Deep Thoughts, Life, Technology

The Most Skippable iPhone?

Like a kid at Christmas, there I was doing my part. I waited patiently. I was ready. This year though, Apple had other plans.

I have been anxiously awaiting this years iPhone release for more than a year. It has been my customary tradition to upgrade my most used tech device every 2 years. Even when Apple introduced their now infamous “Upgrade Program,” I still held off. Because frankly, I like keeping my phones for 2 years. I don’t why, I just do.

So around June-ish the rumors started to hit pretty heavy that the new upcoming iPhone is not what we thought it may be. It’s not redesigned, it’s not exciting and most notably it’s not even garnering the most attention. Turns out this year, the next next iPhone is getting more attention then the soon anticipated one. The rumors started to hit hard that Apple was working diligently on a revolutionary, edge to edge screen design for the 10th anniversary iPhone that would release in 2017. This was a first. I didn’t know what to think about this. Essentially my mind translated all this into: this new, unreleased iPhone (2016) is already outdated.

I didn’t like this. Who would? Here I am intentionally waiting for the new hotness, only to start hearing rumors that the new hotness is not the new hotness. I thought to myself, “Be Patient”. Wait and see. And wait I did…

Fast Forward…. Enter September 7, 2016. Apple officially reveals iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. The rumors were dead on. Not newly designed. Not exciting. Not new hotness. To be fair, the iPhones 7 have a lot going for them. This marks the first time Apple has ever made a design 3 times in a row. At this point I would assume they have perfected it. So a big benefit is naturally, if your buying an iPhone 7, your receiving a very well polished, solid device to surely last you 2 years.

So there I was faced with this unusual situation I never chose to be in. I waited, I did my part. Apple showed their cards and I’m kind of left scratching my head. What do I do? I thought about this a bunch. I didn’t want to waste my upgrade on a phone only to be left out in the dark when/if Apple does release this magical, unicorn, 10th anniversary iPhone next year. Also another huge element in my decision making was Apple’s new operating system, iOS 10. In my mind, iOS 10 was going to make or break my decision. If it ran awful on my current iPhone 6 my choice would be an easy one. If it ran silky smooth. That would pull me in the keeping the 6 camp.

On the other hand, iPhone release week is a fun time to be an Apple fan. You get caught in the excitement extremely easy and naturally, you want to be a part of it and on my traditional 2 year cycle, I usually am. Another huge benefit I was to gain is simply having a new phone. My current phone is 2 years old and showing some age. The great thing about buying a new phone every 2 years is really receiving upgrades from 2 new phone generations, not 1.

So honestly speaking, the night preorders hit, instead of my usual super excitement, I set my alarm for 2:55 AM with an indecisive (who me?) mind. My alarm sounded, clock showed 2:55. Here I go. Pull out my trusty laptop. Apple.com here I come. Do all my preorder set up and come to the moment of truth: the “place order button.”

Excitement got the best of me. I preordered feeling “OK” about the decision but also in the back of my head knew iOS 10 dropped in 3 days. If iOS 10 would run smoothly on my current iPhone 6 and I wasn’t impressed with the 7, the plan of action would be pretty clear: my usual return policy which is return everything! Lindsey now calls it my “ride of shame” which I laugh at because it unbelievably accurate of my emotions when I’m driving to the Apple store with a receipt and a box.

So, iPhone 7 preordered and coming on launch day and awaiting iOS 10. The day of iOS 10’s release I was excited. Kinda like the excited I used to be for new iPhone releases. And that spoke volumes to me. I asked myself why? The truth I came to find out was simple. I really didn’t want the iPhone 7. In many ways I was hoping to pass on it. If I passed on it, I would have many, many options for next year.

iOS 10 released and I honestly think my phone runs better then it did on iOS 9. The big things checked out: battery life, responsiveness, all good! I was excited. I felt confident my 6 would be good to last another year, Then my 7 came in the mail. And to give Apple credit, the phone is gorgeous. I ordered the matte black model and boy I’m happy I did. Even without a new design, somehow Apple made this phone better looking then ever. I was tempted briefly to keep it (of course I was) but after some clear thinking and adding up all the moving parts: iOS 10 performance on my current phone, next year impending magical phone and keeping my upgrade intact. I just couldn’t do it. Ride of shame, we meet once again.

So thats it, thats my story (so far). The back up plan is if something happens to my third year iPhone that deems it unusable, I’ll bite the bullet and head on over to Apple and pick up a 7. Until then I feel at peace with my decision. An odd choice ill be the first to admit. I’ve never had a cell phone for 3 years. So we will see how that pans out.

I should note, people have mentioned the obvious to me. What if Apple’s magical unicorn phone does not come out next year? Do you hold on to your iPhone 6 a 4th year? The answer: I don’t know. I doubt it, but we’ll see. For the record, I’m really hoping Apple comes through.

Like many reviewers currently out there, I can’t bash Apple. My decision was based on what I wanted and not what Apple did or did not do, if that makes sense. Sure the iPhone 7 didn’t ring my bell this time around. That doesn’t mean it’s not a great phone. In fact it is a great phone. Any time Apple makes something 3 times over you better believe its a solid product. You also have to give Apple props that my current daily driver (iPhone 6) is 2 years old and simply running better then ever. What other tech company can boast about something like that? So in one way the iPhone 7 is Apple’s most skippable phone. In many others, Apple’s most conceived phone. Its all in how you look at it.

If you ordered an iPhone 7 or 7 Plus. Be excited. It’s a worthy representation of the newest iPhone. But as for me, When I returned mine I finally got to play with one in the store. The best way for me to sum up my hands on experience of an iPhone 7 is simple. IPhone 7: next year’s iPhone hidden in this years casing. Its extremely clear to me that this years iPhone is a transition phone until next year. And you know who can’t wait to be excited again for a new iPhone announcement? This guy.

Life, Technology

Austin Mann’s iPhone 7 Camera Review

 

Whole thing was shot on iPhone 7 and 7 Plus cameras. If you can, look at his example photos on a display with wide color gamut. Mann on the 7 Plus 56 mm camera:

It works exactly as I hoped. It is super quick to switch between lenses, even while you are rolling video. As seen in the video above, jumping from 1× to 2× while recording can be a great way to punch in and emphasize a detail.

In terms of quality, I found the the 2× zoom lens to be equally as sharp as the iPhone wide-angle we’re accustomed to. However, I do not recommend the digital zoom beyond 2×. The quality of digital zoom degrades quickly and I find it unusable for photography (although it’s actually kind of nice as an animal spotting tool).

The 2× works in ALL modes (photo, video, time-lapse, slo-mo, and even pano), which surprised me. I didn’t expect it in each mode, and I really enjoyed shooting 2× panos, capturing extra detail in the area of the landscape I found most interesting.

And on search:

Shooting photos is one thing; finding them and sharing them is another. The new Photos app in iOS 10 has a great search feature (the magnifying glass at top right) that hasn’t been talked about much.

I’ve found this feature to be very powerful and way beyond what I expected. For starters, I can search for a location like “Lake Kivu” to see all the photos I took on the lake. But going further, I can search for “tree” or “mountain” and immediately see all images containing trees or mountains. Even further still, I can search for “palm tree” and it accurately displays palm trees I’ve photographed in the last week.

Watch Austin’s excellent review here

Life

The Truman Show & Today’s Political World

Many of you know The Truman Show is one of my favorite films. So when one of my favorite youtube channels put a video including it, I had to share.

Nerdwriter has a fantastic new film analysis up comparing The Truman Show to today’s political landscape. One of his best in my opinion. He directly hits on so many things that its hard to dismiss his theory of the “current state of us”. Take some time to check it out:

Life

New Testament Bound

Today, August 31st I am officially New Testament bound! It’s been a long but rewarding road.  Reflecting on the past a little tonight and tomorrow morning; looking towards the future.

Reading the bible through in 1 year continues tomorrow!

Life

Mylan’s EpiPen Price Gouging

Gizmodo has a great piece on the created business of EpiPens by soulless individuals:

EpiPen, the life-saving allergy product, is now a $1 billion a year business for Mylan, a drug company that’s currently enduring a wave of bad publicity over the extraordinary surge in EpiPen pricing. In 2007, an EpiPen cost about $57. Today that price has skyrocketed to over $600 — all for about $1 worth of injectable medicine.

EpiPen is an emergency medication that’s stabbed into a person experiencing anaphylactic shock, a life-threatening allergic reaction that can be triggered by anything from bee stings to food. I’ve never used an EpiPen, but as someone with a peanut allergy who once made his own trip to the ER after a particularly unfortunate restaurant experience (“these Chinese beans sure are crunchy…”) I can tell you that anaphylactic shock is really no fun.

Mylan is able to do this because they have no competitors in the U.S. Not one. If you need an EpiPen, you’re buying theirs. It’s despicable. Some readers of this site may know that my son has a severe dairy allergy, so we’ve been buying EpiPens for years. We’ve never had to use one, knock on wood, but they expire every year, and we need a set for home and a set for school. We can afford it, but barley. Many parents can’t.

I don’t know how the executives at Mylan sleep at night.

Here are some links for people who are interested:

Life

Hectic Times/Slow Times

I just wanted to give everyone a heads up. For the months of August, September and October the site will be a little slower than usual operations. I am in EMT class and preparing for National Registry, studying for my driver exam at the fire department, going to take florida practicals and studying for my FF2 certification in these months. So as you could imagine my life is a little crazy now. Of course there will be some updates, just nothing long form.

With that said, I am working on long form, opinionated stuff. And after these months, you could expect some.

Thanks for understanding guys and gals. Hopefully all this testing ends up on the side of passing.

By the way.. Apple event on Sept 7th! Excited!

Movies

Star Trek Beyond

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I don’t love but don’t mind the new Star Trek:

Not Because the Federation is really eager to send its best captain and starship on a ridiculously risky mission they know almost nothing about.

Not because Idris Elba is fully utilized as the villain, or that his worldview and rationale for universal destruction make much sense or matter.

Not because it’s that much fun to watch the Enterprise get systematically shredded, or that the swarming action scenes match the “zen chaos”  that Lin has offered elsewhere.

But…

Because fan service was (seemed to be?) kept to a minimum.

Because even though Lin is intent on pure action escapism over commentary about “the times we live in,” you can’t dismiss it spirit and optimism despite the times we live in.

Because I just like this crew. And I like the actors playing them. Pine, Quinto, Urban, Saldana, Yelchin, Pegg, Cho. They work. Together, separate, in pairs. By plot design, the Kirk-Spock dynamic – my favorite part of these new Trek movies – is missing here, but that’s offset by the amplified Bones-Spock dynamic and the greater utilization of the rest of the ensemble. It’s not surprising that the guy behind the latest batch of F&F movies transforms this collective into a family. Which means secrets, things unspoken.

Technology

The iPad Paradox

I’m getting closer and closer to replace my trusty old macbook with an iPad. Articles like this push me even closer to the ledge. Michael Gartenberg over at iMore:

With some products… there’s a distinct conflict between consumer understanding of the features and the value assigned to those features. While the internet was filled with a rabid fan base of customers who loved and praised TiVo at every opportunity, most consumers didn’t understand the value of a $500 “digital VCR.”

In short, if you met a TiVo owner at a party, they were rabid…. When most people tried it, the lightbulb turned on. TiVo was not an expensive VCR — it redefined watching TV. I suspect iPad is suffering from the same paradox. Customers who buy an iPad Pro understand the power it unlocks relative to a Mac. The more they use it, the more it displaces their Mac. They “get it,” but most folks just don’t.

This is the conundrum. So many people who try to use the iPad Pro to get work done just seem to have that light bulb turn on over their head. They get it. It doesn’t happen for everyone, but it happens for a lot of people it seems. I’m jealous as I’ve been looking to replace my laptop for years. Anyways, great article if your interested.

Read the rest here

Family, Videos

Luca – Newborn

When Lindsey told me she was pregnant with Luca, it was a very different situation then Liam. We had semi-planned the timing and were really just at a different stage in our life together. We were ready to grow our family and were excited for the future.

When Luca finally came into this world, he was and still very much is a big, lovable bundle of joy. Even strangers have commented to me what a “happy baby he is.” After you spend just a little bit of time around him, thats not hard to see. He’s a huge blessing that Lindsey and I certainly don’t deserve.

Luca’s first year brought laughter, smiles and pudgy jokes daily. He is without a doubt the least serious in our family and has a smile that simply lights up any room he’s rolling around in. He has already earned the “not serious brother” badge and constantly is playing jokes on Liam.

Unfortunately he can’t stay little for long. In his case it wasn’t very long at all. He’s very round if you know what I mean. But he’s a perfect addition to our family that only God could have mapped out. It’s been an amazing first year with Luca. Happy Birthday little buddy.

Making your video constantly put a smile on my face daily.