a lift to someone who has one on their keys, it won't alert you as it'll be travelling with the person it belongs to (assuming they have their phone with them).

If you give your tagged car keys to someone to borrow your car, and they have an iPhone, I guess they'll get the alert and the beeping. They'll just have to dismiss it.

If you left your tagged bag on a train, and it continued on it's journey, it's likely that it will alert another passenger that it's travelling with them unaccompanied, so even if they didn't spot your bag, there's a chance that once they are alerted to it, they'll contact you.

So say for example, I put one on my work bag but I leave it in the staff room all day. I would be well out of its range for the guts of the day, will it start beeping then? I’d often leave my keys in the bag too and don’t want them beeping all day! Maybe I’ve misunderstood it

FourFourRED

Craigels wrote: »

So who here is planning on ordering an iPad on the 30th which model are you going for and where will you order from ?

I have a 2018 11” Pro and I’m considering upgrading to the 12.9” Pro on the 30th - would have stayed with 11” if it had the MiniLED display though as I like that form factor better.

From Apple.com as always. Rarely buy from anywhere else

Equium

Craigels wrote: »

So who here is planning on ordering an iPad on the 30th which model are you going for and where will you order from ?

I haven't bought an Apple product since the original iPod, but I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on the new iPad. Will probably go for the 12.9" model as a partial replacement for my current ultrabook.

Does anyone have experience of buying through the education programme? Is it just a case of using an educational email address?

Gregor Samsa

Leftwaffe wrote: »

So say for example, I put one on my work bag but I leave it in the staff room all day. I would be well out of its range for the guts of the day, will it start beeping then? I’d often leave my keys in the bag too and don’t want them beeping all day! Maybe I’ve misunderstood it

It's smarter than that. It relies on the tag travelling relative to other users over time, while being separated from its owner:

notify the user if an unknown AirTag is seen to be traveling with them from place to place over time. And even if users don’t have an iOS device, an AirTag separated from its owner for an extended period of time will play a sound when moved to draw attention to it.

https://www.apple.com/ie/newsroom/2021/04/apple-introduces-airtag/

Now, we don't know the exact amount of travelling, movement or period of time, but I'd be very surprised if Apple hadn't taken a similar situation to what you describe into account.

OU812

The Belkin airbag holders apparently sold out black within five minutes. Surely they would have anticipated that would be the most in demand colour ?!?

shanec1928

OU812 wrote: »

The Belkin airbag holders apparently sold out black within five minutes. Surely they would have anticipated that would be the most in demand colour ?!?

Still available delivery date has slipped a bit hasn’t changed much since yesterday.

OU812

murpho999 wrote: »

Other have explained already that it's to stop its use as a malicious device.

Think it's a very clever solution and well thought out by Apple.

Would have been a better & more elegant solution to have a software with on your phone to turn off any trackers that aren't assigned to your ID

Creamy Goodness

OU812 wrote: »

Would have been a better & more elegant solution to have a software with on your phone to turn off any trackers that aren't assigned to your ID

So then no one can find a tracker of someone’s and attempt to get it back to them? Can’t see how that wouldn’t be abused at all.

Bob24

murpho999 wrote: »

Trying to think of four things to use an airtag for a single person

Keys, is the obvious one and a bag.
Struggling to think of anything else.

All depending on how you are using those items and whether you think tracking them would be useful, but some ideas:

- Camera or camera bag (or any other non-Apple portable electronics)
- Backpack
- Travel luggage/suitcase
- Purse for ladies
- Car
- Bike

I also also wondering if it could make sense with pets (I don't think it is technically designed for this, but I guess if a cat/dog leaves the house and doesn't return it could prove very useful to find them - as long as they stay within a urban environment whereby they regularly get close to people with phones.

And it would be good from them to come up with a version in credit card format, to track a wallet (even if they don't, I suspect some company will eventually release a trackable wallet as Apple now has a programme for partner companies to leverage the Find My network).

murpho999

OU812 wrote: »

Would have been a better & more elegant solution to have a software with on your phone to turn off any trackers that aren't assigned to your ID

So a friend accidently leaves a bag in your car and your phone switches it off which defeats the purpose of the tag?

Your inelegant solution would mean somebody travelling with you with an Airtag on them would have it switched off by your phone there by defeating the purpose of it and meaning you can go around switching people's tags off in your vicinity.
Completely wrong.

Apple have got this perfect, you get alerted if a tag is with you when it's not in the vicinity of registered owner thereby preventing abuse and allowing you to return genuinely lost item to its owner.

Leftwaffe

Anyone buy a third party airtag cover yet?? If so, from where? AliExpress delivery saying a month. One or two options on Amazon but no reviews at all.

murpho999

Leftwaffe wrote: »

Anyone buy a third party airtag cover yet?? If so, from where? AliExpress delivery saying a month. One or two options on Amazon but no reviews at all.

How could there be reviews when Airtags are not out yet?

Leftwaffe

murpho999 wrote: »

How could there be reviews when Airtags are not out yet?

I suppose you’re right. It’s not possible whatsoever for someone to have an airtag cover without an actual airtag in it. And even if they did, absolutely nobody would leave feedback saying they received the item and that it looks good or bad.

What am I thinking. Deepest apologies.

Creamy Goodness

Leftwaffe wrote: »

I suppose you’re right. It’s not possible whatsoever for someone to have an airtag cover without an actual airtag in it. And even if they did, absolutely nobody would leave feedback saying they received the item and that it looks good or bad.

What am I thinking. Deepest apologies.

In fairness, murpho999 has a point. Why would anyone buy one of these before having purchased the actual AirTag itself and considering they only went on sale on Friday past? And even at that, what could they possibly review without the physical Airtag. Ohh this fluoroelastomer doesn't feel as good as the fluoroelastomer in product x or this metal ring doesn't feel like real metal, 1-star.

There'd be zero reviews at how good the thing is at doing its job too, holding the AirTag in place and you'd (royal you) probably just be pissed at inconsistent reviews if there were any anyways :pac:.

murpho999

Leftwaffe wrote: »

I suppose you’re right. It’s not possible whatsoever for someone to have an airtag cover without an actual airtag in it. And even if they did, absolutely nobody would leave feedback saying they received the item and that it looks good or bad.

What am I thinking. Deepest apologies.

No need to be so condescending as I think my question was fair.

What you're asking is basically like asking for a review of a tyre without trying it on a car.

Would you really depend on a review for a cheap holder from a third party anyway?

Bummer1234

So reading am i correct in saying if i put a tag on the wifes car keys incase she looses them about the house....Itll start beeping when she drives off...even tho she has an android phone?

Im trying to think also if i was going on holiday and had a airtag in the bag in the underhold...would loads of people of the plane with iphones start getting a notification saying there been tracked :pac:

Gregor Samsa

Bummer1234 wrote: »

Im trying to think also if i was going on holiday and had a airtag in the bag in the underhold...would loads of people of the plane with iphones start getting a notification saying there been tracked :pac:

Only if the AirTag's owner wasn't on the flight with them. Which, if it belonged to the person who owned the bag, wouldn't happen as baggage has to be matched to a passenger. Even if someone took someone else's case to use on holiday, and it has this other person's AirTag on it, it would be beeping and sending alerts long before it got onto the plane.

If they were, then the AirTag isn't considered as possibly secretly tracking anyone, as the owner is travelling with the tag. This is without taking Airplane mode into account, as I have no idea how it affects connection to an AirTag.

Although there is the question of what happens when you check your bag in and it starts travelling though the maze of baggage handling underneath the airport without you.

I guess there's going to be situations where you're going to want to mute the tracking somehow.

peteeeed

review for the airtags

https://www.pocket-lint.com/gadgets/reviews/apple/156675-apple-airtag-review

Gregor Samsa

^^ According to that review, the AirTag only starts alerting after 3 days of being away from its owner, and even then only beeps once a day. So the various scenarios about AirTags being legitimately away from their owners for short periods issuing a cacophony of alarms - like checked-in luggage - aren't going to be an issue.

The review doesn't mention how soon an iPhone user gets an alert about a nearby unaccompanied tag - it only mentions the audible alert it issues.

BobbyT28

Anyone here completely replaced or is thinking of replacing their laptop for the iPad Pro ? Thinking of doing this, currently have 2018 Dell XPS 13 256GB 16GB . I was gonna try just moving to a iPad Pro with Smart Keyboard later to down the road.

I am fully immersed in the apple ecosystem and intend to stay that way.

What are your opinions on this?

Doodah7

BobbyT28 wrote: »

Anyone here completely replaced or is thinking of replacing their laptop for the iPad Pro ? Thinking of doing this, currently have 2018 Dell XPS 13 256GB 16GB . I was gonna try just moving to a iPad Pro with Smart Keyboard later to down the road.

I am fully immersed in the apple ecosystem and intend to stay that way.

What are your opinions on this?

To be honest it will depend on your own use case.

Personally I like the additional flexibility that MacOS has over iOS. I can put what I want on my Mac, I am not restricted by what apps are available on the App Store as is the case for an iPad but I assume it depends.

If you are a 'tinkerer' then a computer will win every time. However if you are the type of user that makes sure to colour within the lines, then an iPad Pro will be ideal.

BobbyT28

Doodah7 wrote: »

To be honest it will depend on your own use case.

Personally I like the additional flexibility that MacOS has over iOS. I can put what I want on my Mac, I am not restricted by what apps are available on the App Store as is the case for an iPad but I assume it depends.

If you are a 'tinkerer' then a computer will win every time. However if you are the type of user that makes sure to colour within the lines, then an iPad Pro will be ideal.

🀣🀣 I like colouring by numbers. I am a tinkerer which is why I am a little reluctant to go full iPad Pro. But I’ve found even with my iPad Air 2021 that I use termius now to telnet and ssh into my equipment more and more.

Creamy Goodness

Think that's very restrictive thinking of the iPad. Look at what an artist can do with an iPad and a pencil, yeah that's not everyone's use case but for them to get a pc with the same power and same drawing experience (with a Wacom system) you're talking multiples of what an iPad Pro + Pencil costs, that's before you even factor in software costs.

daraghwal

Leftwaffe wrote: »

I suppose you’re right. It’s not possible whatsoever for someone to have an airtag cover without an actual airtag in it. And even if they did, absolutely nobody would leave feedback saying they received the item and that it looks good or bad.

What am I thinking. Deepest apologies.

I bought one of these yesterday and it's already been dispatched via DHL eCommerce Asia will update with what it's like when I get it.

It's the first time I bought something on amazon without any reviews... because I don't see why anyone would buy one nevermind review it before airtags were even launched...

Doodah7

BobbyT28 wrote: »

���� I like colouring by numbers. I am a tinkerer which is why I am a little reluctant to go full iPad Pro. But I’ve found even with my iPad Air 2021 that I use termius now to telnet and ssh into my equipment more and more.

I have the same iPad. How do you use ssh using iOS?

You could always get the smart/magic keyboard for your iPad Air 4th gen and see how you go? The A14 chip should be plenty fast to test as a proof of concept? There shouldn't be a huge amount of difference in performance between the two, notwithstanding Apple's marketing!

Doodah7

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

Think that's very restrictive thinking of the iPad. Look at what an artist can do with an iPad and a pencil, yeah that's not everyone's use case but for them to get a pc with the same power and same drawing experience (with a Wacom system) you're talking multiples of what an iPad Pro + Pencil costs, that's before you even factor in software costs.

Yes that is what the Apple marketing executives aspire for all its users. A phalanx of creatives conjuring up magical content that looks wonderful all through the convenience of an iPad and pencil.

The reality is that most people use an iPad to surf the web, use email, read magazines, play games and watch TV and movies. Throw in a bit of Word and Excel and a spot of photo work and you have 99% of all uses. All of this can also be done on a PC but you get to choose a greater range of apps/programs you can use for these purposes.

Personally, I have a Mac mini, a MBP and an iPad. I use them all interchangeably and separately and I often prefer, if I want to work on a spreadsheet for example, to have the freedom to do it on a PC using a full-size monitor using the full Excel program rather than the cut-down iOS version.

But as ever, everyone's mileage will vary.

Gregor Samsa

With the new iPad Pro sporting an M1 chip, I wonder will we ever see it (or its descendants) running MacOS?

Creamy Goodness

Doodah7 wrote: »

Yes that is what the Apple marketing executives aspire for all its users. A phalanx of creatives conjuring up magical content that looks wonderful all through the convenience of an iPad and pencil.

The reality is that most people use an iPad to surf the web, use email, read magazines, play games and watch TV and movies. Throw in a bit of Word and Excel and a spot of photo work and you have 99% of all uses. All of this can also be done on a PC but you get to choose a greater range of apps/programs you can use for these purposes.

Personally, I have a Mac mini, a MBP and an iPad. I use them all interchangeably and separately and I often prefer, if I want to work on a spreadsheet for example, to have the freedom to do it on a PC using a full-size monitor using the full Excel program rather than the cut-down iOS version.

But as ever, everyone's mileage will vary.

I'm not disagreeing and yeah the picture apple paints can be quite idyllic and overblown but it's not a wrong picture either.

For myself I have a MBP, MBA, two types of dell, an android device, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone SE, iPhone 11 Pro and an iPad mini 2 and that's just what's on my desk. They all get used in different ways.

The problem with these sorts of questions "can I ditch my laptop for an iPad" are really difficult to answer because everyone is different. We're the sort that need multiple different platforms around, whereas someone else's work requires an email client and a web browser.

There's no right or wrong here, just what suits the individual person.

Doodah7

Gregor Samsa wrote: »

With the new iPad Pro sporting an M1 chip, I wonder will we ever see it (or its descendants) running MacOS?

Ideally I would like an iPad that could switch between OS's and that could run both macOS AND iOS and which should be eminently possible.

However such an iPad would likely cannibalise the sales of Macs and iPads and will therefore never happen!