1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,080 Do you remember what you were doing in 2014? 2 00:00:06,080 --> 00:00:10,840 I was 25 and bored. 3 00:00:10,840 --> 00:00:15,120 God, that was seven years ago, man, how time flies. 4 00:00:15,120 --> 00:00:20,560 But there is a milestone from 2014 worth noting, because it's when this came out. 5 00:00:20,560 --> 00:00:26,000 It's the iPad Air 2, and despite its age, it will be getting the latest iOS 15 update 6 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:31,560 in the fall. That makes it the longest supported iOS device in Apple's history. 7 00:00:31,560 --> 00:00:35,240 So that's through eight generations. 8 00:00:35,240 --> 00:00:40,480 And on the iPhone, the 6 year old 6S and SE will get the update as well. 9 00:00:40,480 --> 00:00:47,560 That's frankly unprecedented in this segment. It shows how Apple's tight integration of software and hardware really stretches the 10 00:00:47,560 --> 00:00:53,720 longevity of their products. And I thought it might be a neat way to get a taste of what's to come in iOS 15 before 11 00:00:53,720 --> 00:01:06,480 it gets released in the fall. So let's see how these devices run with the latest beta. 12 00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:11,400 There it is. For comparison's sake, let's look at Android. 13 00:01:11,400 --> 00:01:16,780 Google announced their latest version, version 12, of their mobile software this summer too. 14 00:01:16,780 --> 00:01:20,480 And when it gets released in the fall, the oldest supported device that I know of will 15 00:01:20,480 --> 00:01:24,240 probably be this, the Pixel 3. 16 00:01:24,240 --> 00:01:32,920 It came out three years ago in 2018. Now that year I can remember a little bit better because I moved to Winnipeg. 17 00:01:32,920 --> 00:01:39,200 Nevertheless, Pixel phones have been reliably getting updates for three years now, because 18 00:01:39,200 --> 00:01:47,280 Google committed to it. Get any other Android phone, and chances are you'll get one update if you're lucky. 19 00:01:47,280 --> 00:01:50,840 With the iPhone, only the original got three years of updates. 20 00:01:50,840 --> 00:01:57,400 Everything released after got more. But that didn't mean they got all the fancy new features included in their updates. 21 00:01:57,400 --> 00:02:03,000 And so there are a few things emitted from the iOS 15 update for these devices too. 22 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:07,920 Fancy 3D maps and turn by turn navigation, no live text recognition, and no spatial audio 23 00:02:07,920 --> 00:02:11,000 and FaceTime calls among other things. 24 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:14,440 That's fine, and we'll dig into those when the software gets released. 25 00:02:14,440 --> 00:02:22,360 Make sure to stay subscribed for that. The question is, how does the iOS 15 update run on these aging devices? 26 00:02:23,360 --> 00:02:28,640 These are both old devices though, so there are slightly slower loading times here and 27 00:02:28,640 --> 00:02:33,640 occasional stutters there. But it's not unusable like in iPad 2 with iOS 9. 28 00:02:33,640 --> 00:02:38,760 I'm still waiting for that picture of the dress to load. Apparently it's white and gold? 29 00:02:38,760 --> 00:02:43,240 If you're worried about any of the update slowdowns we remember from the past, battery 30 00:02:43,240 --> 00:02:47,800 gate, I wouldn't worry too much about it with this one. 31 00:02:47,800 --> 00:02:51,880 After over a week running both of these devices, they don't seem to run all that much slower 32 00:02:51,880 --> 00:02:58,480 than equivalents running iOS 14. Appearance wise, the operating system is still as flat and plain as ever. 33 00:02:58,480 --> 00:03:03,040 On the iPad, one can now add large widgets to the home screen, which is nice, and multitasking 34 00:03:03,040 --> 00:03:09,120 is a little bit more discoverable. There are three dots on the top of open apps that allow you to move Windows to split view 35 00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:15,000 or slide over. Generally speaking, it works well on this iPad Air 2, but if you do try to web browse 36 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:18,640 while watching a YouTube video, you'll hear some stutters. 37 00:03:18,640 --> 00:03:22,600 The most annoying thing happens regardless of what iPad you're using, because look what 38 00:03:22,600 --> 00:03:28,960 happens when you miss the button. 39 00:03:28,960 --> 00:03:33,480 Mercifully it's much easier now to add apps into slide over, because before you could 40 00:03:33,480 --> 00:03:38,040 only add apps available in the dock, which was a royal pain to deal with. 41 00:03:38,040 --> 00:03:42,680 Here's what you had to do. Close the open app, then open the app you want to have in slide over to put it in the 42 00:03:42,680 --> 00:03:47,400 recent 3 on the dock, then close that app, then reopen the original app and then drag 43 00:03:47,400 --> 00:03:58,040 the new app into slide over. Now though, all apps are available on an app library located on the dock. 44 00:03:58,040 --> 00:04:04,440 Now how about old iPhones? In iOS 15, many inputs no longer span across the screen. 45 00:04:04,440 --> 00:04:08,560 They're grouped together in rounded squares like in the E-classic iOS days, only with 46 00:04:08,560 --> 00:04:16,240 less definition. It's not so bad, except that borders take up so much space on this SE, so that in apps 47 00:04:16,400 --> 00:04:19,920 like Calendar, critical information like the date gets truncated. 48 00:04:19,920 --> 00:04:27,280 Why would you prioritize the year? Now there is a solution in iOS 15 to help with that. 49 00:04:27,280 --> 00:04:31,800 It's a feature that lets you adjust the text size on an app by app basis, so by adding 50 00:04:31,800 --> 00:04:36,600 this AA button in the control center, I can shrink the text in only the calendar app to 51 00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:46,000 85% to fit the date. Great, but I'm not the only one who nitpicks Apple's design decisions to this degree. 52 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:49,440 One of the biggest changes with iOS 15 is with Safari. 53 00:04:49,440 --> 00:04:53,360 They've moved the address bar to the bottom, and now you can swipe between tabs. 54 00:04:53,360 --> 00:05:01,520 Yay, another swipe gesture! But this final design came after many weeks of outrage from the community. 55 00:05:01,520 --> 00:05:06,560 When it was unveiled at WWDC back in June, everything was to be compacted into one interface 56 00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:11,960 role on all platforms. What was problematic about this design was that it required too many buttons and options 57 00:05:11,960 --> 00:05:17,000 to be hidden in an all-encompassing sub-menu, like the drunk drawer in your foyer, so things 58 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:22,840 were hard to find. And when Apple tried reintroducing the buttons back into the floating orb, it got real crowded 59 00:05:22,840 --> 00:05:28,440 real quick. That, and the fact that a floating pill shape floated over many websites' bottom interface 60 00:05:28,440 --> 00:05:34,440 buttons. Ultimately, the current interface is much like it was before all of this, but I'm still 61 00:05:34,440 --> 00:05:38,120 a little bothered by the way tabs look on iPad OS and macOS. 62 00:05:38,280 --> 00:05:41,960 They're contained in these weird and wide pill shapes that just waste space and make 63 00:05:41,960 --> 00:05:48,320 it hard to tell what's open. Tab groups are the big new feature in Safari, and it lets tab fiends organize their tabs 64 00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:54,440 better into groups with titles, etc. You can even turn your clusters of already opened tabs into a group to get them out of 65 00:05:54,440 --> 00:06:00,280 the way. Now, they're supposed to be syncing across devices, but the tab groups that I've made 66 00:06:00,280 --> 00:06:04,400 on my iPad aren't showing up on my iPhone and vice versa. 67 00:06:04,400 --> 00:06:10,560 So, beta bugs? Oh yeah, notifications. 68 00:06:10,560 --> 00:06:16,640 There are new focus and notification settings in iOS 15 that provide you an interesting 69 00:06:16,640 --> 00:06:20,880 way to better manage your notifications for the different states you might be in. 70 00:06:20,880 --> 00:06:25,360 So when you set up the work state, you could choose what apps and people can make your 71 00:06:25,360 --> 00:06:30,160 phone chime. You can also set up custom pages on a home screen full of apps that you'd only use at 72 00:06:30,160 --> 00:06:33,480 work and make it visible only during work time. 73 00:06:33,480 --> 00:06:38,520 It appears to be a more customizable and robust version of Apple's Do Not Disturb feature. 74 00:06:38,520 --> 00:06:42,880 The default focus states are driving, sleep, personal, and work. 75 00:06:42,880 --> 00:06:47,400 You can choose who disturbs you and when or even where, and then label it for the times 76 00:06:47,400 --> 00:06:55,400 and states of your life when this would be handy. So a work focus is good to make sure only colleagues and apps that you use at work notify you, 77 00:06:55,400 --> 00:06:59,360 though it's a little tedious to have to go through one's contact list to choose the 78 00:06:59,360 --> 00:07:09,000 right people for that focus. Like all your work colleagues in work, friends for personal and study buddies for study, 79 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:13,520 a select all toggle would also be really nice here. 80 00:07:13,520 --> 00:07:19,040 My personal problem with this is FOMO. I always get the feeling that I'm missing out on something important when I'm in my 81 00:07:19,040 --> 00:07:23,800 work focus mode, which turns on automatically whenever I arrive at the office. 82 00:07:23,800 --> 00:07:28,360 But I guess that's what this feature is all about anyway, isn't it? 83 00:07:28,360 --> 00:07:34,040 You do get a while in focus notification in your notification center during those times. 84 00:07:34,040 --> 00:07:40,000 I think it'll be useful even though it might be yet another thing to maintain as life flows. 85 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:44,520 Now there are a lot of apps on iPhone that send you notifications right away when you 86 00:07:44,520 --> 00:07:50,040 really don't care. But Apple's notification summary feature might be a good solution for that. 87 00:07:50,040 --> 00:07:53,720 There are a lot of apps that you probably don't want bugging you every day. 88 00:07:53,720 --> 00:07:57,520 So you can put them in the notification summary, which can be scheduled to pop up once or more 89 00:07:57,520 --> 00:08:05,160 times a day to show you what you missed. But this doesn't solve the most infamous notification problem, the sharing economy. 90 00:08:05,160 --> 00:08:08,520 You know those apps where you require instant notifications like when you're getting your 91 00:08:08,520 --> 00:08:14,680 meal delivered, but you don't need to know about the 5% off deal right now, really? 92 00:08:14,680 --> 00:08:19,360 I tried notification summary by turning on all of the apps I previously had off to see 93 00:08:19,360 --> 00:08:25,880 what I get. And after a few days, I have to say it's just as annoying as using notifications that 94 00:08:25,880 --> 00:08:31,680 would normally appear on the lock screen. Easier to clear perhaps, but I'm just turning this off. 95 00:08:31,680 --> 00:08:38,560 And look here. I have two sub levels of notifications where my while in work focus contains my notification 96 00:08:38,560 --> 00:08:43,920 summary. I feel like notifications are somehow more complicated than ever. 97 00:08:43,920 --> 00:08:47,700 Perhaps the defaults will lead you into a more manageable life, and there are plenty 98 00:08:47,700 --> 00:08:51,800 of options for power users, but I don't know, I just feel like my mom's going to avoid 99 00:08:51,800 --> 00:09:00,160 all this anyway. 100 00:09:00,160 --> 00:09:04,800 The quick obsolescence of technology has been an ongoing discussion for a while now. 101 00:09:04,800 --> 00:09:09,440 But using these two seemingly ancient devices over the past week with a beta version of 102 00:09:09,440 --> 00:09:13,880 the latest software, it shows that Apple's mobile devices are being given longer lifespans 103 00:09:13,880 --> 00:09:22,020 than I ever expected them to get. This iPad Air 2 is impressively competent even after all these years, but there is however 104 00:09:22,020 --> 00:09:30,760 one fly in the ointment worth mentioning. While Apple's software support is unparalleled in its longevity, the hardware still has batteries, 105 00:09:30,760 --> 00:09:34,100 which aren't accessible, and wear out quickly. 106 00:09:34,100 --> 00:09:39,980 It would be nice to see the devices last equally as long in hardware as it does in software. 107 00:09:39,980 --> 00:09:46,700 Otherwise, if you own an iPad Air 2 that you bought new and still working, you made an 108 00:09:46,700 --> 00:09:49,700 extremely good long-term purchase. 109 00:09:49,700 --> 00:09:53,300 All thanks to iOS 15. 110 00:09:53,300 --> 00:09:59,260 Thanks for updating to this Mac Address. Since you've made it this far, I think it means the video is worthy of a like or even 111 00:09:59,260 --> 00:10:06,100 a subscribe. Now, one thing to note is that Apple plans to provide bug fixes and security updates 112 00:10:06,100 --> 00:10:09,620 to users who choose not to update to iOS 15. 113 00:10:09,620 --> 00:10:15,460 So that means that you can update this old phone, but you don't necessarily have to.