iPhone 16 Pro Max Exit Interview

October 25, 2025
4 min read


While writing the review of this year’s phone and preparing my 16 Pro Max for sale, I decided to write an exit interview. I’ve done it previously for other phones, especially when I forget to write a review (as I’ve done this time).

Design

Let’s get the bad out of the way first. Comparing year over year, the iPhone 15 Pro Max still holds the Best Max Phone trophy in my opinion. It was simply perfect – both in terms of size, but even more importantly, weight. It was beautiful. With the 16 Pro Max, Apple made the Max phone slightly bigger (which is okay) but also a tiny bit heavier. Although on paper it seemed negligible, in use the weight crossed some psychological barrier for me – it became too heavy. Not as bad as the 14 Pro Max, but it seems we took two steps forward with the 15 and one step backward with the 16 Pro Max. I thought I’d get used to it, but I noticed it every day. Before selling my 15 Pro Max, I would hold it in my hands and remember how perfect life was.
The smaller bezels looked amazing in photos after the reveal, but I didn’t notice them at all. Until I did. Sometimes I was reading an article with the screen being all white and had a realization – there’s nothing right after the article. It looks like all screen.
The Desert Titanium color was a miss. I was a huge fan of Natural Titanium, but I always try to go for “this year’s color.” I also loved previous gold phones, but in the end, this wasn’t it. Mostly it was white with a bit of copper. Thankfully it didn’t look brown like rumors suggested before it came out, but it’s definitely boring. Too plain.
Design isn’t only how it looks but how it works, and the 15 Pro Max’s battery life and thermals were an abomination. Apple improved one but not so much the other. While the 15 Pro Max was usually at least warm, the 16 Pro Max was back to normal. It would occasionally heat up, but only during heavy stress, like initial setup or some intensive game. On the battery front, I’m a heavy user of the phone (unfortunately), and even the new 16 Pro Max didn’t last the whole day. It was slightly better than the 15 Pro Max, but not by much. During travel, I would still use a MagSafe Battery. I probably didn’t have a single day where I wouldn’t charge midway through.

Camera

I loved the 5x last year, and it’s still my favorite lens this year. I used Smart Folders in Photos to check, and more than a third of the photos I took with the 15 Pro Max were taken with the 5x lens. It just works for me. I’d give up the ultra-wide if there were a choice between the two. Speaking of which, there was a lot of talk about improvements to the 0.5x camera, but I hardly noticed any. It’s still very average, so I rarely use it.
In the end, I loved the 5x but wanted a bit more quality.

Camera don’t-call-it-a-button Control

I think Apple has a hit on its hands, but they tried to do too much. They should’ve just started with a button. That’s actually how I use it – as a button to launch the camera. I don’t even use it to take photos because it shakes the phone too much. Maybe the problem is with the way I hold the phone or press the button, but I couldn’t change it.
All those in-camera features are just too much. For example, when you use it for lens switching, it’s harder than tapping the screen, but if you try to scroll, it’s not precise enough for that. A lot of features seem to be there just for the sake of it. I turned it all off.
It’s just perfect for launching the camera. That allowed me to change one of the two Lock Screen controls.

Conclusion

Overall, the 16 Pro Max was an okay phone. There are both pluses and minuses, but I still like the 15 Pro Max more, just because of the weight and how it felt. It was perfect. After a year with the 16 Pro Max, I started considering going back to the smaller, Pro-sized phone again.
If not for the improved battery and thermals, I would’ve been really upset about upgrading. This was the one to skip.

WWDC25 – Apple Vista Moment

June 10, 2025
3 min read

For the past few years, I’ve made a conscious effort to avoid Apple rumors ahead of big events. Of course, it’s nearly impossible, but even so — I was genuinely surprised this time. To me, two things stood out in the announcement: Apple Intelligence and the new design language.

Oh — and the iPad. Did you see what they did to iPadOS?!

Apple Intelligence

Now this was a solid first step — a far cry from whatever last year’s presentation was. Apple scattered both small and significant AI features across the OSes, without making loud, overblown promises they can’t keep.

The addition of local models that developers can plug into could be a game changer. Last year felt like a scramble — a panicked attempt to show something, just to avoid being left out.

This year feels calmer, more deliberate. And that’s definitely a better approach.

Redesign

As someone wise once said, “design is how it works, not how it looks.”

Looking at what was announced… maybe Apple needs to revisit that quote.

Yes, glass is beautiful (I actually liked Windows Vista), and this new “liquid glass” aesthetic is even more so. But even in Apple’s carefully curated examples — you can’t read shit.

Transparent glass is one of the worst surfaces to overlay text on. I don’t understand how Apple isn’t seeing this. And based on screenshots already circulating from Developer Betas, it’s actually worse in practice.

What the hell is that?!

It feels like history repeating itself — a la the iOS 7 release. Apple will likely tweak things based on feedback, third-party apps will look out of place for a while, and slowly, things will settle into something that feels like iOS 18… until the next major overhaul.

iPad OS redesign

Now this caught me off guard. I hadn’t seen or read anything hinting at changes this big. It’s like Apple went through every gripe power users ever had and said: “You really want all that? Fine. Take it. Hope you’re happy now.”

The sheer volume of updates packed into this one release is borderline spiteful — in the best way. And while watching the iPad announcement, one unexpected thought hit me:

What excuse is left for not adding touch to the Mac?

Final Thoughts

Overall, it was a strong announcement. Apple Intelligence seems promising, and the iPadOS updates are impressive. But that redesign… it needs work. Let’s see how it evolves over the next few months.

Homescreen – 2024

December 29, 2024
7 min read

It’s hard to believe, but it’s been three years since my last homescreen post. It’s always fascinating to see how my homescreen evolves over the years. I first shared it back in 2019, then again in mid-2020, and finally at the end of 2020. Here’s hoping I can finally make this an annual tradition.

For a long time, I resisted using folders, but I’ve given in this year. I tried my best to stick with just 12 apps (including the Dock), but it’s just not feasible. While I don’t need every app in the folder, it looks better when full. Surprisingly, even with three years gone by, not much has changed.

Widgets

This time, I’ve settled on a stack of two large widgets—Fantastical and Things 3—replacing the two smaller widgets I used before. I experimented with multiple widgets of various sizes, but this setup has stuck with me the longest. It gives me a wealth of useful information at a glance. I still use the Photos widget, but it now lives on the Widget screen to the left of my main homescreen.

Stayed

Some apps are staples of my homescreen and haven’t budged: Photos, Overcast (even though the redesign was rough, the sound engine remains unparalleled), Music, MoneyWiz, and Revolut.

I briefly stopped using Ulysses when I tried replacing it with Notion, Craft, and later Obsidian. None of them worked for me. Recently, I returned to Ulysses, and as you might have noticed, my blog output has improved drastically. While the tool isn’t the only factor, it’s definitely helped.

One surprising change was my browser choice. For a while, I exclusively used Arc for personal and work browsing. However, after the team announced they are abandoning it (it will still get updates, but I wouldn’t hope for a lot), I tried several alternatives before returning to Safari. While it’s not perfect, it’s still better than most.

Removed

Only one app got completely removed from my phone — Audible. I’ve stopped listening to audiobooks altogether. My approach to reading has shifted—I now highlight extensively and take notes, which doesn’t work well with audiobooks.

Communication apps like WhatsApp, Messages, and Mail (and previously Telegram) now stay in the App Library or are accessed via notifications. They no longer need a spot on my homescreen.

Oura got promoted to the Lock Screen, but more on that below. Duolingo has a widget on the Widget screen and also sends notifications at the end of the day in case I forget.

The Hue app is another casualty. I still use the lamps, but I control them through the Home page in the new Control Center.

Some features, like my Brain Dump shortcut, were replaced by new lock screen buttons and the Action Button. Similarly, I removed the Camera app from my screens entirely after upgrading to the iPhone 16 Pro Max. I now exclusively launch the camera using the dedicated Camera Control Don’t Call It A Button Button.

Replaced

There were a couple of significant changes this year, but let’s start with the smaller one — Books got changed by Kindle, but that is changing all the time depending on which book I’m reading.

I’ve also changed my RSS reader and read-it-later service. For about a year I was using Readwise Reader for both. It was also getting all the highlights from Kindle. But the way it looked and worked was always bad, and I decided that too much automation is missing the point. So found the most functional, but good-looking app — Matter.

Another big change was my to-do app. Things 3 won for me just because it’s more simple and beautiful, and doesn’t have a subscription. But lately, I’ve been thinking about going back, since Things 3 doesn’t support natural language in the task name field. This is just bonkers. And in some little things Things 3 doesn’t click for me.

The biggest one is the notes app. After leaving Craft for Notion and later going to Obsidian and staying for a year, I was still not completely happy — it looks horrendous, whatever you do. The way it works with files (especially images sucks) and search on mobile is unusable. So again started to look at different apps — Notes, Craft, Tana among them. But surprisingly chose the one, I completely forgot about — Bear. The easiest way to describe it is Obsidian, but thoughtfully designed. It’s much simpler, but that is why I love to use it. And it allows you to change fonts, which I loved in Obsidian.

I also tried Craft after the recent 3.0 update, and it’s still not it. Too bulky, still too document focused, and occasionally a bit slow in terms of navigation and animation.

Added

There are a couple of apps I’ve always used that got promoted to the homescreen, like Citadele for banking, an app for our daughter’s kindergarten. Day One which I want to use, but somehow don’t even when it’s on homescreen, but I’m trying. Google Maps where I started to save places I loved or want to go to. So my map quickly becoming filled with all the pins.

I’ve also finally changed an app to track the TV shows I watch to Sequel. It’s beautiful and syncs with Trakt, so moving data would be easy when needed.

Masterclass is the other app I want to use more. I got it together with my Revolut subscription and like some content in it, but want to watch more.

There is a side of me that changes and two apps reflect that a lot — first, I started to listen to classical music and Apple Music Classical, which is included in the subscription, is spectacular for that. I go through the Essentials albums for multiple composers. Second is the Bible app, which I’ve never read in full and want to change it.

The last two apps shouldn’t be surprising to anyone — ChatGPT and Perplexity. First is just a default for AI. At first, I changed it with Claude, which seemed like a better model, but ChatGPT has a better product overall, nicely integrating with iOS and macOS. And also, Revolut gave subscription to the Perplexity Pro, which became my second choice.

Lockscreen

My lockscreen is simple. It’s the photo I made at the Barcelona Grand Prix. With Oura widget at the top, hence removal from the homescreen. Fantastical widget below clock for the next appointment and Pedometer and WaterMinder small widgets.

At the bottom, where Apple finally gave us the ability to change controls, I have a new Bear note button and ChatGPT button.

Buttons

There were 2 physical buttons added recently to the iPhone. First, the Action button which quickly became task entry button for me, now opening a new task window in Things 3. The Camera button for me is just a launch button and rarely take a photo button because when you press it, it shakes the phone. And I’ve turned off all the features inside the camera, since it is too finicky to use as a touchpad.

Conclusion

You might’ve noticed that my Homescreen looks dull, which is completely on purpose. It is a part of my strategy to use the phone less. At first, I didn’t like how the new tinting feature worked because it didn’t look good in any of the screenshots I’ve seen, but recently, I’ve decided to use it to my advantage.

Below you can see how my homescreen looks in 3 different modes: tinted, light mode and dark mode.

Rediscovering the Steam Deck: A Perfect Fit for My Unexpected Downtime

December 26, 2024
3 min read

I’ve owned a Steam Deck for over a year now, but until recently, it rarely saw the light of day. Aside from a couple of short flights, I struggled to find time or the right occasion to use it. The potential was always there, and I wanted to play more games, but it just never found its place in my life.

At home, my limited gaming hours were dominated by the PS5. When I traveled, it was mostly for work, with short trips and a minimalist packing list. The Steam Deck, being on the heavier side, usually didn’t make the cut.

But then, life threw me a curveball.

A couple of weeks ago, I tore my knee ligaments — completely. After surgery, I found myself with plenty of time to lie around and not much mobility. That’s when the Steam Deck finally got its moment to shine.

I dusted it off, installed all the updates, and launched GTA V — a game I’ve been meaning to replay for ages. And my verdict? It’s almost perfect.

The Steam Deck Experience

Sure, newer devices like the Legion Go might be more powerful, but they’re bigger, heavier, and run Windows, which doesn’t appeal to me for a handheld gaming device. The Steam Deck, on the other hand, is the perfect size, and SteamOS is fantastic. It just works.

While it won’t deliver stellar FPS on the latest graphically demanding games, it’s a dream for indie titles and slightly older releases.

That said, I do have the original LCD version, and while the newer OLED model has tempted me, I couldn’t justify the upgrade since I wasn’t using the Deck much at the time. Now, I find myself waiting for the next iteration instead.

And let me rave about one of the Deck’s biggest advantages: game prices. Steam sales are incredible, with discounts often reaching up to 90%. After years of paying PlayStation prices, it almost feels too good to be true.

Cons

Battery Life

One of the main downsides is battery life. It’s not a truly portable device in the sense of long, untethered play sessions. When I first got it, I played Guardians of the Galaxy, and the battery barely lasted 90 minutes. For GTA V, I didn’t measure precisely, but it estimates around five hours on a full charge. That’s enough for a couple of missions and some leisurely driving around Los Santos before I’m ready for a break—and at that point, it’s back on the charger.

No Background Downloads

Another quirk I’ve noticed is that the Steam Deck doesn’t download or update games while in sleep mode. Coming from the PS5, where updates and installations happen seamlessly in the background, this feels like a step back.

Final Thoughts

If you’ve got room in your life for a device like the Steam Deck, I’d highly recommend it. But go for the OLED version if you’re buying now—it has a slightly bigger screen, better battery life with no real downsides.

The Steam Deck has finally found its place in my life, and despite a rocky start, it’s proving to be a fantastic companion for my downtime. Here’s to hoping the next version builds on its already solid foundation!

New York Times Loves Latvia

December 24, 2024
1 min read

I always love finding mentions of Latvia in popular culture. Be that Winston who played basketball in Latvia in New Girl or the whole Community episode about Latvian culture. Today, as I was doing the NYT Crossword (yeap, big dad energy) I realized it wasn’t the first clue with Latvia in recent days. After checking, I confirmed my suspicion – 3 days in a row, Latvia is mentioned in the main Crossword as a clue.

Nice.

Gadget Of The Year – Ray Ban Meta Review

December 23, 2024
4 min read

Although they came out in 2023, the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses easily take the title of my 2024 Gadget of the Year. While everyone is trying to create the future, Meta just created an outstanding and useful gadget for today. They don’t replace your phone, they don’t create realistic 3D environments, they just work. Here and now.

I’ve ordered RayBan Meta glasses before all the AI gadget craze. My expectations were simple: stylish Ray-Ban glasses with a few extra features like camera and speakers. What I didn’t expect was just how much they’d become part of my daily routine. Unlike most new gadgets that lose their novelty after a few weeks, these stuck with me.

Camera

Before purchase, this seemed to be the main feature. Taking photos or videos without holding a device feels a bit odd at first. While you “look” through your glasses, the camera captures a slightly different perspective, making it tricky to compose shots traditionally. But that’s the beauty of it—you don’t have to. The best pictures and videos you take are the ones you though – “ah, I wish I’ve had a camera in my hand at that exact moment!”

If you have kids, you will immediately understand. Usually, by the time you start filming with your phone, kids stop doing whatever they were doing before. And if they won’t stop – they immediately change when they see you filming them. They don’t do it just because, they now do it for the camera, and it’s always worse. With glasses, it’s different. Especially if you already wear glasses. It’s natural.

Action shots? Unbeatable. I’ve tested them on roller coasters, and the results were so stunning, even Meta themselves reached out to compliment the video. Getting a shot of a seagull stealing a McDonald’s burger from the woman’s hands – priceless.

Headphones

The built-in speakers were the most unexpected highlight. They’re not audiophile-grade, but they’re far better than I expected. Perfect for podcasts, and even the music sounds decent. And they are opposite to noise-cancelling. You listen to whatever you want and still have your ears free to hear everything. You are more present. Walking around the house without headphones and just with glasses makes my wife much happier.

Privacy and Expectations

Not surprisingly, some people are taken aback by them when they realise what they are. Yes, there is a light indicating when you are taking photos or video, but everyone (and I mean everyone) will joke “yeah, right”.

I’ve stopped wearing them at the office for this reason. Even though everyone has phones capable of recording at any time, the idea of wearing a camera on your face seems to make people uncomfortable. It’s likely a stigma that will fade as the technology becomes more common, but for now, I’d rather avoid being “that guy.”

Surprisingly, only two people realised those were smart glasses right away – my stylist and mom. Plenty of people commented on the glasses (they are very different in style from what I usually wear, much more bulky, so the style change is noticeable). But no one except those two understood what these glasses really were.

Meta AI

I’ve fallen in love with them before AI became The Thing, so when Meta added the feature it was a nice extra, not a reason to exist for the gadget. Since AI isn’t officially available in Latvia yet, I had to use a VPN to try it out. It’s decent—nothing groundbreaking, but fun for party tricks and occasional quick questions. I’ll admit, I’m still getting used to the idea of talking to my glasses.

Conclusion

There’s not much to add beyond the title—these are my Gadget of the Year. And I’ve tested a fair share of new tech this year (more on that in future posts). If you’re on the fence about buying them, here’s my advice: go for it. They’re fantastic.

And the best thing — even if the battery is dead, they are still useful.

Mac mini M4 – The Essence of a Computer

November 20, 2024
3 min read

Rarely does a product come out that redefines the category, or makes you fall in love from the first sight. Maybe not surprisingly, but for me multiple such products were produced by Apple.

I’m not even talking about moving to the M1 processors. I’ve bought that MacBook Air and loved it to bits, but it was still the old design, only now it was fast as hell and the battery life was more than amazing.

For me, the first such device was the iPhone 4. It was the first Apple presentation I watched and when Steve Jobs showed it and explained I immediately fell in love with a design and Retina display. This new display changed the standard for phones and later all other screens.

Then came the iPhone X. I remember as I got it and took it out of the box, my wife, watching me, smiled and said, “we don’t experience such genuine love of technology, everything mostly is taken for granted”. I loved that phone.

More recently, it was the new iPad Pro with M4. It’s so thin and the display is just gorgeous. When I watch some high-quality content, it feels like I’m holding the movie or the TV show in my hands. Sure, there’s always room to grow (meaning to shrink, of course), but occasionally, I just hold it in my hands and look at how thin it is.

And now, during the week of Mac announcements, it was introduced. The new Mac mini. It is stunning. It just looks like a perfect computer. I know there are Raspberry Pis and Intel NUCs which are smaller or whatever. But the Mac mini looks so sleek, it feels just perfect. I wasn’t planing on buying one, but loved looking at it.

On Friday, November 8th, I went to the store to buy a USB-C Magic Trackpad, since it was day one of sales in our country. And just asked if they had the base Mac mini (I actually looked at availability on their website and knew they didn’t, but wanted to ask regardless). As it turned out, they actually had one in the back, and it was the first time in my experience and in the experience of the store employee that they’ve had a mistake on the website. She went to check and came back with the box in hand. I couldn’t say no. How anyone could?

So now, I’m the proud owner of this perfect computer. I have a couple of ideas how to use it, mostly headless, but I just can’t put it in the attic to connect to the router directly for better performance, I want to keep it on my desk. I mean, just look at this combo. Mac mini – the perfect computer.

Apple Magic Mouse Gets USB-C

October 31, 2024
1 min read

My other hunch is that the Magic Mouse’s designers actually see the inability to use it while plugged in as a feature, not a bug.

Let me start by saying I get it—Apple’s Magic Mouse is incredibly popular. People buy Apple products partly because they trust the brand, and Apple’s design has a certain allure.

I agree that it is a feature. It is meant to gather the attention of the critics, and nobody talks how actually bad this mouse is as a mouse. It’s heavy and one of the least ergonomic options out there, making it uncomfortable for prolonged use. It’s just a plainly bad mouse. But everyone is focused on the charging port. Feature.

Link

Omnivore

October 30, 2024
2 min read

We’re excited to share that Omnivore is joining forces with ElevenLabs, the leading AI audio research and technology company. Our team is joining ElevenLabs to help drive the future of accessible reading and listening with their new ElevenReader app.

Next, all Omnivore users will be able to export their information from the service through November 15 2024, after which all information will be deleted. 

Sometimes things just work out. While getting all my productivity tools in order, I’ve been exploring different read later apps in place of Readwise Reader. At one point, I actually chose the Omnivore app. It looked okay, it was fast, and free. I know everyone loved it because of the text-to-speech engine, but I don’t consume my articles like that. It still felt like a good fit for me. Until it wasn’t. I opened the app on the plane without an internet connection, and none of my saved articles were available. I was just happy that I didn’t migrate the whole list of articles. That was the end of my story with Omnivore. I picked Matter at the end and couldn’t have been happier. Especially now, after receiving this nice email. Sometimes free is not the best option; more often than not, you have to think about the sustainability of the service and company.

Mac Perfect

October 29, 2024
1 min read

Instant buy.

Just look at this computer! I’ve been a fan of laptops powered by Apple silicon, my M1 MacBook Air is still a perfectly fine computer. I now have M2 MacBook Air and M3 Pro MacBook Pro for work. Since day one that chip changed my experience with mac. It is fast, it has an amazing battery life. And now the M series chips can offer incredible performance in such a small package. I’ve been waiting for an update to the Mac mini; I want to set one up as a home server that will last at least 10 years, and I feel like this is the one. It will probably be overkill, but fun as hell.

I’ve had a lot of questions for Apple recently, but sometimes they just deliver a perfect product.