The new Apple Music Voice Plan is a bargain at $4.99 per month, but it mostly limits you to using Apple’s Siri voice assistant for searches and playback. The Voice Plan has been met with some skepticism, but Julio Ojeda-Zapata thinks it’s a good option for casual music listeners.

A week after the release of the third-generation AirPods, Apple subsidiary Beats By Dre unveiled Fit Pro earbuds that offer a compelling alternative thanks to a more secure fit, H1 chip, and active noise cancellation.

Josh Centers and Julio Ojeda-Zapata team up to give you their first impressions of Apple’s third-generation AirPods.

Apple used its “Unleashed” event partly to focus on music. It revealed third-generation AirPods with a host of improvements, unveiled new colors for its HomePod mini speaker, and announced a new Apple Music Voice Plan for access to the music service via Siri voice commands.

Apple recently unveiled an iPad camera feature called Center Stage that keeps one or more people within the frame during video chats even when they move around. Julio Ojeda-Zapata gave Center Stage a try and compared it to smart displays from Amazon, Facebook, and Google.

Rumors suggested the Apple Watch was due for a major physical design, but the Series 7 turned out to look much like its predecessor—albeit with a few physical and software changes. Also, watchOS 8 gets some fitness improvements aimed largely at cyclists.

Which MagSafe-compatible portable battery pack should you buy? Julio Ojeda-Zapata put Apple’s MagSafe Battery Pack and three of its competitors through their paces and found pluses and minuses across the board. Though Apple’s product is the only MagSafe-certified option, you shouldn’t dismiss the other products given their lower cost and worthwhile features.

When Apple unveiled its AirTag tracker, many wondered why the company failed to build Find My technology into its second-generation Siri Remote, introduced at the same time. Now a couple of accessory makers are solving this issue with silicone Siri Remote sleeves that incorporate AirTag pockets. Julio Ojeda-Zapata tried both.

Choosing Apple earbuds or headphones becomes more complicated when you factor in gear from Apple subsidiary Beats by Dre. To wrap his head around all the options, Julio Ojeda-Zapata constructed a huge comparison chart. This companion article separates the various Apple and Beats devices into categories to assist you in your decision.

T-Mobile is offering free “test drives” of its 5G cellular-data service by leveraging the eSIM built into recent-model iPhones. After a quick app install, you get 30 days or 30 GB of data (whichever comes first) to try out T-Mobile. The beauty of the eSIM approach is that it doesn’t mess with your existing service.

With its new M1-based iMac, Apple made shopping for a consumer-level desktop Mac more interesting. The 24-inch iMac is thin, colorful, and powerful. But is it right for you? Julio Ojeda-Zapata weighs the pros and cons of the iMac, the Mac mini, the MacBook Air, and the 13-inch MacBook Pro, all of which use Apple’s new M1 processor.

Apple’s watchOS 8 introduces a variety of improvements in health, communication, photos, home automation, and more.

With iPad OS 15, unveiled Monday at its Worldwide Developer Conference, Apple has enhanced multitasking to be more discoverable and easier to use. iPadOS also gains features found in iOS since last year, including the App Library and Home Screen widgets.

Apple designed MagSafe to improve wireless iPhone charging by adding magnets for snap-in-place positioning. The company’s own MagSafe accessories are a mixed bag, but third-party makers have come to the rescue. Julio Ojeda-Zapata tested a handful of MagSafe products that improve the experience.

Apple has unveiled new iPad Pro models that don’t look all that different but build in significant upgrades. Most notable is the inclusion of the same M1 chip used in recent Macs. The 12.9-inch iPad Pro also boasts display technology derived from Apple’s Pro Display XDR.