The Year of Less

May 30, 2019
3 min read

I’ve had a moment recently when I realized that there is too much stuff going on and I can’t keep up with everything. For example, when I was studying I’ve had a lot more free time, commuting took a lot more, so I’ve started listening to a lot of podcasts, following a lot of people on Twitter and Instagram, reading a lot of news (mostly tech related) and saving a lot of articles to the Pocket, watching all the most popular TV shows. This was fine, until I’ve had full-time job and a serious relationship.

One of the biggest problems was – I’ve always been a completionist, so just cutting everything out was hard. So I’ve started bit by bit, for example, I’ve started with podcast episode curation, not unsubscribing from the podcast, but just deleting the episodes that I wasn’t interested in.

I’m much more likely to unsubscribe from someone on Twitter or Instagram. If someone posts too much or I don’t enjoy photos they take, I will unsubscribe, regardless of our relationship. I also use Mute function on both social media. I’ve muted everything related to Trump on Twitter – it’s just too much negativity, without any upside.

I’ve accepted the fact that I won’t be able to watch every episode of every TV show in a timely manner, so I’ve picked some favorites that I watch when they get out (mostly to avoid spoilers) and I try to watch TV shows that were discontinued first, so the number of shows I watch decrease.

I’m also realizing that I won’t able to read and watch everything that I save for later soon, so I just know, that when I have some free time, I can open Pocket and find something to read or watch, I can even choose something appropriate for the amount of time I have free.

All of this, ironically, was inspired by a podcast – Cortex. On this show I’ve heard about a great idea – yearly themes. So I’ve decided to make this one – The Year of Less. I’m going further now and cleaning up the physical and digital mess I’ve made over the years. I’m going through my password manager and deleting accounts on sites I’ve used ones or don’t even remember exist. I’m going through the apps on my phone and deleting those that I’ve never used and probably will never use. I’m also thinking about places where I put my files, most importantly photos – I’ve deleted them from a couple of services, including Google Photos.

What started as an attempt to leave a more healthy life, psychologically, ended up being a pretty major change in my life and my thinking. I feel like this theme will be the one I’ll focus more in future posts.

Creating New Habits

May 29, 2019
3 min read

Imagine doing something every single day for a year. Sounds intense, right? You do something today and then tomorrow and then the day after that. Like that you will be surprised how fast the year of doing something will pass.

One day in May of last year I’ve decided to take a cold shower in the morning. I liked it so much I decided to do it every day, but I’ve also wanted to track the progress. I thought about how I felt about the Apple Watch Activity rings (I’ve been closing all of them for more than 600 days in a row), so I wanted something similar for my new habit. That’s when I’ve got Streaks 3, very simple, but functional app. Day, after day, after day I’ve been checking off every morning that I’ve taken cold shower until I’ve seen the number – 365. I was amazed that I was doing something for the whole year, every single day.

The app is very straightforward. You can track your habits manually (after finishing doing something you can check the item) or it can track them automatically (it connects to the Health app for automatic tracking). There is also the ability to create items that are checked automatically and you manually change the status if you miss the habit. I also love the Apple Watch app and complication – it shows your progress right there on the watch face and I do almost all of the tracking using the watch app.

Along the way I’ve added some new habits I wanted to make. First – getting up without using snooze button, but I’m deleting it today as I can’t do it. Just can’t right now. I believe I will return to this one after some time, but I’ll need to rethink many things about my sleep habits before I do that.

The third one was health related – drinking 8 glasses of water every day. I feel great about that one, since I’ve started I didn’t miss a day and I feel much better now. Also, when I’ve visited the doctor and showed her my old blood tests vs new ones, she immediately noticed difference – they were much better now.

Next one is mostly for self-improvement – I’m posting at least one photo to the Instagram every day. I wanted to get better at photography, so decided posting something every single day would be a nice practice in shooting and editing. Unfortunately, I wasn’t taking photos every single day, that could be my next challenge, but I was editing and posting one photo every day.

Two more are somewhat connected. One is tracked automatically by Streaks, it’s closing all the three rings every single day. I’ve added it, just to see all the streaks going in one single place. The last one is exercising every day. I’m having some problems with my back and have to do some exercises every day, otherwise the pain becomes uncomfortable. Some days the exercise is harder then the others, but every one of them counts.

Today I’m adding another habit for tracking. I will try to write 200 words every single day. I will try to write posts for this blog or some days it would be something private. I want to improve writing and my English. I think practicing every day will be the best way for improving the skills.

iPad Pro (2018) – The Hardware Story

February 13, 2019
7 min read

The one and only iPad I’ve had before, was the original iPad Mini and I loved it. But quickly phones started to get bigger, laptops thinner and I’ve always used Kindle for reading. So more and more it felt like there was no need for another device in my life and I’ve given that iPad away. 

When Apple presented the new iPad Pro’s I didn’t think much of them. But after seeing those in person and reading all the stories of photographers editing on this thing, I’ve started to look more closely, as I’m getting more and more into photography. One day I’ve decided to get one myself, but I couldn’t decide on the size. I’ve re-listened to all the podcasts that were discussing new iPads, I’ve watched a lot of YouTube videos (and I mean A LOT), but still couldn’t decide which one was right for me. Whenever I went to the store and played with both – I appreciated the screen real-estate of the 12.9”, but also I loved how light the 11” was – you could hold it with one hand. 

Multitasking was also a consideration, as it’s so much better on the 12.9” and for photo editing – the bigger the screen the better. While I was trying to decide between the two sizes, I’ve ordered both of them at one of the local retailers, as they are not that common in Latvia and the wait for them could have reached 3 weeks. I thought the faith would decide – I would buy whichever came first. So one day I got two messages saying that both my orders were ready – so much for the faith. I’ve went again to the store to play with both sizes to decide, with no luck, until I though about what Casey said in a reply to me – “I wanted as portable as a Pro could get”. So I chose the 11”, and decided to cancel the order for the 12.9”. 

Few minutes later I found out there was a mistake and 11” wasn’t ready yet, so here it is – the faith did decide for me. And boy the faith was right.

First things first, I thought the 11” would be better using in one hand, but until now I didn’t have a chance to use it this way as it’s still too big and not intended for that type of use.

Second, the screen is gorgeous. I mean, it’s probably the best screen I own, even though it’s not OLED. I know this is not bezel-less screen, but it feels pretty close. 

It’s surprising how thin and light the device is. The screen is almost as big as the one on my MacBook Pro and there are all internals inside it, considering this – it weights almost nothing.

Magnets – there are a lot of them and it shows. Popping the iPad into the Smart Keyboard Folio is effortless and surprisingly taking it off is easy too.

Pencil

Fortunately, there was one new Apple Pencil at the store, so I had it from day one and I’m sure this is an essential accessory for the iPad Pro. It’s so much better with the Pencil – one could argue it should come with the iPad. Even going through the interface, it gives the feeling of replacing the mouse or trackpad. I like it for editing photos as it gives a bit more of a precision. 

The way it charges and connects to the iPad is great. I can’t even imagine that it wasn’t like that before. This is so intuitive and simple, how could Apple ship a worse product before?

I’m not much of an artist, even in my childhood I didn’t like drawing, so I can’t say how good it is at that, but writing something in Apple Notes or Notability is amazing. It feels so close to the pen and paper (of course not texture wise, but just the feeling of it).

Smart Keyboard Folio

As we live in the 3rd world country, Apple products get to us a bit later than to the rest of the world (9 months later in case of AirPods). So I’ve tried to find Smart Keyboard Folio with no luck. Everyone just smiled and said – try again in a month or two. Luck had it, we were traveling to the Bangkok which coincidentally has the Apple Store. Fortunately for me there was one with US layout and so I’ve got myself the official Apple keyboard.

Having this keyboard is totally an improvement. I can now prop the device to watch videos. Typing on this thing is fast. I love the travel and the sound this keyboard makes. The “lapability” is good too. In fact, I’ve written this review on my iPad Pro sitting on the sofa with the tablet on my knees. Just two available angles don’t bother me too much. Sure it would be better to have more choices, but these two angles work for me.

The one disappointment I‘ve had – the keys are not backlit. It’s not a huge issue, as I don’t look at the keyboard while typing, but it sure would be nice to have.

Also, as a lot of people mentioned – it is dull. There is even no Apple logo on the back. It’s just grey peace of plastic. Now I need to find some stickers to cover it.

USB-C

Surprisingly it’s 2019 and this is my first device with USB-C, so now I need to buy a lot of new accessories, like upgrading the charger to more powerful one. Right now, while traveling, I have to bring different cables for iPad, iPhone, Apple Watch, photo camera and power banks. Will have to do some thinking and consolidation of cables and power bricks. The other problem – as we were traveling, we wanted to watch some TV shows on the plane, so I had to buy USB-C to headphone jack dongle. I’ve found a cheap one online from third party and it didn’t work. So I had to buy the official one. 

Also, although my camera can transfer photos via Wi-Fi, it can’t do it for the RAW images, so I’ve had to buy USB-C card reader. This all adds up and iPad Pro becomes more and more expensive over time.

Camera and FaceID

Actually, I don’t have anything to tell about the back camera of the iPad, as I have never even launched it, but I wanted to mention the FaceID. It’s much better then on the iPhone. It works in every orientation, it’s very fast. The animation when you cover it is such a nice touch. Also using iPad with FaceID is so nice, I wish MacBook had one. You don’t think about authentication, you just look at the screen and everything happens like it was intended.

As was discussed a lot, right now the one thing holding iPad Pro back is iOS, that’s why I decided to write the review of just a hardware. I love this device. It’s powerful, it’s beautiful, it’s comfortable, it’s all I wanted and even some more, but I wish I could say the same about the software, we are not there yet. There a lot of hype for iOS 13 and I do hope Apple will deliver.

Red Dead Redemption 2 – Impressions

November 10, 2018
4 min read

For almost two weeks I’ve been fishing, hunting, riding horses, played poker, drank whiskey, robbed a bank I could go on and on again, but there is no need. It’s probably impossible to mention everything you can do in the Red Dead Redemption 2.

I loved video games, but I’ve had my console (or any console) only for two years, so I’ve never played the first Red Dead Redemption. Actually I’ve never played a lot of games. That’s why I don’t buy games for the full price when they come out. The backlog of the amazing games I’ve yet to try is too big to spend my money. By the time I get for today’s new hotness, it will be sold with the discount and that was until the RDR2 came out.

This is the first game I’ve bought the week of the release for it’s full price (I would have bought on the first day, but I was away from home for two months and couldn’t play, but that’s a totally different story.

This is also the first game I’m thinking I’ll spend a lot of time in even after finishing the story. I’ve never done that before. After finishing GTA V, I’ve had similar thoughts, but I never did. The very big difference is even in the way I play from the very begging. In the GTA V I’ve moved through the story, rarely looking at some side activities. Here, I’m trying everything I can find. Hell I even chopped some wood at the camp today. The game is so immersive, for the first time I liked crafting something and I’m not even mad there is no fast travel (most of the time). But the world feels so alive, you can spend more time in it, not less. Oh, and also, I’m grateful I’ve learned that you should go on white missions first, as if you progress through the story and miss those, they will go away eventually, but there are some interesting stories told there sometime.

The dialogue and social commentary in this game… it’s even hard to describe. Rockstar are masters of those, this was the one thing I loved the most about GTA V and here again. Racism, sexism… there is no theme Rockstar won’t touch and it’s amazing. I applaud them for having balls in today’s society and political climate, especially in the US.

Of course the game is not perfect, you’ve probably heard and read already about the broken economy – you will have excess of money early on in the game (I’ve finished about 50% in the story and there was no time when I’ve though – “oh, I would like that, but I don’t have money”, it’s more like trying to find places to spend all the time). The controls some times are too unwieldy, from playing domino (it takes too much button presses) to dealing with the horse. Maybe the problem is with me, but there were a couple of times, when I’ve been Wanted after jumping someone after pressing something accidentally.

Still, with those couple of problems, the game is just amazing. The world feels alive, the way you look after your horse, weapons and even yourself doesn’t bother me for the first time in any game, it made fun.

If you didn’t try the game already, do yourself a favour and grab a copy. You will most probably love it.

Pixel 3 XL Second Impression: Notch City!

October 18, 2018
1 min read

When the Google Pixel 3 first leaked, everyone hated the notch, it is big AND you have big chin. During the presentation Google explained the reason – the chin and the notch were there for the front facing speakers and two cameras. Okay, that’s the decision, I personally don’t agree with it, but they’ve made it and I tried to respect it.

Watching this video, I’m just amazed how bad it is. Every app hides the notch (and again, it’s big), so the screen looks small. Also, this off-center video, it’s just bad. Very, very bad. I think if you do want Pixel, you are better off getting the small one as it’s honest with what it is and what it’s not.

iPhone XS Max – Coming Home

September 27, 2018
5 min read

Five years ago when Apple released the iPhone 5S with the same screen size as the one before, my yearning for a bigger screen was so strong, I’ve left iOS ecosystem and bought myself an Android phone with 4.7” screen and actually used Android phones for a couple of years. I’ve come back to Apple when they’ve released the iPhone 6S Plus, as it was finally as big as I wanted and it was the second generation of the bigger phone, so I was sure it would be good. That’s how my love affair with the biggest iPhones possible started. I’ve upgraded the phone next year and got the iPhone 7 Plus. This time two cameras and Portrait Mode were big additions. Now I’ve had not only the biggest phone, but also the best one.

A year ago after watching some hands-on videos of the iPhone X, I’ve had the sad realisation – this time the biggest phone wasn’t the best one and the best one wasn’t the biggest. But it was an easy choice – of course, I wanted to see what the future of smartphones will be.

Unfortunately, although I’ve loved the device, something about the screen size wasn’t right. The keyboard was too small for a convenient typing, videos felt cramped and it was easier to read books on my Kindle device.

This time when Apple introduced the iPhone XS Max, I didn’t need to watch the presentation until the end, I was already sold – the phone I love with a bigger (much bigger) screen. It also helped that the new iPhone shipped the day we were supposed to arrive at Berlin, so the minute pre-orders started I’ve ordered the iPhone XS Max to pick-up in the Berlin store 1200 km from home (this included changing the location of the Apple Store app to Germany and translating everything to English, as I don’t speak the language).

The minute I’ve turned on the phone I’ve had a big smile on my face – it felt like home. The size of the phone was just right. When I typed the first letters it felt great, my fingers landed perfectly on the virtual buttons, which was a struggle with the iPhone X even after a year.

Camera

After the presentation, I wasn’t impressed with the camera improvements. Of course, it was better, but Apple didn’t advertise those improvements enough in my opinion.

So I was surprised to learn how much the camera has improved year over year after reading John Gruber review.

Being in the different city for the first time it was a nice place to test the camera, especially after I’ve forgotten to charge the camera and it had died in the middle of our walk.

You can just look at the photos of other reviewers and see how much better the photos are. Here are a couple of examples straight from the camera (default Camera app, no edits). This is an amazing improvement even if you compare it to the last years iPhone X. The most prominent feature you can definitely see is Smart HDR, it just makes the photos look way nicer.

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Power and Battery

Two years ago Apple started naming the processors inside iOS devices and last year it was called A11 Bionic. This year though, Apple decided not to change the name, but only the number, it’s A12 Bionic, so one could think the improvements are small and you would be wrong.

Everything feels way snappier, apps open quickly and share sheet opens up instantly. But this could be attributed to the iOS 12, which brings improvement to the performance of the older devices as well and I can’t say that my iPhone X was so much slower.

The thing that is definitely different – it doesn’t get hot after heavy load. Previously, on the iPhone X, turning screen brightness to the max and opening a couple of photo editing apps would make the device uncomfortably hot (especially the area around the camera) and I would look at the battery indicator draining right in front of my eyes. With iPhone XS Max, I can edit photos or do some other power hungry tasks and the phone gets just a bit warmer if you are doing it long enough.

The battery life is much better, after all-day heavy use of listening to podcasts and music, editing photos, reading, surfing the web, watching videos, playing some games etc. I come home at 7pm with about 40% of battery left.

Miscellaneous

  • Speakers are louder than ever. I often listen to podcasts using speakers at home and before I’ve had the volume turned to the max, but not anymore, it’s loud enough even at about 60-70%.
  • FaceID is way faster. I’m not sure if it’s iOS 12 or the new hardware, my guess is it’s both, but you can definitely feel the improvement. I would even say, the difference is almost like the one going from TouchID v1 to v2.
  • I’ll have to reconsider the home screen set-up, as the highest row is harder to reach (the device is the same size as iPhone 8 Plus, but now you have screen all the way up).
  • The LTE is crazy fast. Here is just one random test done this morning.
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Conclusion

If you’ve watched the presentation and weren’t totally impressed with what Apple showed this year, I think you will be surprised. This will be an amazing upgrade from the iPhone 7 or older.

For those of you upgrading from the last year models – camera improvements will be the most noticeable ones

If you’ve been frustrated with the screen size of the iPhone X, XS Max is a no-brainer and will make you feel at home.

P.S. This review was typed entirely on the iPhone XS Max and I loved it

iPhone Xs – why?

September 13, 2018
2 min read

This year Apple announced three NEW iPhones with different screen sizes and during the event I’ve liked them all, but after thinking more and more about them I can’t understand who the Xs if for.

I’m the owner of the iPhone X and after looking at the specs of Xs there is absolutely nothing that feels like it needs upgrading. My phone is fast, the battery is good (more on that later) and a lot of improvements that were announced yesterday will come in software when iOS12 gets released.

The iPhone Xs Max is completely different story. Before iPhone X I was using iPhone 6s Plus and iPhone 7 Plus. I liked big screen and bigger battery, and better camera was a nice addition. So after watching the event and considering that one of my family members needs an upgrade (this will bring a chain of 4 people changing phones) I will be getting iPhone Xs Max because of that screen and battery.

For everyone else who is upgrading from the old style iPhone, I would suggest buying iPhone Xr, as it’s very close to iPhone Xs, but the price is so much cheaper. Maybe this is the reason why Apple delayed the shipping date of iPhone Xr for a month – my guess is the demand will be very strong.

So this leaves the regular iPhone Xs, who is it for? My best guess it’s a model that is not intended to sell in large quantities, it’s biggest intention is to show – you can have almost everything there is in an expensive iPhone for a lower price and if you want something bigger – go with an iPhone Xs Max.

Apple Music vs Spotify

August 22, 2018
3 min read

A couple of years ago when it was hard to find streaming music service in Latvia, I’ve had to learn what is proxy server and how to mask that you are in another country (Sweden if I remember correctly), to try Spotify. It wasn’t a great experience, I’ve had data cap on my phone, so I’ve stopped using it, but I’ve realised – for better or for worse, it is the future of music. Then Rdio and Spotify came to Latvia, almost at the same time. I’ve used Rdio for a long time until switching to Spotify and sticking with it for years. 

Enter Apple Music. I’ve tried the service when it first got announced and didn’t care for it. Spotify was a superior product in my opinion, so after the 3-month trial ended, I’ve cancelled my subscription.

Lately, though, I’ve realised there are a couple of things that drove me away from using Spotify and couple of months ago, I’ve become Apple Music subscriber.

I still like the Spotify design, app icon and interface better, it works closer to how I imagine the streaming music service should work, but there are two biggest things Spotify lacks, which Apple Music has.

First, Apple Music has Russian hand-picked playlists. Russian is my native language, so this is a big feature for me. There are playlists for different genres and general Top for songs in Russian. Spotify lacks it, there is Russian music, but Apple Music just has more of it.

Second, also very big issue, for Spotify Latvian, Lithuanian and Estonian are the same, or so it seems. If I listen to one song in Latvian it will recommend me songs in Lithuanian and Estonian (languages I don’t speak and I’m not interested in music in those languages). And I don’t know if I press «Don’t like» button on songs in Lithuanian, will it also show me fewer songs in Latvian? Apple Music doesn’t have this problem. It recommends me a couple of Latvian artists or songs every now and then and mostly I’m glad it does.

Oh, and I didn’t mention Siri, with one of the greatest features – «Hey Siri, play something». It’s amazing how well it works.

It could change in the nearest future, there is a big competition between Spotify and Apple Music, which is good for the consumers, but for now, I’ll stick with Apple Music and see how it goes.

Notches and doing it right

June 19, 2018
2 min read

When the iPhone X was announced, I was among those criticising the notch, it looked stupid in photos. I hoped apps would hide the notch by making black status bar and feared they would all “embrace the notch” (they’ve had a powerful incentive – those apps would be featured everywhere, from blogs to magazines, to Apple itself). Regardless, I’ve ordered the X the second pre-orders went live and then begged my carrier to deliver it for my birthday (they did and this is one of the reasons I don’t change it for something cheaper).

So why all of this 8 months after the release? I was sitting on the roof, reading some articles and it dawned on me – the power of the iPhone notch – no chin, it feels like you don’t have a phone, but you are holding the information itself in your hand. It’s truly amazing. I don’t see the notch, because mostly I look at the lower half of the screen and all I can see is this beautiful peace of glass in my hand with the text going from edge to edge and all the way down.

That is what Android manufacturers can’t get right – they copy the notch, so that the phone looks similar to iPhone, but all of them have this chin, so it looks like cheap copy and not as something that was inspired by the Apple desing.

Oh, and also, one of my favorite apps – Halide, did embrace the notch and that’s one of the reasons I like it so much. That’s another reminder that I should more thoroughly consider everything before judging the product.

X

January 2, 2018
4 min read

There is no shortage of reviews of the iPhone X, some very traditional (loved how The Verge portrayed Face ID working), some looking in the future, others a bit in the past. Now that I’ve had my iPhone X for almost two months, I have some short thoughts I’ve wanted to share.

When Apple presented the iPhone I didn’t like the notch, I thought the screen was good, not something groundbreaking and liked the camera improvements a lot (designated chip for the photo processing and OIS on both cameras were both great additions). I’ve had my iPhone 7 and was ready to keep it for another year, but I was reading more about it and looking at pictures and videos, so my wife persuaded me to order one. And here I was on day one of the sales with the brand new iPhone X.

I immediately fell in love with the X. First time I’ve set up Face ID, it looked like magic and I’ve had a smile on my face just from unlocking the phone, it still holds up, I think Face ID is great, except in the morning, when it doesn’t recognise my sleepy face. The phone itself, I loved the Plus size phones (it was when Apple introduced big screens, I’ve made a switch back from Android), but the X lies perfectly in the hand and the weight of it, makes it feel substantial and even luxury. I love how black it is, love how the edges look and feel, how it’s less slippery than 7 Plus (I’ve had matte black finish). 

The home indicator is weird for about five minutes, after that it just feels natural, you mostly wish it wasn’t there all the time, gestures are easy to learn and discover. The one thing that is borderline unusable is Control Centre, I think Apple will change the position of it in one of the next versions of iOS, but as of now, I’ve noticed how I almost don’t use the Control Centre anymore.
The screen is gorgeous, you don’t notice the notch while using it, because you mostly look at the centre of the screen, it is considerably worse for video watching than the Plus sized phone, because both choices – embracing the notch or letterboxing the videos don’t look good – one hides some part of the picture and another one makes videos small.

As this new iPhone is all glass, I’m constantly worrying that I might shatter it and got Apple Leather Case as a present, but I still prefer to use it case-less, not only because it feels great in the hand, but because the screen looks better if there is no frame of the case around it. This may sound silly, but the screen just looks better when the iPhone is naked.

When Samsung first introduced the Galaxy S8 and I’ve seen Casey Neistat review of it, I’ve tweeted how iPhone looked dated compared to it. 

iPhone looks dated as fuck, especially in this shot. pic.twitter.com/mdUVGWafRG

Now, with the iPhone X, I think Apple is ahead, the notch is clearly the great idea, considering choices. It looks more like an all-screen front than Samsung and it looks very recognisable, while Samsung looks like a very generic Android phone (thank god there is no space to put Samsung logo on the front of the device anymore).

In my opinion, iPhone X is a great device, showing us where the future of smartphones is heading. It’s very pricey, you can buy a MacBook for the same price, but you’ll just have to consider, how much the phone is worth to you, I think most people use phone considerably more than a laptop nowadays.