Recently, I’ve been on a maddening quest to find a new notes app. I will share more about that later, but one in particular piqued my interest – Tana.
The idea and the promise are that you write and add supertags (yes, Tana comes with a huge amount of vocabulary specific to it) and the app just links everything and organises content for you. There are multiple options for the type of content you can add: plain text, to-do items, images, videos and much more.
In Notion and Craft the smallest unit is a block, in Tana it’s a node, which is basically a bullet. I was actually reading “The Bullet Journal Method”, and my mind immediately started thinking about parallels in both approaches. What makes it so powerful, is you can create anything with those supertags. The easiest way to describe is – think about databases in Notion, but they are created dynamically based on the nodes scattered all over the space.
I first installed Tana a couple of weeks ago, went through the tutorial, tried to make some notes, and uninstalled it, thinking it was one of the worst software products in the PKM space. But I’ve kept seeing people using it and even being fans, so I’ve decided to give it another try. This time, something clicked. I started small and for about a week, I just kept writing in the daily note. I’ve added supertags to all the nodes to add some structure. It became a bit clearer, but this steep learning curve, I think, will discourage most people from using it.
The other huge issue is the lack of mobile apps. There is Tana Capture, but it is just that — a tool for capturing notes on the go (it is good at that, but still extremely limited). Since Tana wants to be almost everything, including your to-do app, it is unimaginable to have it only on a PC.
Lastly, it is still in invite-only beta, so they still have to prove themselves to the public at large. If they don’t change the whole vocabulary and maybe streamline the number of features a bit, I think it will be difficult to break out. I’m confident they’ll have a vocal minority of super fans, but not a big audience.
You also can’t export your notes. And looking at the structure, I don’t think it would be an easy problem to solve for the developers, or you might not be able to import this data somewhere else.
For now, I’ve decided to go with some different tools as my PKM, but I’ll be closely following the progress of the company and checking the app from time to time.
I’ve been following Humane since its inception. This company, founded by ex-Apple veterans, intrigued me, but I must admit, I harbored skepticism from the start. And with every update they released, my doubts only intensified. However, I love technology and I always want to try out new things. As a regular ChatGPT user, I feel squarely within their target demographic.
So, when I got back home from work yesterday and saw that the announcement video has been dropped, I immediately started watching (the 10 minute length helped, of course). Despite my growing skepticism, which only deepened after a second viewing, I noted several key points.
1. Form factor and weight
The device’s weight is noticeable, stretching even a thick sweater in the demo. I wonder about its effect on a regular T-shirt. There is an accessory for delicate fabric, but it would automatically compromise battery life. It seems more suited for short-term use rather than all-day wear.
2. Voice recognition
This being a 10 minute introduction video, one would hope for a packed and checked video, but in the very beginning this quote stood out for me.
“There are no wake words. So it’s not always listening or always recording. In fact it doesn’t do anything until you engage with it and your engagement comes through your voice, touch, gesture or the Laser Ink display.”
If it doesn’t listen to you, how would engaging with your voice help it do something? It seems like a poorly worded phrase, but they’ve had a lot of time to prepare.
3. Humane network, connected by T-Mobile
It seems like they’re launching as an MVNO on top of T-Mobile infrastructure, which explains the initial US-only release. But scaling up internationally seems challenging, especially considering data usage for photos and videos. How will roaming work? Will you be charged extra or it won’t work outside the US?
With this model, they’ll need to go country by country and make deals with the operators? Good luck getting it anywhere other than US and a couple of major countries.
And last and the most important issue on this topic – it has a dedicated phone number. The different one from your phone. So in the year 2024 they want you to ditch your iPhone and use only the ai pin. This doesn’t sound promising.
4. Ultra-Wide camera
In the video you can see how the pin shakes on the jacket. The image stabilisation must be insane to take useful photos most of the time or you need to hold the device still when you take a photo.
Although, later they show that camera is just bad. I know the best camera is the one that is with you, but god this is a bad photo and you are better off with iPhone (duh).
5. Trust Light
An interesting feature, but it raises privacy concerns for those around the user. Unlike the indicator lights on MacBooks or iPhones, which alert the user, this light offers little control to bystanders.
6. Laser Ink Display
Its real-life performance remains to be seen, but in the video the laser display doesn’t look very legible. Especially on the homescreen – if I really look, I can get what is written under the time, but I can’t make out the word above and that’s while on pause, how would it work in real life, on the go? What about really bright light?
Also gestures looked really interesting. He was moving his hand veeeery slowly. Again, there is hope that it’s to make a point, so we understand, but it doesn’t look promising or comfortable.
7. AI performance
X users already discussed some mistakes, but still. There are just a couple of questions and AI got wrong some of them. In the demo. Demo that is showing the device for the very first time. Pre-recorded demo.
First one is the eclipse question. The answer the ai pin gave is plain wrong. Not in the details, totally wrong. The mentioned eclipse won’t be visible anywhere near Australia. It will happen mostly above America, that’s why some are calling it the Great North American Eclipse.
AI lies to you and very confidently at that. Google Search really deteriorated recently, but you’ll get a good result if you ask it the same question and if there are multiple conflicting answers – you’ll see all of them on the screen. Here you just receive the wrong answer and no additional context. They also didn’t care to check the answer for the first introduction of the product. Where is the attention to details?
Apart from the cringy prompt “make it more exciting”, the message is just grammatically incorrect.
The presenter asks for the gate code he received from Andrew before, which looked cool and useful, but then added: “Before I’d have to scroll through a long text chain to the last time I went to Andrews house”. I’m sorry, I know you are excited about the product, but did you hear about the new and amazing technology called SEARCH?!
Wrong information about the eclipse probably won’t kill anyone, but the later example is a bit frightening. Allegedly it can help you with your diet, but it got it wrong, again.
The weirdest thing is that GPT-4 provides correct information if you just show the screenshot from the video (the same is true for the eclipse question):
After the eclipse and almonds example, how can I be sure it bought the correct book? “This”, it didn’t even say the name of the book to confirm. The presenter then said “great, buy it” and didn’t receive the answer. The most logical explanation – it can’t do that yet, so why show it? If it can – where did it buy it from? There were no book stores on the partnerships slide, as far as I know.
8. Web portal
One of the issues could be a bit of a nitpick. When he asked for the total protein amount he had today, the pin answered – 22 grams. But below we can see that the protein is full for the day and the amount is 56 grams. And a second slide shows that the information is taken from the presentation (there is a book, a call and a song from the examples before).
Why does it show the same information 2 times? Just to fill the screen? Or Yanirs call and note about Notes are so important?
There is a lot of potential in AI. As I said in the beginning I use ChatGPT daily and I love it. It helps a lot throughout the day. But nor we, nor ChatGPT is ready for such a device. The mission of Humane is “To build for the world not as it exists today, but as it could be tomorrow” and it could be true, but that tomorrow is still long way ahead.
I’m sure they’ll devices to the early adopters and enthusiasts, but I think it won’t make a dent. This is not it. This is not the next smartphone.
I would probably love it as a part of Apple ecosystem (or Android, if that’s your cup of tea). You have all the information there – notes, reminders, camera, photos, mail, texts, calls. Everything. And here is a new company asking you to ditch all of that and use their pin. Impossible.
When Apple first announced the Apple Watch Ultra, my first thought was – thankfully, it’s not for me. I’ve bought Stainless Steel Series 7 last year, thinking it would last two or even three years, so paying another €900 after just a year seemed a bit too much.
When it came out, I still went to the store to try one out, just out of curiosity. And again, thankfully, I didn’t like it. The main negative surprise was how light it was for the size. I was really expecting something much heavier.
But then I started seeing them on people’s wrists, and it didn’t look bad at all. As I’ve seen even more while on a trip to London, I started thinking of buying one. After getting on my wife’s nerves for a couple of days, she finally sent me to the Apple Store, just to shut me up.
What I’ve done is put my current watch on my right wrist and Ultra on my left, seeing them side by side made me realise how much I don’t like… both of them.
Ultra looked good, but I like watch faces that are filled with color and if you use those the bezel just stares at you, looking old. And if you look at a regular watch, it’s apparent how much better it looks.
But at the same time, the regular Series looks… old. I’ve said previously, that people are wrong saying that there is not much change between Series 4-6 and 7-8, but on the whole they are similar. The main difference is in the screen and especially compared with Series 3, the newest one looks much better, but the case design, is indeed almost the same. And it’s here for 8 years. It’s time to change.
I’ve bought my first Apple Watch in 2017, when Series 3 came out, and wore one every single day for almost 6 entire years. First 3 years, I’ve been closing all 3 rings every day, but afterward realised that although it is good for my physical health, it’s not that good for my mental health and stopped doing it. And now, I’ve put my Apple Watch for sale with an expectation not to buy another one.
I want to start with a disclaimer – since I upgrade my phone every year, the delta of improvement is much smaller than for most people who upgrade every 2 years or even less often. Despite that, I still think the iPhone 14 Pro Max is a fabulous device worthy of an upgrade.
Coming Home – Again?
I’ve named the iPhone XS Max review – Coming Home. After that, I’ve stuck with larger iPhone models until iPhone 13 Pro. Since the difference between Max and non-Max models was only in the screen size, I decided to get a smaller phone. The main issue was – it was not possible to use Pro Max phone with one hand. After a year of use, I’ve got mostly disappointment out of that decision. The smaller size means also a smaller battery and with a heavy use, the Pro phone would last half a day for me. What I also realised during extended use – it is not only the sheer size, but the weight that prevents me from using even Pro phone one-handed. After a couple of months, I was certain that the next phone will be the bigger one again, since it’s mostly worse in numerous instances and doesn’t solve the only problem I have with a Max size.
Dynamic Island
It is almost a mantra in the tech review space – you shouldn’t buy a hardware product based on the promise of future improvements. iPhone 14 Pro is partially such a product. The main hardware feature – the Dynamic Island, that is very neatly combined with the software, is still not fully used by the app developers. And it’s considering me receiving a phone a month after it went on sale and using it for another month.
The situation is much better than on a launch day – there are a lot more apps that use Dynamic Island in some way, but they are mostly independent apps from indie developers or startups. They are also very 1.0. I didn’t see any surprising use still.
Flighty live action in Airplane Mode
The ones I use daily are, of course, media apps like Apple Music and Overcast, as well as food delivery app – Wolt. Actually, the most I used the Dynamic Island was during vacations. It was nice seeing the navigation while using the phone, and Flighty live activities were wonderful, working even with Airplane Mode turned on.
I’m still waiting from someone to find an interesting and creative use, but still, it is a great feature already.
Always-On Display
My current lockscreen
There are plenty of takes regarding this. People are mostly used to the Android style always-on display, which is black with time and some icons for apps or notifications. What Apple has done is entirely different. After seeing it in a presentation and later reading first reviews, I’ve had a thought – was it done just to be different, and will I also turn it off like so many people? After some time using it, I can confidently say that it is a remarkable feature and I love using it.
On my lock screen I have time, 4 complications below it (two from Oura ring, Carrot Weather and Activity) and Fantastical complication above the time showing my next event. This allows me to more freely choose Apple Watch complications, since some of them are on the phone screen, so I can more easily use fullscreen California face. It also allows me to glance and see the mosts important information for me.
While traveling in Europe, I like using Apple Maps for navigation by foot and now more so, since the always-on display is … always on. I mean, even when you click the Power button to dim the display, the map stays there instead of the lockscreen.
I have two issues with the new display. First, it’s quite difficult to figure out the situation with sleeping. I have a Belkin charger where the iPhone is attached magnetically in standing position, so when the display dims, in the dark it illuminates the whole room and that is a problem. The only easy way I found to turn off the display was to turn on Sleep Focus, which is fine, but not easily discoverable.
The second issue, I have is constant accidental unlocking and touching in the pocket, and I strongly believe the always-on display is somehow at play here. I didn’t have this issue before, I don’t have this issue with iPhone 13 mini in another pocket, but with this phone, it accidentally unlocks itself so much, that I noticed.
Still, all the positive things outweigh the concerns, so I keep using the Always-On Display and recommend everyone to try to stick with it for some time.
Camera
I love the new cameras. The main sensor was great, so I don’t think plenty of people will notice the change to 48 MP sensor. Although, if you use RAW, you will see much greater results. The update I love the most is the new 3x lens. I was in love with a telephoto lens on the 12 Pro Max and used it all the time. But after upgrading to 13 Pro, I was very disappointed. It was just bad, constantly giving me blurry low-quality photos. I only later realised, and then read an explanation of my theory in the Halide review of the phone, that you had to wait before shooting with a telephoto lens. What happened was, if you turned on the telephoto lens and immediately shot a photo, the phone didn’t yet change the lens, so was shooting with the main one and cropping the shot, which resulted in a low-quality photo. So, you had to choose 3.5x, wait a second or two (you could even see the lens switching on screen) and then shoot. That solved most problems, but it still wasn’t as good as 12 Pro Max telephoto lens. This year, though, it is back in play. I started to enjoy the telephoto lens again, it’s such great focal length, that I use it almost daily.
Conclusion
It is a great upgrade, even after just a year. I fell in love with the telephoto lens, again. I love the always-on screen and live activities together with the Dynamic Island.
Likewise, I also love my return to the Max size – the battery lasts the whole day, much more information or video fits on the screen. It’s easier to edit photos on the bigger phone.
Oh, and this year I went with a silver color – I’m mostly done with black tech, had a gold one before and didn’t care for a purple one, since it’s mostly not a color, in most lighting it looks brown, grey, but not purple. So got a silver/white one. It looks nicely with all the cases or skins and matches my silver Apple Watch, but next time I would probably return to gold.
This was supposed to be a post about the first 10,000 km in a Honda e, but life happens. So, here we are on a 1-year anniversary to the day. Together with my wife, we’ve driven 16,100 km in this small electric car. Both during the hottest days of summer and the coldest winter days. We’ve mostly used it to get to work and get around the city, but also for some farther drives.
I still haven’t done a proper road-trip in it (the idea was to drive to Vilnius), but maybe next summer. We’ve done a 150 km trip each way and it was fun and not stressful at all.
Charging at the hotel, free of charge
We both love this car and drive it not out of the necessity, but because we want to, I would say that is the biggest compliment.
Real Range
Every electric car owner knows by now not to believe the advertised range, so every time you say someone the range, there is a question “no, but really, how far can you drive?”.
The only reasonable and truthful answer is – it depends. And it depends a lot. Putting 1” smaller wheels will give you an extra 10% of a range. Fast speed kills the battery, so does the cold weather. It is cheaper for a battery to run AC, than to run a heater (around 5-6 times cheaper).
My usual daily drive (getting a kid to a daycare and going to work) is about 57 km, of which 35 are on a highway and 22 km are in a city. So, I’m getting lower range than you would’ve had just driving around the city.
During warm weather the normal range I can expect is 180 km, if you turn on AC, around 6-8 km less. During the coldest days (we’ve had a couple of days with -25ºC this winter) the range was 100 km (135 if you turn off heating, but I wouldn’t recommend doing it). Although 100 km seems like not much (and it’s not), but this is if you drive normally, have a heater turned on and to a comfortable temperature (so I could drive in a T-shirt), preheat the car from home and again, consider that most of my drive is with a speed of around 100kmh. I think for a small city car, it is an ok result. In the “normal” winter temperatures (+/- 7ºC, the range is about 120 km).
Honda says that the range is 220 km (200 km for an Advanced version, which I have), so I can only confirm that it is very true to real results, considering my driving.
The Expenses
The second most popular question after the range is the price. And here again, everything very much depends on your driving style, weather and speeds. For the whole 16,100 km, my average consumption was 18.1 kWh/100 km. You then calculate this according to the price of the electricity at home. I’ve mostly charged the car at home, and starting from February the electricity cost me €0.14/kWh (it was a bit cheaper before that). So, even if I count it at the latest price, 100 km costs me €2.53. Which I consider to be a very fair price. Of course, if you charge mostly outside or you have higher tariff at home, your price will wary very much.
To drive 16,100 km, I’ve spent around €400 on fuel. Which is not even 3 full tanks of fuel in my diesel BMW at current prices (of course you can drive almost 3,000 km on 3 tanks, but it’s still a lot less).
Apart from the lease itself, during the year I’ve spent:
MOD (KASKO) – €523.80
MTPL (OCTA) – €73
Car Wash – €84
Some small accessories/liquids etc. – €86
Yearly checkup at a dealer – €210
Parking – €5
2 summer wheels – €210
I’ve had to park a car once in a place that didn’t have free municipal parking, otherwise enjoyed free parking in the city for the whole year. Regarding the wheels, I had one blow up while driving and during the changing saw a bump on another one, so had to throw it out. I blame our roads here in Latvia and the size of the wheels (it has a pair of 205/45R17 and a pair of 225/45R17), so that combination cost me 2 wheels in a season.
All The Little Things
As I said in the beginning, overall, I’ve enjoyed the experience. It is a small, nimble car. It drives well, it has a remarkable corner radius for the city. Although considering the size of the car it is on a bit of expensive side (but not compared to other electric cars) its running costs I would say are low. There are still benefits in Latvia, like using bus lanes and most importantly for me – free parking in Riga.
Chances are you won't have problems finding your car
It’s still an attention grabber. I’ve had numerous people asking me questions when I was leaving the car or coming to it. I’ve had to wait for an American woman to take a photo of the car. I’ve had one driver from Germany, who stepped out of his SUV just to tell that he liked the car. I’ve had a nice conversation with a tourist from Belgium, who was considering buying the same car at home. And numerous other conversations with locals. This also brings some responsibility, since the car is so memorable, you won’t get away with doing something bad on the road.
The one big downside during this time we have found is an amount of trunk space, which is almost none. Sure, it is enough for groceries and some small things, but you won’t be able to fit a stroller (only a travel one). Because of that, sometimes, even if the drive was manageable in terms of range, we chose the diesel because we needed to take a stroller with us.
This is also the first car with CarPlay for me, and I wouldn’t even consider getting another car without it. It’s so comfortable and easy to use, you don’t notice when you have it, but instantly miss it when it is not there. If you can get a wireless CarPlay, like we have, I would suggest it.
Of course, I’ve connected PS5 to it, since it has a proper outlet and an HDMI port, that was just for fun, but why not?
Just because I could
Winter Problems
Although overall, I would say it went through the winter with grace, there were a couple of things that I didn’t like and that could’ve been solved.
Door handles. I don’t know what is a deal with car manufacturers, but as soon as they decide to make an electric car, they try to do something clever with door handles. In Honda e it is the most common one – pop-out handles that are flush with a door when closed. Honda says it is done to improve airflow and not loose range due to resistance, I’m not an engineer, so can only agree. But during the winter, they can sometimes freeze. One time one of the handles froze and I couldn’t open the door (thankfully the one on the other side worked fine). But more often they wouldn’t close. So, you had to manually close the handle or drive with handles popped-out, removing the advantage promised by Honda.
Windows. Another pain during the winter – windows without the edge. They look nice, but they start malfunctioning under freezing temperatures. So much so, I had to go to the service once because of that. Of course, applying some silicone to the edge of the window helped, but it is still the weak point of the car.
Charging port. At first, when I saw the port, I was worried about the rain, since it looks like a bucket. I was reassured that there are holes and water doesn’t stay there. All was good until the first snow, when after a night I came to a car with a full “bucket” of what is a charging port with snow. It is hard to get snow out of there, so after a while it is a bit of a mess. There is snow, ice, thankfully it worked perfectly all the winter, but I think the port on the side is a bit more practical.
I know most of the problems are solved with keeping a car in the garage, but it is a city car, where that is not an option, so I do think those are real problems in our climate.
The manual says (and yes, I did read it) that the car won’t even start if the air reaches a temperature of -30ºC, but we came close to that only a couple of days and it worked all the time.
Multimedia screen. When you get into a car in freezing weather, it is slow. Like a minute reacting to a touch slow. After it gets warmer, it starts working normally. And if you preheat the car, it works perfectly from the beginning.
I loved using preheating, it is very aggressive in turning everything on – heating, seat, both front and back window and a steering wheel warming. So, when you get into a car after 10 minutes in freezing temperature, it is completely warm and you can take off your winter coat.
In the end, I still love the car. I love looking at it and driving it. If I had to buy a small electric car today, I don’t think my choice would’ve been different. Even though the market is much bigger. If you understand the purpose of the car and are okay with all the deficiencies, I can’t recommend it enough.
During the COVID-19, the phrase “new normal” became somewhat of a meme, but as countries started lifting the restrictions it became clear that people are not ready for the new normal, we are longing for the way it was before.
Last week I’ve traveled from Riga to London and back. Both of the countries recently have lifted all the COVID-19 restrictions, so it felt like the recent pandemic never happened. You don’t have to wear a mask in neither of the airports and what is most important – in the plane. Mostly gone are the days of ordering something, so you could take off the mask without people judging. You could just take a book and enjoy.
I was flying two different airlines there and back. In one of them, COVID-19 was not even mentioned and all the employees were not wearing masks. In the second, they encouraged wearing a mask during the flight and all the employees were wearing one.
In London itself, it is back to normal as well. You don’t have to wear a mask indoors, and swarms of people are in all the usual places. I thought I would have anxiety. Although, I am ready to get back to the way it was, but after 2 years, you just can’t help but adjust to the new way. But I was very comfortable with all the people around me.
Some things did change. For example, in the hotel, before going into the elevator I would ask if a person who was already there doesn’t mind, and I wouldn’t judge someone if they’ve said they weren’t comfortable.
Do I think COVID-19 is over? Of course not. People still are getting ill, but in most cases it appears to be mild, without long effects and many people have some sort of protection, be it from vaccines, recovering from COVID-19 or as in my case – from both. I am glad we are getting back to normal, it feels great.
For a couple of years now, Jason Snell at Six Colors asks people in tech to rate Apple in different categories. I like this idea to look back and give my opinion. I started last year and decided to keep a tradition (albeit a bit late).
Mac
Grade: B
Don’t get me wrong – M1 Max and M1 Pro are great for someone who needs it, but Apple didn’t do any hardware for me. Those 14” and 16” are too heavy, over-powered, and expensive for what I do. I still love my MacBook Air with M1, it is a great laptop, but we are still waiting for a redesign.
I like how iMac with M1 looks, those colors are great, but it’s small, so I’m still waiting for something bigger. Or for Apple display that doesn’t cost like a used car.
I think B is a good score, but compared with the year when the M1 was first introduced and the improvement the new MacBook Air was, it doesn’t compare favorably.
iPhone
Grade: B
Again, solid year for an iPhone, but I was so much in love with 12 Pro Max the year before that feelings from iPhone 13 Pro are much more neutral, comparatively. It is a great phone, better in some ways, but the telephoto lens is still a hit or miss. With 12 Pro Max, I loved shooting with it, this year, not so much. The rail is all scratched up, although the previous phone looked like a new one after a year of use.
iOS 15 didn’t bring many new features. It works, and the Live Text feature is spectacular, but that is mostly all the progress for the year. And I find myself restarting the phone pretty often, because of some small bugs.
iPad
Grade: B
The first category to improve year after year. Maybe the issue is with me, not with Apple, but I hear a lot of similar sentiment in Apple centred podcasts – I finally use the iPad for what it is, a remarkable consumption device. Before, I’ve set out to replace my laptop with an iPad Pro, and it worked. But was a bit worse in numerous things. Last year iPad mini came out and oh boy it is great. Yeah, the screen is lacking a bit, but otherwise it is a fantastic device. Small, but with the screen large enough to be comfortable, looks great, fast. And it finally allows an iPad to be the best iPad it can and not attempting to be something else.
Watch and Wearables
Wearables – Grade: C
Watch – Grade: B
I’m still waiting for the AirPods Pro update. The ones I have are already dying after just one year (the regular AirPods worked for 2 years). The battery doesn’t hold anymore, and the case glitches all the time, attempting to connect, even though it is closed. The AirPods Max are still too expensive and not comfortable to take with you.
Apple Watch on the other hand (sorry) is a different story. I don’t agree with those saying that this is a small update. I like my Series 7. I love the bigger screen and improved sensors (compared to my previous Series 5). But I have to mention that software is lacking a lot. All the watch faces are bad, each in their own way. There are not many apps. It becomes too passive device for such a price.
Apple TV
Grade: E
I don’t think anything changed much. Yes, the remote got updated, but it is still the same overpriced box, that I can’t recommend to anyone, but Apple fanboys.
Services
Grade: F
This is a bit emotional grade, but where do I start? First, it is a year 2022 and the best tier of Apple One is still not available in Latvia. That means I’m overpaying for the storage because I have to pay for Apple One Family and additional 2 TB of storage, since I have a bit more than 400 GB stored in iCloud. Apple needs to add the Premier tier everywhere or give more options for storage upgrade.
Apple News+ and Apple Fitness+ are still not available in Latvia, as in most of the world. Apple Music apps are a joke. Everyone is enraged with 1Password going Electron, but Apple Music is so much worse.
Activity app on Apple Watch is making things worse, not better. I’ve been wearing Oura ring and after comparing the two, I can’t believe I’ve listened to those prompts. Apple Watch is constantly trying to push you – more, faster, more effort. Regardless of how you feel. I’ve had COVID-19 and Apple Watch expected me to close all the rings every day. While I woke up a bit under the weather with Oura ring, and it noticed and recommended I take things easier, maybe even take some rest days. I think Apple Watch Activity can be harmful.
HomeKit
Grade: D
It’s the app that exists. I love my colorful Hue lamps, but I mostly use them through Hue app. If you want a HomeKit enabled camera, you’ll have to look around for some time.
Hardware Reliability
Grade: A
Although I mentioned problems with AirPods Pro, this is the product from before. I don’t see any major issues with the offered hardware. I don’t even remember any of the new “gates”, which says a lot.
Software Quality
Grade: B
As I said, I’m restarting my phone quite a lot, the software is okay, but can be much better. I think there is a lot to cover and Apple needs some time and resources, and it will get better.
Developer Relations
Grade: E
Whatever you think of the Apple vs Epic conflict, it appeared only because Apple is bad at “relations”. Sony and Microsoft have both even worse deals in their stores, but nobody says a thing because they manage it much better. Apple, on the other hand, thinks only developers have to pray to them. But it is a two-way street, and there is no App Store without developers. The sooner Apple will understand that the better. Otherwise, they will be dragged through all the courts all over the world and the result will be much worse than if they made the changes themselves.
Environmental and Social Issues
Grade: C
Apple still is dependent on China. I don’t think anything changed or can be changed in the nearest future. So, no change in the grade year over year.
As I first did in 2019, then in the middle of 2020 and at the end of 2020, I’m sharing my Homescreen. It is fun to go and take a look at how it changes (or stays the same). During 2021 there were quite a few changes, actually. Here is a look at 2021 edition (although a bit late).
2021
Widgets
If previously there was only one stack of widgets which combined both Fantastical and Carrot Weather, now I have two separate, but smaller. First, is still Fantastical, which is a Stack of plain calendar with a heat-map and events view (similar to what I’ve had before, just separated in two widgets). Second, is Photos. I’ve previously had it on the left of the homescreen, but realised, I don’t go there often, and I wanted those memories to show up, so now it is promoted to the homescreen.
Stayed
Probably the most consistent apps are Messages, WhatsApp, Mail and Safari. I use those not even daily, but hourly. From entertainment, there are Music and Overcast – with Apple One it is harder to justify paying for Spotify and there is nothing better than Overcast in terms of sound (I don’t care for the design, so this was the year I’ve tried a couple of competitors, but nothing comes even close). The only change is that Overcast was demoted from the dock, but as I have only one homescreen, it’s not a big deal.
Now that I’ve exchange my bigger Pro Max for a plain Pro, I find myself not reading as many books on the phone. Still, Books app is still there whenever I find time. As is Audible, but again, that might change because I mostly listen to the audiobooks in the car and I launch the app from CarPlay there.
I’ve stuck with Reeder as my RSS app of choice, as well as read-it-later service. I intend to try Matter (I did before, but didn’t like it, now that it is more established, I want to give it another go).
Although there is a Photos’ widget, I still kept the Photos app icon just because it opens the Library, saving at least one tap compared to the Widget.
A bit more boring category – two finance apps are there as well – MoneyWiz and Revolut. Still use them daily, although I’ve changed icons for both.
Craft is my app of choice for notes, and it was “promoted” to the dock. Briefly, I tried to move writing there as well, but I didn’t like paragraph breaks for that, so returned to Ulysses, which is also still here.
Removed
I don’t use Telegram as often for personal communication and there are just two channels I like reading, that is why I started using it on a laptop more, so it was one of the first apps to go.
I also don’t watch a lot of Netflix on my iPhone anymore (the difference in screen size between Pro and Pro Max iPhones is small, but in watching videos – very noticeable). Similar with YouTube. The size of the screen is less of the issue here, it’s just I didn’t open it daily.
In 2021, I posted less to Instagram (and it feels like I took fewer photos), so wasn’t using Lightroom on my phone at all. I still have a subscription and use it from time to time, but not as much.
Replaced
TickTick – Todoist
As I’ve mentioned last year, I chose TickTick, but still searched for something better. Somehow, it never really clicked with me. So, this summer I’ve migrated to Todoist, which I’ve used a couple of years before, and I love it. I can’t put my finger on it, but something changed. I didn’t like Todoist last time I’ve tried it, but now it became good.
Tot – Brain Dump Shortcut
I also mentioned last year that I don’t think Tot would survive 2021, and it didn’t. I’ve deleted it from all my devices and replaced with nothing at first. I’ve had Craft for note-taking, but it didn’t have a simplicity of adding something random. Closer to the end of the year, I created a shortcut which opens the text input field and saves whatever you write in the Brain Dump note in Craft. This method is surprisingly good. It is fast. You can type, paste something. If you want to save it or expand on your thought, you can create a document out of the paragraph in Craft. It is still a work in progress, and I am also considering using Drafts for that. So look forward to the update next year.
Added
As we spend more time at home and winter days are very short, Philips Hue app found its way to the homescreen. I have a couple of smart lightbulbs and love them a lot. If price was lower, I would change all the lights in my house to Philips smart ones.
Surprisingly, the Camera made its return to the homescreen. I didn’t have it before because I was launching it from lock screen or Control Centre. Recently, though, with a more active child I sometimes found myself loosing precious seconds trying to open Control Centre and finding a small icon, thus losing the shot. So, I’ve added Camera icon to the dock (in the same place it is on a Lock Screen, for muscle memory).
I’ve returned Duolingo to the homescreen (and my phone), since I want to try to learn French. I’m uncertain if I’m ready to pay for the service, so trying to make my piece with thousands of ads in the free version.
My wife gave me Oura ring for my birthday. Now every morning I open the app to check on my sleep, that is why I like having it right there on the homescreen.
Conclusion
As is always the case, the homescreen is a work in progress. But as you can see over even a couple of years, there are some apps that took a strong hold, and it is hard to imagine they wouldn’t be there next year. Although, again, as life shows, nothing is certain and anything can happen.
This year was filled with great hardware. Some of it came out in 2021, some before, but I was able to get it only this year. Nevertheless, here are some of my favourite things this year.
iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 mini
As I mentioned in my review – good became even better. The best thing about iPhone 13 Pro, in a day-to-day use it’s unnoticeable, which is always a good sign. My wife got an iPhone 13 mini, and it is a beast. Small, yet powerful, and improved battery life compared to the last year model is noticeable.
Apple Watch Series 7
When bigger is indeed better. The battery on my Series 5 wasn’t good at all, and by the end of year 2 it was close to unusable. So, Series 7 was a welcome improvement. Bigger screen, brighter always–on display and better battery makes this an outstanding upgrade from whatever generation you are on.
Honda e
This is a big one. We had a need for a second car and going electric was quite a choice. Many habits had to change, as well as thinking about range. But after three months with the car, I’m still in love. It is small, fun, and a bit eccentric – just perfect for a city car.
LG C1
I’ve had C9 for almost two years and loved it, but as we’ve moved to a much bigger space, 55” TV wasn’t big enough anymore. From the distance of our couch, it looked like a postage stamp. I knew I wanted an LG OLED and the bigger, the better, but 77” was drastically over our limit, so we’ve had to settle for a 65” one. It is noticeably bigger and paired with Vogel mount, you can bring it closer. The LG C1 is great from the picture standpoint, but the software is a massive step back. It tries to be smarter, but it is not. It’s slow, buggy, inconsistent. And why, for the love of god, they removed play/pause button. I had to plug my Apple TV, which is now the only interface I use. On the bright side, it is completely ready for the next–gen gaming, which is a big deal.
Sony PlayStation 5
Speaking of which, I’ve waited long enough for a PS5 from the official Sony dealer. But I don’t think it will happen in the nearest future. So one day I decided to pay a bit more and buy from scalpers on eBay. It now seems like a smart move, since I overpaid less than 20% and prices since went up. The best thing about this generation of PlayStation is DualSense controller. In games that have support it feels outstanding. The games themselves are not yet there, unfortunately. It feels like 2022 will be the year we’ll finally see at least something for the next generation.
Dyson v15
Surprisingly, in a list of phones, cars, and gaming consoles, this is one of the best purchases made this year. It is small yet powerful. Simple yet technological. It makes vacuuming fun.
MacBook Air with M1
This is the best laptop I’ve used in years. It’s actually the best computer I’ve used in years. It is fast, powerful, has a great battery. Not only that, but it is almost the perfect laptop, especially considering the price. If you need to buy a laptop right now, seriously consider this one.
Honorable Mentions
There are two devices I like, but not used long enough to form a full opinion, but still, they are worth mentioning.
Oura Ring 3
My wife gave me it as a gift. I wanted to track sleep for a long time, but wearing an Apple Watch was a no–go. It is big, heavy and has a massive screen. Oura Ring is perfect for that. Although most of the things I already knew – you shouldn’t drink alcohol before bed and should have a sleep schedule, there were still a couple of surprises from the data.
I have to mention one thing – their support is probably the worst I ever encountered.
Keychron K2
I’ve long wanted to try a mechanical keyboard and finally pulled a plug during the Black Friday sale. I love typing on it, but it needs some adjustment. The change in travel is massive compared to MacBook Air or iPad Pro keyboard.
Since the Apple Watch updates are very iterative, I’m very comfortable in updating every other year. This was such a year. I’ve had Series 5 and by the end of the second year the battery was bad. Taking it of the charger at around 7 AM, it would go to Power Reserve mode at around 10-11 PM. Even without workouts. But I waited for a new one, since Series 6 didn’t add anything major. And although somereviewers would tell you that Series 7 is not much different, I believe this is a substantial update.
Design and Screen
I am a fan of big watches. Not bulky, but with a larger watch dial. So, a bigger display was a welcome change. And considering that it didn’t much change the size of the watch itself, I would say it is a big win.
By the end of year two with my previous watch, I started thinking how big the bezel was around the screen. It feels much more like an all–screen face now, especially if you go for a Contour watch face.
Series 7 is noticeably larger
The screen is also much brighter in the always–on mode. This was improved in the Series 6, but lucky me – I get two years of improvements instead of one.
On the other hand, colours this year for aluminium model are just bad. Not that blue, green, or red don’t look good. They do. But they are very opinionated. If you are ready to rock the red watch the whole year (or two), more power to you. I just think those watches won’t go with many clothes and watch bands. Recently, I realised that it’s too boring having every technology in black (just look at my car, laptop, or a phone). Moreover, Midnight Aluminium is not black, it is almost very dark blue. So, I was excited to buy a silver aluminium model, but they didn’t make it in this colour this year. Instead, there is Starlight. Which, honestly, looks like … nothing. When I saw it in the store, it is so dull.
That left me with a choice between Titanium and Stainless Steel. I went for the Stainless Steel, as it was a bit shinier. I couldn’t choose between Gold and Silver for a long time (believe me, I got the looks from the Apple Store employee). But in the end settled for the Silver one with the Milanese Loop (finally, had an opportunity to get this band, always wanted one).
I love how it looks. Surprisingly, it goes with every watch band I own, even colourful ones.
It is noticeably heavier. But in an enjoyable way. It feels more substantial. Just a bit closer to a real watch. I already have a couple of scratches after a month of use, and I am careful with my watches. The good news is – you can polish stainless steel, and it will look almost like a new one.
Battery and Charging
As I mentioned before, my Series 5 got terrible battery life by the end of the year two. It actually was never great, barely good enough. Series 7 is much better. I have always–on display turned on at all times and without workout will have around 50% by the end of the day. Not comfortable for a 2–day use, but more than enough for one.
But the main improvement is fast charging. You have to use the new charger for this, but it is spectacular when you need it. Recently, someone messed with my wall charger, I didn’t notice it in the evening. When I woke up, my watch and phone weren’t charged at all. For a phone I have chargers everywhere, so it wasn’t much of a problem, but what do you do with a watch? I’ve got the new cable from the box and in about 30 minutes it was almost full. This is the must–have feature if you track sleep with your watch (I don’t, it’s just too big).
Software Features
There are just two features that are exclusive to the Series 7 Apple Watch – two watch faces and a keyboard.
The faces are Contour one, I already mentioned, which shows how small the bezel is. It has many colours, I like the light grey with the Milanese Loop band and pride with everything else. The second one is Modular Duo, which had so much potential when Apple presented it, but it is bad. It tries to flex the bigger screen, but there is just not enough information. I could try to forgive it, if there was at least a date above the time, like in an old Modular, but alas.
Not even a date
Looks amazing
Another software feature is a full–size keyboard. Yes, you can type on a watch now. It is surprisingly good. Mostly not to type, but to swipe. As always with Apple, there is a catch. The feature works only with English keyboard. Yes, in the year 2021. And, why, for the love of God, is it not available on older devices? If that’s because of the size – it is available on the smaller size of the current generation, which is smaller than the larger Series 6.
A whole keyboard on a watch
Again, I’m not the one to give the advice whether to upgrade, but don’t let anyone fool you – Series 7 is a very noticeable upgrade even from the previous model. The screen is bigger, and it shows in the day–to–day use. If you wish to skip a year – you also won’t go wrong. Just don’t let anyone dictate what should be your decision.
Stainless Steel looks great. Sorry for tha hairy hand
