You will often find me spending far too much money on productivity apps, but I have another love. Cases are another thing I am never happy with, always looking for the new thing that will keep my pride and joy safe.
Finding the balance point between protecting your phone, but also not adding too much weight or bulk is a difficult choice. Whilst the iPhone X is great and gives me a nice big screen to use one handed, it is heavier than previous models, so adding the official case has bumped the weight up to almost the tipping point.
I can feel it once again, the stirs of urges that are controlling my habits without any conscious thought. All the billions poured into research and development, all the hours of design and engineering are working. All simply to keep me picking up the computer in my pocket.
Although many claim these issues do not exist, I can tell you for a fact they do and I can feel it once more.
I’ve been toying with the idea of journaling for a long time. I’ve started jotting things down several times, but never really got the hang of it. Although I liked the idea of having a physical diary of my thoughts, I was always worried it wouldn’t stay personal. So a digital version seemed like the only way and thats where Day One comes it. Helping me to journal as much as I like keeping it safe and secure.
On a recent episode of Bring Your Own Device, I was adamant that the recent control centre indicator was a weird bug and would soon go away. Yet here we are with iOS 11.2 now public, and it’s still there! The reason I was so sure is that Apple has never relied on indicating things more than once – the reason I was wrong is that Apple doesn’t seem to know what they are doing any more.
Posts from The Verge go from the brilliant to the absurd, but one call to arms is perfect for the new year. Vlad Savov has declared his independence from MicroUSB and I wish we could all do the same.
USB-C connectors are sturdier than MicroUSB, they’re now more common among the very latest tech, and they’re only going to increase in prevalence and importance as time goes on. My way of simplifying my life in 2018 will be to just embrace and demand USB-C.
The Verge summed it up perfectly in their post “Apple’s had a shockingly bad week of software problems”. Apple have had to twice fix a glaring bug with macOS allowing access to machines, and also date related reboots on iOS. It’s something that is becoming increasingly hard to stomach for users that have come to rely in the robust nature of the products coming from Cupertino. Unfortunately it also appears to be getting much worse.
It was long before the Apple Watch existed that I first slapped on a smarter wrist watch. As Garmin, Nike and Samsung were pushed aside for an Apple Watch- just one thing remianed. They have all pushed me to exercise better by keeping an eye on what I’m doing and giving me a kick when needed. Now that I’m using the third iteration of the Apple Watch, I really think it’s time for a rest.
Whilst I have never been overly motivated to have a portrait mode capable handset. Now I actually have the iPhone X I have enjoyed the odd occasion of trying out the feature. It definitely has some issues, especially using the front facing camera, but does get some great snaps. With that said I think Apple could do much better, and I can’t be the only one.
Self titled Apple analyst Rene Ritchie was critical of the way Google’s Pixel phones capture portrait mode shots.
Since collecting my iPhone X from Appleon release day, my impressions of using the device have gotten better and better. The size is perfect for me, splitting the difference between a smaller phone in my pocket and a larger screen to get things done. However the one huge sticking point in my enjoyment is Control Centre.
The notch has proved to be the most controversial design choice of the year. Yes it allows for more screen space but still packing in loads of new technology, but it also splits the status bar in two.
When Apple launched the Apple Watch, it was greeted with confused emotions. It tried too hard to be everything to everyone, however from watchOS 2 onwards the message has been clear. Notifications and health monitoring are the major benefits to everyone, recording activity levels and making users more engaged. Unfortunately from time to time the health data recorded is incorrect.
iOS should intelligently work out what device is being used and count from one device at a time.
For a long time the big blue F was my main social network for communicating with people, keeping up to date with news and just receiving boredom. However for the last few it has been left gathering nothing more than automatic posts and links because it really is a horrible place to spend much time. I’ve finally deleted my account for good, and not for the reasons you might expect.
After picking up my iPhone X on Friday it was immediately apparent that the new Apple device is not going to be everyones perfect device. Despite sporting a fantastic 5.8” OLED screen, the iPhone X is going to frustrate users of Plus model phones – and there is still a huge case for the iPhone Plus.
The bigger sibling of each model of phone since the iPhone 6 is a love it or hate it device.
As you may or may not know I don’t bother writing reviews anymore. There are hundreds of great videos and long form pieces out there to satiate your appetite for that kind of thing. However I usually share my initial thoughts on using new devices – and here are mine on the iPhone X.
This unwillingness to spend hours wiring a full review is further exaggerated by the hype surrounding Apples new device.
Don’t worry. Nothing PG here. Merely the fact that at any hardware launch it’s important to really appreciate the lengths Apple go to to make the phone feel the best it can. Even while picking the phone up in the Apple store I am steered towards the cases that are marketed in a colourful display near the back of the shop. Clearly cases have become a necessity – but I’ve spent at the least the first few hours with the phone ’naked’.
The once relied upon tech journalists that influenced purchasing decisions are up in arms that Apple let some lesser known people be the first to release their videos.
Videos by channels such as Booredatwork.com, UrAvgConsumer and even streetwear channel HighSnobiety have made traditional tech reviews act like entitled rich kids. Quite a few You-tubers were invited to what appears to be Apple stores and allowed to release their videos a day or so before everyone else.
Since pretty much the dawn of time we have been looking for ways to make sure we are different from each other. Understandable when you’re competing for limited terrain or food sources, yet we still do it whilst wrapped up in an easy existence.
What once was tribal warfare, evolved into splitting ourselves based on arbitrary drawn country borders, and now the lines are draw over some of the most stupid reasons you could imagine.
For the last few days my Twitter feed has been awash with comments about the new Google Pixel XL 2 (or the Pixel 2 XL, I forget!). All of a sudden Android writers have split into two camps. Those that criticised the poor quality screen, and those that lept to its defence. The truth is usually somewhere in the middle, but this screen debacle is only the tip of a very worrying trend creeping into manufactures.
Just incase you hadn’t gathered already, I really like Apple products. Not because I am some obsessive fan boy, but because (generally speaking) they all work together and achieve exactly what I want from my devices. Given this meek attachment I never feel the need to jump to Cupertino defence when they release products I don’t like, or do things that I think could be better. This is why the podcast walks that line, and in actual fact I recent post on the Outline that is very anti-Apple makes many points I agree with.
My health and well being has always been a huge focus for me. I have been an avid runner, professional footballer and sport scientist but being active and healthy is increasingly hard in the modern world. The one thing that has helped me move more and weigh less is the Apple Watch.
Not to mention that when you have health complications and your doctor asks how active you are, it has proved invaluable to just pull out my phone and point to the screen.
There has been lots and lots of noise following the iPhone event on Tuesday, Which is one of the reasons I have left this post for a few days. As normal falling into two camps of opinion, which is always to be expected, however the prevailing narrative is that the iPhone x is the future of smartphones in a product made now – unfortunately this simply is not true.
The truth is that once phones like Samsung’s Galaxy S8, the LG G6 and various others from Chinese OEMs started hitting the market the traditional iPhone design became old.
As the saying goes, “Everything leaks”. Even as Apple attempts to double down on their security surrounding information leaking, readers of technology websites have been bombarded with information on the new handset. This started even before the iPhone 7 launched, but only a few days before the press event, the iOS11 build for the new phone found its way out, and apparently website shouldn’t be covering it.
For the last few weeks I have definitely been experiencing leak fatigue and admittedly the rate of leaks does spoil the event somewhat.
Sure enough, just after deciding that my workflow of using Bear and Ulysses to write all of my content was pretty much perfect – I’ve changed again. For the past week I have been exploring using Apple Notes instead of Bear now that iOS11 is about to drop, and it seems to be working very well.
The Stock Notes app on iOS has rightly got a lot of stick over the years.
Does there have to be a reason to buy a bigger phone other than just a bigger screen? The Plus model of the iPhone has already proved a runaway success with users, but with the iPhone 7 Apple chose to give it something extra – another camera.
The big brother touted two camera lenses to aid zooming in on your subject, and also record depth information used to make any portrait subject really stand out with a bokeh effect.
Ding! One new post incoming.
I think everyone will agree notifications from your technology are annoying. Yet everyone puts up with them to a point where it’s just a haze of buzzing, beeping and dinging that rings in your ears for your entire waking hours. I have talked quite a bitabout being engaged with the world and notifications are my next assault.
For the past couple of weeks I have been experimenting with tuning out all non essential notifications.
Since just before Christmas I’ve been questioning many things in my life and making improvements wherever I can. Not due to anything in particular, simply an attempt to make myself happier and more engaged with life. This has lead me to some great places. I have been meditating, cutting down my social media use and for the most part cutting down my phone usage. Not only for the benefit of me, but also for the benefit of the people around me.
There can’t be many iOS or Mac app for note taking that I still haven’t tried. As soon as I’ve reviewed an app, gone through all the setting up process and made a choice to switch, I start looking around for other apps. I have a major fear of missing out on something that could be a better fit. Truth be told it costs me a fortune, subscription services or expensive one off payments seem to be normal now – but not with Zoho Notebook.
I know, I know I’m calling for Siri to get better again. Yet nothing has brought the downfalls of Apples voice assistant to the forefront than spending some time using Apples new AirPods. There has always been issues with using Siri and granted Apple are working hard at fixing and improving things, but Apple are now so far behind others is it possible to catch up?
Truth be told I have never been a huge user of Siri, it was great to show your friends when Siri was first released with the iPhone 4s.
The shocked look when I tell people that my primary computing device is an iPad is brilliant. I’ve actually been working on an iPad for a little over two years, and have replaced pretty much all of my computing with an iPad. First with an iPad Air 2 and now with a 9.7” iPad Pro.
With pretty much the same argument to working on a Chromebook, people are too eager to dismiss the iPad as a computer.
I’m starting to think I have a problem, I just can’t leave things alone. Once I find a great app that does what I need, I write the review and then start looking at other options.
Days after finding Bear to write everything from short notes to full posts I was eyeing up other Notes apps. I decided to give Google Keep a try and it is actually pretty good. Not really as a notes app, but for reminders and todo lists.
Notes apps are a strange thing to review. Everyone already has one built into iOS, and the vast majority of people will never look anywhere else. I was one of those people until I was able to delete first party apps, and much like replacing reminders with Todoist – I’ve replaced Notes with Bear. Here’s my review.
By calling Bear a notes app it is much more approachable. When in reality it is a Markdown editor at heart.
For as long as I can remember I’ve had a weird draw to organising things. It started with stationary and folders, and in the digital age expanded into spreadsheets and lists. I consider myself an organised person – yet one app has improved this further, Todoist.
I’m not even going to pretend this app isn’t expensive. If you are not a big user of todo lists or you’re not looking for something to improve your productivity then this may not be the app for you.
I held out as long as I could, but I have now caved and bought a Series 2 Apple Watch. Not because it is anything revolutionary, not because I accidentally killed my original version (although I kinda did) but because health and fitness has become so important to me I feel the investment is worth it. I have also found a perfect complication to match my new Nike + version – Healthface.