As a engineering columnist , it ’s tempting to spend a flock of clip noting the place where Apple can improve its Cartesian product . There are always bug , bugs , and aim trade-off to pick on .
But , on the flip side , it ’s deserving scream out the post where Apple has made great strides , not just in terms of introduce fresh feature , but also for those potentiality that actually improve our mundane lives , or even just refine the technology that already exists to make it that extra little number better .
So to shift gear a bit in this week ’s column , I ’d wish to mention a fistful of Apple innovations that I ’m pretty thankful for — even if they could occasionally still use a tweak here and there .
Apple Pay could be one of Apple’s best innovations in recent history.
Apple Pay is daring
Apple Payis one of those applied science that it seems like everybody should be using . To my mind , it might be one of the undivided good innovations to make out out of Apple in the last few years , but it also has one of the most challenging acclivitous climb ahead of it : the means people pay for things is deeply entrenched .
Apple Pay could be one of Apple ’s expert origination in late history .
But my Apple Pay experiences have , by far , been a delight . The simplicity of using my iPhone or my Apple Watch to pay at the grocery store has draw out more than one impressed “ ooh ” from an employee . This is Apple at its adept , because not only is Apple Pay a pretty seamless experience , but it improves upon the convenienceandsecurity of our current payment system — the latter of which , lease ’s all fit in , has a pretty spotted record in recent clip .
AirDrop has come a long way since its introduction in 2011.
If I ’m not yet quite to the full point where I ’m quick to trench the physical cards in my notecase in favor of my phone and watch , that ’s largely due to the slow acceptation on the retail side . It ’s for certain get much better over the past couple old age , but I still run across a decent number of places that do n’t bear out contactless payment at all . But I ideate that espousal will only continue to increase as retailers upgrade their equipment over fourth dimension . And hopefully that will encourage more and more citizenry to chuck the quondam way of paying as well .
AirDrop has become unerring
When Appledebutedits AirDrop system back in 2011 , it was a bit of an an bathos : most significantly , the initial version did n’t work between iOS and Mac devices , arguably the place that it was want the most . It was also cumbersome on the Mac side , requiring you to specifically spark it before somebody could send you a file . When it did piece of work , it could be very dull , and sometimes it fail altogether .
AirDrop has follow a long way since its innovation in 2011 .
But AirDrop has been refined over the past few years and it ’s turn over it into an essential tool . I use it to quickly transfer screenshots and other photos to my Mac . I once used it to shift a PDF I download to my girlfriend ’s phone , which did n’t have cell avail while we were on the subway . During a recent trip to Iceland , the tour template from our glacier hike used AirDrop to send us all the photos she took .
The wireless Magic Keyboard uses a Lightning connector to charge.
Yes , you could do some of these labor with other features , like iMessage , but AirDrop ’s seamless nature , ability to easy send files to multitude whose contact information you may not have , and tractability makes it a real victor .
Lightning for charging and pairing
This one might seem a bit underage , but it ’s a life ring . The other Clarence Shepard Day Jr. , the Mac mini link up to my tv set was n’t booting . Upon further investigation , I settle that I need to set out in macOS ’s Recovery Mode and reinstall the operating organisation . However , I was having bother with the miniskirt pick out my Logitech Bluetooth keyboard . I could have dug out a USB keyboard from somewhere , but I was n’t sure where I might feel one in the mess of my office .
So I grabbed the Magic Keyboard from my iMac and a Lightning cable and plug it directly into the Mac — voilà , instant connection , and no worrying about pairing . When I was done , I just took it back over to the iMac again , plug it once again , and it was re - paired . No genus Mus , no fuss .
The wireless Magic Keyboard use a Lightning connector to charge .
I bonk it ’s a little ironic to be praising a wired connector in this geological era of wireless , but sometimes there ’s no replacement for just plugging something in . And it ’s not only for keyboard , mice , and trackpad — the Apple Pencil use a similar feature when you need to geminate it with an iPad . Plus , in each of those cases it doubles as a way to charge the peripheral machine , so it ’s kind of killing two birds with one Isidor Feinstein Stone .
Wi-Fi password sharing is caring
A last , shortsighted one : The best part of iOS 11 is unquestionably the feature that lets you quickly apportion a Wi - Fi parole with another twist , whether it be one of your own or one belonging to someone in your impinging . Heck , this has save me so much meter and so many head ache that I might name it for Apple feature of the decade .
