New Tech Gripes

Week 413 was posted by Charanjit Chana on 2025-09-24.

Don’t get me wrong, I do want the iPhone 17 Pro in Cosmic Orange. I don’t actually think it’s a great looking device, but their approach to dissipating heat and the fact that they have made an orange iPhone, I do want it. I just don’t need it.

Almost all of the new tech I’ve bought in the past decade has just felt incremental. I’m usually upgrading a device I already own due to its age and the changes never feel revolutionary. Partly that’s because Apple does a fantastic job of keeping devices relevant with OS upgrades and then when you do upgrade you suddenly get access to a subset of features that weren’t there before.

My iPad mini and Apple Pencil were truly new devices to me and the novelty took a long time to wear off. I’m still using it almost daily since late-2021. While I never really understood the point of the original iPad mini, the new form factor made complete sense and has been a staple in my work life and a great creative outlet for me.

Back in 2022, my iPhone 8 Plus was on it's last legs and felt old mostly because Apple had effectively retired that form factor taking it out of step with every other non-SE iPhone from 2017. My iPhone 14 Pro now feels old because it is lacking a number of photography features and the battery is suffering, not because of how it looks. I’m not that interested in the style they’ve introduced this year but the camera module brings a lot of flexibility with the 48-megapixel sensors across the board. I do use all 4 options I have in the camera app and 3x is not as useful to me as 4x or 5x would be. Luckily I can correct the biggest gripe I have at the moment in a more economical way by replacing the battery. And I have a DSLR I can lean on when I really want to.

I missed the updated Photographic Styles and Apple Intelligence by a single model year, but this means that I am missing out on AirPods Pro and Apple Watch functionality too. I don’t see how Photographic Styles are tied to the CPU or GPU but apparently it is and I’m left editing individual settings rather than being able to post-process using the new matrix format they introduced.

I don’t really care about Apple Intelligence itself, but Apple is using it (the cynic in me says claiming rather than using) to underpin features now and I’ll be at least 4-years behind by the time I upgrade. What exactly am I missing out on right now?

In terms of software:

And for hardware:

Not a lot really when I lay it out like that. I want all of the hardware options and all but the LOG video output is of interest to me from a software point of view. But I’m not desperate for any of it leaving me in limbo Ideally I'd hold out for two more years but there's no telling what I won't get in subsequent upgrades. Looking at the rollout of Apple Intelligence, may not much it seems. The new Centre Stage cameras feels like the only feature of value missing from the iPhone 16 Pro.

AirPods Pro 3

Last week I took delivery of the AirPods Pro 3. I intended to post some first impressions but I’m still getting to grips with them and have not had an opportunity to use them for an extended period of time to asses comfort and general performance. In terms of what I bought them, I would class my new AirPods Pro 3 as a minor upgrade over the AirPods Pro 2 but a meaningful upgrade over the headphones I was using before. As I wasn’t coming up from an old pair of AirPods Pro, I really was expecting big things. The initial experience was a little underwhelming at first, though which was surprising to me given the reviews around them, and even the AirPods Pro 2 before them.

Having used the Beats Fit Pro, reviews for the AirPods Pro 2 always made it feel like I had an inferior version of the same device. Taking computing power out of it, they should have been on par, but they weren't so I was eager to upgrade with the new AirPods Pro 3 announced.

Tech reviews are too enthusiastic

I really enjoy watching tech review videos and I do binge on content around this time of the year, even more so when I’m in the market for one of the new devices on offer.

I need to consider doing this less as it's to my detriment. I feel that the entire tech-review community raises the expectations for how revolutionary any new feature is just way too high. I can handle the enthusiasm itself but everyone is eager to please and with so many more people getting access for the purposes of reviewing technology and raising everyone's excitement for the new shiny thing. The format is often flawed too, comparing marginal changes to last year's offering when the reality is that the reviews should be pegged against 3-4 year old devices.

Last year's device is rarely radically different and so enthusiasm for the new is off the charts when it's really just an evolution.

How many people actually upgrade year-to-year? Probably more than I think, but they are probably the type of people that would do that regardless of what the phone has to offer. My assumption is that I am typical consumer, with an interest in technology, who upgrades when they need to rather than because they want to.

That reframing of new devices would greatly reduce the amount of gripes I have around new tech I think. Apple's own worth the upgrade module on the iPhone 17 Pro's page doesn't even let me compare to the iPhone 16 Pro. It claims I could expect 14 hours more playback time if I upgraded now from my iPhone 14 Pro, it is likely to be a few hours more if I was comparing to the iPhone 16 Pro.

Are the AirPods Pro 3 underwhelming?

I said my initial experience with the AirPods Pro 3 was underwhelming. The main reason was that every review video I watched, everyone seemed to be sizing their ear tips down with the new foam-infused tips. I assumed I’d need to as well and actually found the size down tomorrow be comfortable. But I started to notice a ticking sound which to me seemed to me that the seal might be good but there’s just too much space for the actual body of the AirPods Pro to move about and I was right. Now I’ve sized up and have a secure fit for not only my ears but there’s no more give for the AirPods Pro to jostle around. The fit-test always gives me a good result so I just needed the right size for me, it’s just that my expectation was set that I could size down for comfort, I just didn’t need to.

Are the AirPods Pro 3 radically different to my Beats Fit Pro? No, but the small things are making a difference and I didn’t realise I was missing Conversation Awareness as a feature. My assumption had been that it was actually a sub-feature of Transparency Mode. Transparency Mode isn’t good enough on its own and I end up taking the earbuds out. The difference with Conversation Awareness is clear. There is a knack to engaging Conversation Awareness, which I haven’t quite got yet, but I’ll keep at it!

Fixing my new tech gripes

Tech giants; let’s get of the yearly hardware cycle. While we’re at it, make more effort to focus on efficiency.

Tech reviewers; don’t make the basis of your reviews a year-on-year comparison. Consider that a sizeable chunk of your audience is not able or willing to upgrade on a tech giant’s release schedule.

Myself; rely on reviewers less, no matter how excited you are for something new!

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