When I started writing Advisorator, my goal was to talk about technology the same way I would with friends and family (when they let me).

There's no better example of this than Apple's annual iPhone reveal events, when the tech press immediately files thousands upon thousands of words about the new hardware. Most folks I talk to afterwards just want to cut through the noise and get a little perspective; the ones who are diving into every little detail in hopes of determining whether to immediately upgrade are a small minority.

Here, then, is my attempt at summarizing everything Apple announced last week:

iPhone 11: At $700, it's $50 cheaper than last year's iPhone XR, has a sharper front camera with support for slow-motion videos, a secondary ultra-wide lens on the rear camera for fitting more into the frame, and a "Night Mode" for low-light photography to answer the likes of Night Sight on Google's Pixel phones. Apple didn't make a big deal about this, but FaceID also works faster and at wider angles and longer distances, which helps further compensate for the continued lack of a fingerprint reader. Plus you can get it in pastel green, yellow, or lavender now. (No more baby blue, canary yellow, or coral orange options, alas.) With the new naming scheme, Apple seems to have accepted that this is the iPhone most people will buy when they upgrade.

iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max: Apple's fancier iPhones still have some selling points over the standard version. For camera geeks, its combination of ultra-wide, wide, and telephoto lenses add up to an effective 4X optical zoom, and battery life is a huge step up, with Apple promising four or five hours more than last year's equivalent iPhone XS models for the Pro and Pro Max, respectively. The ridiculously-named "Super Retina XDR" display is supposed to be more vibrant as well, through at this point we're firmly in tough-to-distinguish territory for pixel quality. If we're being honest, my favorite thing about the new high-end iPhones is the midnight green color option, whose apparently subtle deviation from Space Gray reminds me of how Google's "Purple-ish" Pixel 3A could almost register as white in the right lighting. There's no price cut for the high-end, though, so prices start at $1,000 for the iPhone 11 Pro and $1,100 for the iPhone 11 Pro Max.

New iPad: Meanwhile, Apple keeps coming up with reasons not to buy more expensive iPads. The new entry-level tablet still costs $329, but the screen is now a half-inch larger (at 10.2 inches diagonally), and it works with Apple's snap-on Smart Keyboard cover, which is less annoying to connect than Bluetooth keyboards but unfortunately still costs $159. The $500 iPad Air continues to have some virtues--slightly bigger screen with "True Tone" adaptive color, double the storage, faster processor, sharper front camera--but none of them effect what you'll be able to get done with the device. And if history is any indication, the every-level iPad will often be on sale for less than $329. I'll let you know when I've updated my iPad purchase decision flowchart to reflect this new development.

Apple Watch Series 5: Thank goodness Apple finally added an always-on display, which keeps the screen in a low brightness setting when it's not active so you can tell time or check workout stats without raising your wrist. Samsung and Google Wear OS watches have offered always-on screens for years (as does my trusty Pebble Time Steel and Fitbit's new Versa 2), and aside from just being useful, they make smartwatches feel more like actual watches than obvious gadgets. Being able to match any band with any case through Apple's website and stores is a nice touch as well. Base pricing is unchanged at $400 for the smaller 40mm size and $430 for the larger 44mm size in aluminum, with cellular connectivity for an extra $100 (plus another $10 per month from your carrier). For further fashion statement or status symbol purposes, add $300 to $320 for a stainless steel case, $400 to $420 for titanium, or $900 to $920 for ceramic.

Apple services: Apple TV+ will cost $5 per month and launch on November 1, but I already talked about that in last week's Cord Cutter Weekly newsletter. I'm more intrigued by Apple Arcade, which will also cost $5 per month when it arrives on September 19. Most people will balk at the price, like they do with any game that isn't free-to-play, but for those who are willing to pay for iOS games in exchange for no ads or in-app purchases, there are so many to choose from that the decision can feel paralyzing. Apple Arcade removes that friction, providing a sort of quality guarantee and letting you experiment with 100 different games at launch. I promise not to turn Advisorator into a video game magazine (unless you ask me to), but Sayonara Wild Hearts looks great.

Prices and release dates: The iPhone 11, iPhones 11 Pro, and Apple Watch Series 5 are up for pre-order now and will start shipping on September 20, which is the day after iOS 13 lands on the iPhone 7 and newer. The new iPad is up for pre-order now and starts shipping on September 30, which is the same day iOS 13 arrives on older iPads.

*Need some extra buying advice, or want to discuss Apple's new gear further? Just reply to this email to get in touch, or drop into the Advisorator chat room this Friday at 3 p.m. Eastern.
 

While researching a story for Fast Company this week, I came across a great Chrome extension called Google Calendar Plus, which offers a bunch of tweaks that make Google Calendar easier to navigate:

• When you hover your cursor over an event, you can see the full event name, which is helpful for long titles that would otherwise get truncated.
• You can hide a specified time range to from daily or weekly views. By hiding late-night hours, you can fit your full workday into one screen without any scrolling up or down.
• You can also add more space to each day in your monthly calendar view, letting you see all events on your busiest days without having to hit a "more" button.

Once you've installed the extension, just hit the + button with a circle around it in your browser toolbar to see these options and more. Most changes will take effect immediately while you're viewing Google Calendar, but in some cases you may have to reload the page to see them. There's a Firefox version of the extension as well, but it's limited to just changing the time range in daily and weekly views.

Want to receive more tips in between regular Advisorator issues? Click here to join the still-experimental Advisorator Extra mailing list, or check out what I sent out last week to folks who've already opted in.
 

A choice on Facebook face recognition: Earlier this month, Facebook began replacing a long-standing feature that suggested which friends to tag in photos by recognizing their faces. The company is now rolling out a broader face recognition setting that still provides those tag suggestions, but can also send an alert when someone posts a photo of you without tagging you in it. (This setting has been available to some users, but not everyone, since December 2017.) Facebook says it can also use face recognition to warn against possible impersonation if your likeness appears in someone else's profile picture, and as a way to describe photos to visually impaired users.

Those all sound like nice perks, but giving Facebook the power to recognize your face requires a lot of trust. While Facebook says it won't use face recognition to tell strangers who you are, the company's also given us plenty of reasons to avoid handing over even more sensitive information. Case in point: The FTC recently slapped Facebook with a $5 billion fine for privacy violations, including a failure to clearly disclose that how it was using face recognition already. Part of the reason Facebook is suddenly telling all its users about face recognition is because its agreement with the FTC mandates it.

To that end, you might soon get a message from Facebook describing how it uses face recognition and--depending on your existing settings for tag suggestions--letting you know whether it's enabled or not. You can review this setting, once it's available to you, by heading to your settings and looking for "Face Recognition" in the left column. On mobile, you can hit the three-lined menu button, then select Settings & Privacy, then Settings, and looking for a "Face Recognition" option. (Here's a video that makes these instructions a bit clearer.)

Android 10 arrives: In a perfect world, major Android releases like the newly-launched Android 10 would get just as much attention as iOS upgrades. But because the vast majority of Android phones don't get major upgrades in a timely fashion (if at all), and because core apps like Gmail and Chrome are uncoupled from operating system upgrades, new releases tend to arrive with little fanfare.

It's too bad, because Android 10 has a couple of improvements that I really enjoy. Most notable is the ability to only let apps collect location data while you're using them. I first installed a beta version of Android 10 on my Pixel 2 XL earlier this year, and it's been satisfying to see the system rat out apps as they silently collect location data in the background. iOS has offered a similar feature since 2017, so I'm glad to see Android catch up.

Speaking of iOS imitation, Android 10 also adds a gesture-based navigation system similar to what the iPhone X uses. It's been polarizing in the Android enthusiast world, but I'm a fan. If you use Android, you're probably hitting the back button pretty often; being able to go back by swiping from either edge of the screen is much easier than reaching down for a button at the bottom of the screen.

As of now, the only phones running Android 10 are the OnePlus 7 and 7 Pro, the Essential Phone, and every Google Pixel. That's as good of an endorsement for those companies' phones as you'll get.

One more iPhone 11 tidbit: One of the iPhone 11's most intriguing features didn't get any stage time at Apple's event. That would be its U1 ultra wideband chip, which can approximate distance from other U1-equipped devices by sending out a radio signal and measuring the travel time between them.

The only application Apple has announced for this chip--being able to choose another iPhone 11 for AirDrop file transfers by pointing at it--is trivial, but the company says more uses are coming. A rumored item-tracking device, similar to Tile, is a likely candidate, but as Jason Snell points out, the smart home applications could be pretty interesting as well. One could imagine home audio or lighting systems that followed you from room to room, or a security system that knew exactly when you were coming or going.

Still, the possibilities above could take months or years to materialize, and it's never a great idea to buy a product based on the promise of future features, let alone unannounced ones. For now, the U1 chip is just something to keep in mind if you start hearing about ultra-wideband as the next big thing.
 

Despite being in pre-order, some of this new Apple gear is already on sale:

• Sam's Club is offering a $150 gift card with the iPhones 11 if you activate by November 8.
• T-Mobile's offering up to $350 off the new iPhones if you trade in an iPhone 7 or newer, even for existing customers and lines.
• AT&T is doing buy-one-get-one, but only for new lines.
• Sprint and Verizon will give you an iPhone 11 when you trade an iPhone 7 or newer, but only for new lines.
• Amazon is selling the new iPad with 128 GB of storage for $400, which is $29 off the regular price.
• Costco is taking $15 off various Apple Watch Series 5 models. Amazon also has $15 off the 40 mm Space Gray version with an black sport band.
• It's not a new product, but $200 for Apple Powerbeats Pro wireless earphones is a good deal. You must log into a Rakuten account and use the coupon code DS36 to see the discount.

Did you know that there's a burst photo mode hidden behind the camera shutter button on most phones? Just hold the button down, and your phone will take a series of quick shots until you let go. You can then go into your camera roll to select which of the photos to keep. Burst mode is great for capturing just the right moment when you're dealing with a lot of motion (or fussy kids), and it's available in the iOS camera app, Google's Android camera app, and Samsung's camera app, among others.

To take this a step further, the Burst to GIF shortcut on iOS can turn create animations from your bursts. (You can activate the shortcut here.) Samsung also has a "Create GIF" option when you press the settings while viewing a burst. And if you're using Google Photos, you can hit the middle button while viewing a burst to create an animation.

I thought of this tip recently because the iPhone 11 will be replacing burst mode with a "QuickTake" feature that shoots video when you hold the shutter button. (To use burst mode on an iPhone 11, you'll have to swipe the shutter button to the left.)