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.

In the loop: Jony Ive on Apple’s new HQ and the disappearing iPhone

November 14, 2017
2 min read

In the loop: Jony Ive on Apple’s new HQ and the disappearing iPhone

Great article in the Wallpaper* magazine. Stunning photos of the Apple Park, you should really see them on the best screen you have. 

I’ve always been fascinated by these products that are more general purpose. What I think is remarkable about the iPhone X is that its functionality is so determined by software. And because of the fluid nature of software, this product is going to change and evolve. In 12 months’ time, this object will be able to do things that it can’t now. I think that is extraordinary. I think we will look back on it and see it as a very significant point in terms of the products we have been developing.

This quote by Jony Ive could be very promising or completely uninteresting – it could probably mean that Apple is working on the new design in iOS 12 which takes into the consideration the OLED screen of the iPhone X, for example, Dark Mode. It could also mean, Apple is just working on the new iOS 12 which will add features to the old phones like it always does.

I hope it is the former.

Apple Watch: My Experience

November 12, 2017
5 min read

When Apple Watch first came out, there was not a lot of reasons to buy one in Latvia – we don’t have Apple Pay, there were not a lot of apps for the Watch – we don’t have Uber, most of our homes are not smart and we still go to the stores to buy groceries instead of them being delivered to our houses. That’s probably why local retailers still don’t sell Apple Watches here (even official Apple resellers). The one I’ve found a month ago was the carrier selling 38mm Apple Watch Series 0 for about 460$ (yes, in 2017).

So when we were travelling to New York City this September, as per tradition – we’ve gone to the Apple Store (this time to the Grand Central), I’ve walked around and came right to the table with all the watches and here it was – 42mm Apple Watch Series 3, a couple of question to the employee, tap of the credit card, typing my e-mail and 10 minutes later I was out of the store with my first smartwatch. I’ve got GPS only version, as again, cellular doesn’t make much sense in Latvia, as carriers don’t support those and I’m not sure they will in pretty long time.

Activity tracking
Some time ago I was reading a couple of articles saying how Apple Watch helped them be more active and even lose some weight, for example, Jim Dalrymple and his weight loss story, I was very skeptical. I’ve had Fitbit before counting my steps and it wasn’t motivating me a bit, I’ve just tracked steps without really going out of my way to reach the goal. In a couple of months, I’ve lost my Fitbit and never got a replacement.
But with Apple Watch it was very different, right from the first day I was closing all three rings and it somehow mattered. First, it was easy, as I was in New York City for the first time, so 2 out of 3 rings were usually closed at about lunchtime, but at home, it got a bit harder, I’ve had to make a bit of an effort to close those rings. Now, I try to finish my lunch early, to have time for a walk and on some days with my wife we «walk the Watch».
Through the day, the Watch keeps reminding me to stand and I’ve got a habit to go and have a glass of water, which helps again.
So far I’ve lost 4kg in about one and a half week (change in a diet also helped) and had my first perfect month in October.

Notifications
I’ve long had a thought that Apple was destroying Notifications Centre when they’ve removed the grouping by an app, it became impossible to use the Notifications Centre for me and I’ve mostly relied on the icon badges all over the home screen, which, as you can imagine, is not very good solution. Just after getting the Apple Watch notifications became a bit more useful. They all appear on my wrist first and I can manage them from the watch, leaving some of them to see on the phone and replying to others using dictation, which became pretty good, even in Russian. Having my watch buzz every time I receive a notification, also helped find the ones I don’t need and turn them off.

This is just one of the examples how Apple rewards you for being all in in the ecosystem. Like how Apple Watch can unlock your Mac, for example, which at first was hard to get used to, because I have developed a habit of opening the lid and starting typing first character of the password right away which canceled unlocking with the Watch, but after a couple of days I’ve got used to the automatic unlock.
The second cool thing was when my phone was charging in the bedroom and I was in the other room, I’ve put my Airpods in the ears, opened Overcast watch app, chose an episode and started playing the podcast from my phone. It felt really nice.

Time
This is a bit silly and a bit surprising, but probably the worst thing about Apple Watch is how bad it is at telling time. I’m not saying it tells the wrong time, far from it, as far as I’ve read it is one of the most precise time peaces, but having to raise the wrist to see time is pretty bad. I’m one of the rare people who was wearing a watch before getting smart one and was very used to just glancing at my wrist to see the time, now I can’t do that. I have to flick the wrist every time I want to see what time it is, which, while working, is not a good experience.
Taking into the consideration that on a normal day, I have about 65% battery power left and Apple Watch having an OLED display, I think it is possible for it to have always on time. It could be a feature off by default, but I would love to have it as an option.

After having a watch for a little more than a month, I can definitely tell that I like it very much and will continue to wear it daily. I’m still closing all three rings every single day and trying to raise my Move goal in the beginning of every weak even if by just a bit. It is a solid product with the bright future ahead of it. I’m not seeing a lot of them in Latvia, but that’s probably because you have to go out of your way to find one, but when we were in NYC I was shocked to see so many of them on people wrists and now I can see why.

Samsung Galaxy S8

March 29, 2017
1 min read

I was never a fan of Samsung phones, but after quick glance at some first looks of the new phones, there are a couple of positive thoughts about the device. 

1. I think even John Gruber will agree – FINALLY there is no space on the front of the device to put the stupid SAMSUNG logo, I hope most remember without constant reminders what phone they use. 

2. There was one shot in the Casey Neistat’s video for which I’ve paused, took screenshot and looked at it for about a minute.

Here, an iPhone looks dated. This edge to edge screen next to the iPhone looks like the first iPhone looked next to the smartphones with buttons. This is clearly the way forward. 

Very much looking forward to see what Apple will show at it’s September event. iOS and the edge-to-edge display would be instabuy!

2016-2017

January 1, 2017
1 min read

If you are using any social network you would know, people associate 2016 with everything bad that happened. All the celebrities that died, terrorism, brexit and even Trump.
For me, in a lot of ways, 2016 was a great year. A lot has happened, good and bad, but I am happy with where I am.
There are a lot of plans for 2017 and some of them involve this blog. I’ve subscribed to a lot of blogs in 2016, after getting tired of all the “tech news” I’m much more interested in stories and opinions.
I hope to make 2017 even better than 2016. And will see what this year will bring us.

iOS 10

September 19, 2016
2 min read

Probably the biggest change in the iOS 10 for me is lock screen and all that’s changed about the locked phone. Only after updating did I notice, that I had a few habits that are hard to change. One of them is putting my finger on the Sleep/Awake button while getting the phone out of the pocket and pressing the button to see the lock screen as I look at the phone. What happens now, is I get the phone out of the pocket, it automatically turns on, because of the Rise to wake feature and I turn the display off, by pressing the Sleep button, so then I need to wake the phone, by pressing Home or Sleep button. I have mostly changed the habit in less than a week of using the iOS 10, but there are those little things you don’t notice while using the phone.

Also, the big change — sounds. I’ve always been in love with Windows Phone keyboard sounds. When I’ve had Android phone, I was looking for a keyboard, that made sounds similar to WP. Now on iOS it comes pretty close. I love those new sounds. Actually, I’ve had my phones muted for about two years and now more and more I keep turning the sounds on, just to listen to the keyboard sounds. 

This year Apple made a very solid update to the operating system. It totally feels like a new phone after installing iOS 10. Love all the changes introduced.