A Month With the iPad Mini, The iPhone 13 Pro Camera Review, and More

October 29, 2021

Here are the things we published this week and last. You can also stay up-to-date by following us on Twitter and RSS.

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The iPhone 13 Pro Camera Review »

Getting an iPhone 13 Pro was a bit of a headache this year. Supply chain issues have taken their toll on would-be iPhone 13 Pro Max owners or anyone wanting an iPhone with more than 128GB of onboard storage. The cellphone store next to our office still hasn’t received a single iPhone 13 Pro Max to sell.

I was in that iPhone 13 Pro Max queue and eventually gave up. Seeing all the wonderful photographic creativity hitting my Instagram and Glass feed pushed me to the brink. I scaled back expectations and opted for the iPhone 13 Pro with 128GB storage instead.

The following reflects my anecdotal review of the iPhone 13 Pro camera system from the point of view of a photographer. I don’t shoot meaningful video in any sort of way other than to capture quick videos of my family for my personal journal. Therefore, I haven’t gone in-depth on any video features whatsoever.

One Month with iPad mini »

When it was announced during the September iPhone event, I immediately thought that the sixth-generation iPad mini was the star of the show. New iPhones are cool and all, but this iPad mini seemed like it was tailor-made for how I was (and wasn’t) using my iPad Pro. I ordered one before the end of the event, and having used it for a month now, I have to say this is by far the most fun I’ve ever had with an iPad.

Apps We’re Trying: Matter »

App categories seem to go through rainy seasons and dry seasons — an entire category will go years without any major update, any major splash, or any major new competitor, then suddenly the entire category is uplifted from its roots and the cobwebs get shaken out. It’s quite the phenomenon to observe.

Today, we’re looking at Matter, a read-it-later app with a beautiful design and a social network element built in. I’ve been using Matter’s private beta for the last few months and the app has graduated to being one of my most-used iPad apps in that time. It has just the right number of features and sets the bar really, really high for Readwise.

Setting Up a macOS Hyper Key Using BetterTouchTool »

If you’re like me, you probably love using keyboard shortcuts to speed things up on your Mac using automation tools like Keyboard Maestro. But you probably also have trouble creating keyboard shortcuts that don’t conflict with the built-in ones that ship with macOS. One way around this to mash a bunch of modifier keys (i.e. Shift-Control-Option-Command-M opens up my email client), but the human hand was not made to hit all those keys at the same time.

Which is where the concept of a hyper key comes in (and BetterTouchTool).

Interesting Links From Our Friends and Around the Web »