The Apple gang

It's Friday, people....we made it!  Well, we will have when this day is over!

Apple has been in the news a lot lately, first for their new iPhone X (pronounced "ten" if you're scoring at home) and then for problems people were and are having with their iPhone Xs.  Problems like how typing "I" in the Messages app produces a symbol and "!" right alongside.  Like how it won't operate correctly in low temperatures.  Little annoying stuff.

But I give them credit, as they figured out how to fix both of these issues and pushed out a software fix yesterday.  My wife is always astounded at how frequently we need to update our operating software, and with two iPhones and three iPads between us, it takes a little while.

I also want to share some credit for the folks in the Lexington Apple Store (or just "Apple," I think).  Over the past few weeks my wife has commented that the battery in her Apple Watch (yes, we each have those, too) was wearing down more quickly throughout the day than it used to.  Conventional thinking would be that some application was running in the background, so I went through her Watch app several times and eliminated non-essential apps and processes from operating when not needed.  Still didn't help.

I finally suggested we go to the Genius Bar to have them diagnose the problem correctly.  That way, we'd at least know if it's a hardware issue, a software issue or something altogether different.  So we set up an appointment for this past Wednesday evening at 7:15.

We went to get a bite to eat beforehand and then stopped by her preferred women's clothing store, almost making us late for this appointment, but we walked in right on time and checked in.  The nice gal at the front of the store (they're ALL nice there, really) directed us to a table near the back of the store and that someone would help us.

A young man named Trevor wearing a black baseball cap and the ubiquitous Apple t-shirt came over and verified my wife's name and introduced himself, shaking both of our hands.  He made small talk as he completed a couple of forms on his tablet.  Then asked a few questions about my wife's Watch, and proceeded to connect it to his tablet.  "Well, your battery is in excellent condition, so that's not the issue."  That's a relief.

But what's causing the fast discharge?

He said they would have to send it to a repair center, but that doing so was completely covered by the AppleCare coverage we bought when we purchased both Watches.  Said it would take five days or less to have the Watch returned to us at our home address.  Trevor added that it likely was a software or even a firmware issue, and that the engineers at this repair center would have to "open it up" and identify the problem.  And if they couldn't, they'd simply replace the Watch.  Nice.

The entire process took about fifteen minutes, and was interspersed with additional small talk about their store fixtures (I have long said that I would be very happy to have one of those light wood tables as my "desk," and he agreed), other Apple products, including the newest version of the Watch that can use your cellular account and data to place calls, stream music, etc.  And there was also a little discussion about the iPhone X.

We shook Trevor's hand and moved to the front of the store, and I picked up an iPhone X.  Nice.  Kinda heavy.  But not as overwhelmingly appealing as I expected.  I suppose that it's not revolutionary ENOUGH to make me feel it's a must-have, since I have an iPhone 6 Plus with the latest version of the software.  My camera and internal processor is not the latest and greatest but both still work satisfactorily.  And I have other devices, so my gut feeling is that this is an essential for those who rely on the iPhone as their only computing device.

I'll look at it again, but I'm not quite ready to commit to buying one and waiting four weeks for it to arrive.  Not that my hesitance will slow Apple's mammoth holiday sales quarter in the least, of course.

Word is that Apple is going to follow suit and revamp their iPad line in a similar way, pushing the boundaries of the display closer to the device's edges.  Sounds interesting.

But it's a comfort to know that if I want to keep my Apple products for a while and encounter a problem that I can't address myself, they're there to help.  Service is such a rarity these days that I really am happy when it's readily available.

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