Home 2017 October

(Hopefully) the third time is the charm: Apple Watch Series 3 review

The title says it all… I’ve purchased both the Series 1 and Series 2 Apple Watches, taking them both back within Apple’s no-questions-asked return window. Each time going into the relationship starry-eyed and hopeful. But ultimately determining that I didn’t need Apple’s smartwatch or I missed my old school timepieces. Well, oops I’ve done it again, the Series 3 was calling my name and I finally gave in and pulled the trigger. For this write-up, I won’t be diving very deep into the specs (that’s all over the Net) but more into the experience as an old (emphasis on Old…) time watch guy who loves tech gear and fitness. 

I find that as I near 50, my workouts have become less frequent and not nearly as epic as back in the day. While I stay in decent shape, old age is winning. It is my hope that an Apple Watch will help stem the tide and enable me to raise the bar. Being an AR number cruncher, I find the real-time data a smartwatch gives me both nagging and motivating.

After getting over the hump of whether or not to buy a Series 3, the next question is which Apple Watch would satisfy me the most. As I said, I am a long time watch guy. While (a bit) unnecessary in today’s world of smartphones, I enjoy the feel/heft of a timepiece on my wrist. The aluminum and glass Apple Watch always felt a bit light to me, lacking the weight I have come to prefer. So, long story short, I decided to splurge and get the stainless steel black sport Apple Watch with sapphire glass screen. The stainless steel watch is only available with LTE, which I don’t know if I’d have chosen if given the choice. But overall, I walked away with little to no regrets, that deep down I know I would have if I had purchased the base model.

I have benched my classic timepieces and been using the Apple Watch for a few weeks. It really has motivated me to do more. In my hectic life, I find myself walking the stairs in my building more, hopping on the elliptical more often before settling down for dinner, and most importantly…finding the time/energy/motivation to run more.

Theoretically, any smartwatch could do this for you (or better yet sheer willpower) but our family lives in the Apple ecosystem and the Apple Watch only adds to the seamlessness of that world. The watch makes an excellent companion for all my Apple devices from my iPhone to my MacBooks. WatchOS 4.0 and built-in LTE has definitely improved the smartwatch experience making the latest Apple Watch as close to an iPhone on your wrist (or Dick Tracy) that you can get these days. There are several LTE enabled Android/Tisen watches on the market but they’re bulky and lack the refinement of the Apple Watch.

Well, long story short, I’m keeping the Apple Watch Series 3 for the following reasons: refinement, material/build quality, enhanced Apple ecosystem experience, and added motivation. I’m still up in the air about activating T-Mobile LTE on it but I’ll continue to ponder the usability and potential impact on battery life (which I currently find stellar, with 75% power remaining on a typical day and more than 50% on a running & streaming music day). Overall, I truly like the watch and have promised myself I won’t look back or wear my other watches till I lose 10 pounds and hopefully rekindle my workout mojo. Wish me luck 😉 …

Source: The sample for this review was purchased with my own funds. Please visit their apple.com for more info.

 

Product Information

Price: $649
Manufacturer: Apple
Pros:
  • Excellent material/build quality
  • Best smartwatch OS to date
  • Enhanced Apple ecosystem experience
  • Great motivational tool
  • Built-in LTE
Cons:
  • Expensive

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(Hopefully) the third time is the charm: Apple Watch Series 3 review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 29, 2017 at 10:23 am.

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Jewelry by Johan’s Doodle Ring is a ring for fidget fans

Last month, my wife and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary and renewed our vows. As part of the ceremony, we exchanged new “spinner” rings I bought in Israel. I chose these rings because I’m constantly fiddling with my wedding band. If you share my affinity for band twisting, Jewelry by Johan’s Doodle Ring might be for you. 

The ring is comprised of interwoven arcs of metal that pivot together. It’s fascinating to watch the YouTube video. The motion of the ring is really quite beautiful. It’s expensive at $925, but no more so than comparable digit adornments. Unique and innovative, but I wonder, how well it will hold up over time?

Visit Jewelry by Johan for more info.

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Jewelry by Johan’s Doodle Ring is a ring for fidget fans originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 29, 2017 at 8:55 am.

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Casetify Apple Watch band, Shinola knife, ENOD Mini Ring earphones, and more – Weekly roundup

It’s time to relax with your computer, tablet, or phone while you browse through a list of everything that we wrote about this week on The Gadgeteer. We have news, we have reviews, and we have articles about your favorite gadgets. Click through to enjoy.

Reviews

Articles

News

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Casetify Apple Watch band, Shinola knife, ENOD Mini Ring earphones, and more – Weekly roundup originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 28, 2017 at 6:30 pm.

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MyHeritage DNA review

Due to my German last name, I’ve always been interested in my ancestry and would daydream what it might be like to visit Germany someday and look up Strietelmeiers in the phone book. I love the TV series Finding Your Roots and Who Do You Think You Are? When I was offered the chance to review the MyHeritage DNA kit, I was excited to find out my results.

What is it?

The MyHeritage DNA kit helps you collect your DNA to reveal where your ancestors came from and can help you create your family tree by finding DNA matches.

What’s in the box?

2 cheek swabs for DNA collection
2 vials to store the DNA
1 Ziploc baggie
1 padded envelope
Instructions

Activating and collecting DNA

To get started, you first are instructed to activate the kit by going online and typing in a serial number that is unique to each kit.

Then you just follow the simple instructions.

The MyHeritage DNA collection kit is very easy to use. It doesn’t require you to collect blood or spit in a tube like other kits from competing DNA services. The MyHeritage kit has two swabs that you rub inside each cheek for 30 seconds each and then break off in each vial.

The vials then go inside the plastic bag.

And the plastic bag goes inside the addressed mailer. I was surprised that the mailer requires that you have to pay the postage to ship it back to the MyHeritage labs.

As you can see from the image above, your account on the MyHeritage site shows each step in the process from the time you order a kit, activate it, mail it and finally receive the results.

The worst part of the MyHeritage DNA service is waiting. Their website says that the results can take 3-4 weeks and their instructional video says the results can take 4-6 weeks. I mailed my test kit to MyHeritage on 7/31/17 and I finally received my test results on 10/20/17. That’s 11 weeks and 4 days, which I think you would have to agree is insanely long.

Was it worth the wait?

When you click on the link to view your results, there’s a cool animation of the Earth that revolves around as it shows you where your ancestors are from. You are then presented with a top level list of regions and the percentage that makes up your DNA. No big surprises with my ancestry… darn it.

You can drill down even farther into each area.

The MyHeritage DNA results include more than just showing you where your DNA comes from. It can also help you find relatives and build your family tree.

The site will pull up your DNA matches and review information about the matches and then add them to your family tree if they are actually part of your family.

Some of the information even includes pictures of long gone relatives.

This information comes from a variety of sources and does not have to be from someone that has also done the MyHeritage DNA test. For example, the MyHeritage site had my grandmother who I don’t even remember because she died when I was 1 year old. But her info was on the site so I could add it to my family tree.

Researching genealogy is fun and fascinating. The MyHeritage site links out to census records and old newspaper clippings that you can search by name and year. But the only problem is that you have to pay extra if you want to view that info.

I think MyHeritage should give you a month or two of free data access to those extra services instead of requesting that you pay extra for them.

Final thoughts

If you’re into genealogy, then you’ll enjoy the information that you can get from the MyHeritage DNA kit. Just be prepared to wait a LONG time for the results and pay extra for features that will help you build your family tree.

Source: The sample for this review was provided by MyHeritage. Please visit their site for more info.

 

Product Information

Price: $99.00
Manufacturer: MyHeritage
Pros:
  • Easy and painless to collect DNA
  • Site has access to lots of genealogy information
Cons:
  • Takes a long time to get the results back
  • Have to pay extra to access newspaper, military, census, and other records

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MyHeritage DNA review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 28, 2017 at 5:16 pm.

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Julie’s gadget diary – Thoughts after spending a week in paradise with a Pixel 2 XL, LG V30, and a Nextbook 2-in-1 laptop

We just returned home last night from a week on Sanibel Island, Florida where we vacation almost every year. This year I packed pretty light tech-wise. I only took 3 smartphones and a Windows 10 2-in-1 laptop. The phones were my new Pixel 2 XL, the LG V30 which I’m reviewing and a tiny Android smartphone called the Jelly which I’m also reviewing. For this trip, I left my 12″ MacBook at home so I could spend a full week using the Windows 10 Nextbook Flex 11a convertible laptop/tablet which I’m also reviewing.

When we checked into our condo, I tried to make a call only to notice that my Pixel 2 XL and no signal. My heart sunk because we had just switched from Verizon to T-Mobile and I was bracing for Jeanne to give me grief about the switch. So I grabbed the LG V30 which is on loan from Verizon Wireless and checked the signal on it and it only had one bar.

I don’t remember having issues with cellphone coverage other times that we’ve spent there on the island. But this time both the LG V30 on Verizon and my Pixel 2 XL on T-Mobile had really crappy coverage. Maybe it was due to Hurricane Irma, but we could barely get a signal in our condo. Luckily the condo had decent WiFi. When we were out and about on the island, the signal of both Verizon and T-Mobile was fine (for the most part).

During the week all the news about the Pixel 2 XL screen problems starting coming in and I read several articles, but honestly, I think the issues are blown out of proportion. I hadn’t noticed any of the issues until I read about them. The blue tint problem when you tilt the Pixel 2 XL screen is the only issue so far that is the most obvious to me. I can see the same issue on the LG V30 and very slightly on the original Pixel XL. But I don’t tilt my phones back and forth when I use them, I look directly at the screen. I feel like this is a non-issue (at least for me).

The issue with the non-vibrant colors is also a non-issue for me. I can understand if you were a Samsung phone user going to a Pixel 2 that you would notice a difference. But I had been using an original Pixel for a couple of weeks before getting my Pixel 2 XL and I didn’t notice any problems with the colors. When Google releases the 8.1 update to Oreo, which is supposed to have a toggle to fix the vibrancy issue, I’ll see if I can tell a difference. But for now, I’m fine with the colors.

I also haven’t noticed the “dirty screen” issue in low light or the burn-in issue with the virtual nav buttons at the bottom of the screen. Neither of those issues is obvious to my eyes, but I’ll definitely make sure to look into this issue as I work on my Pixel 2 XL review.

In my last gadget diary post, I mentioned that I had recently switched from an iPhone back to Android and from Verizon to T-Mobile and that I was even thinking of switching from a MacBook to a Windows laptop. But before I pulled the trigger on that switch, I wanted to do a trial run first so instead of taking my 12″ MacBook to Sanibel with me, I took the Nextbook Flex 11a 2-in-1 laptop/tablet with me. I figured it would be a good test to see if I could live with a Windows 10 device and a convertible device before committing to switching.

So how did it go using the Nextbook and Windows 10 all week? Let’s just say that I’m so glad to be back home on my little 12″ MacBook. The Nextbook (full review coming soon), packs a LOT of features into a very inexpensive laptop/tablet, but oh my goodness is it slow. At least it was at the condo and at the Fort Myer’s airport. I still need to use it here at home before passing my final judgment. But for now, I am glad to be home and back on my MacBook. So soooooo glad. I’m not looking forward to going back to work next week though. 😉

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Julie’s gadget diary – Thoughts after spending a week in paradise with a Pixel 2 XL, LG V30, and a Nextbook 2-in-1 laptop originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 28, 2017 at 10:41 am.

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