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Julie’s gadget diary – iPhone X-citement

I left work early this afternoon just so I could go home and watch the iPhone X Apple event in real time instead of reading live streaming commentary from a big site like Gizmodo or The Verge. I started out watching it on my 12″ MacBook but a few minutes into it, I had a light bulb moment and hooked up my iPad Pro 10.5 to my 65″ Hisense H8 4K TV using an Apple Lightning HDMI adapter for an ultimate viewing experience.

While the event was playing on the TV, Dave Rees and I were using iMessage to chat about the new hardware announcements as we were seeing them. Not that any of the info Apple talked about today was news to us since there have been eleventy billion leaks leading up to today’s event.

However, there was one little surprise right before the iPhone X unveiling that almost brought a tear to my eye…

Yes, we’re geeks and we embrace it.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but when it was all said and done, the iPhone X unveiling felt a little flat to me. I guess because the bulk of the event was spent talking about the Series 3 Apple Watch, new Apple TV, and the new iPhone 8 devices. It felt like they only saved about 30 minutes (I’m guessing on the 30 minutes, maybe it was more or less) of the 2 hour event for the news that all of us were really waiting to hear the most.

Does that mean I’m not going to order the iPhone X? Heck no. I’m definitely going to order one on October 27th. Ugh, that wait time (and the price) really sucks.

I will say one thing, yay for Qi wireless charging! It’s about time Apple! That AirPower wireless charger pad looks really nice for people who own a new iPhone, Watch, and AirPods. It won’t be available until next year though.

Also yay for Face ID. At least I hope I’ll be saying yay once I get a chance to try it. Fingerprint scanners just don’t work every time for me, so I’m really hoping Face ID will work as quick and easy as they make it out to be. That said, the first demo on stage failed! Hmmmmm…

More surprisingly for me, I’m also seriously considering an Apple Watch. It’s crazy but I’ve yet to ever try an Apple Watch. Just yesterday I was talking to Dave about wanting a wearable audio device that I could use to listen to Spotify playlists and/or podcasts while I work out at the gym so I don’t have to carry my iPhone around with me from machine to machine. I was seriously considering dragging out one of my old iPod Nanos to see if it would still work although I’d have to load my own music using iTunes and that sounds too painful because I hate iTunes.

Today when Tim announced the Series 3 Apple Watch with built-in cellular, I thought my wishes had been answered. That and all the talk about the heart rate and other fitness features have me considering buying one. I’m just worried that I’ll buy one and not use it to its full potential. So I still need to think about it.

How do the rest of you feel about the iPhone 8, X, Apple TV, and Apple Watch news today? Excited? Bored? Ready to bust out your credit card on Friday or October 27th (ugh!)? Let us know in the comments below.

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Julie’s gadget diary – iPhone X-citement originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on September 12, 2017 at 4:01 pm.

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Julie’s gadget diary – One month with the iPhone 7 Plus has taught me never to say never

I’ve been a devout Android user for close to 5 years after switching from an iPhone 4S to the Samsung Galaxy S III back in September 2012. Wow, that seems like forever ago. After I made that jump from iOS to Android, I fell hard for Android and every time after that when I would test a new iPhone, I would grumble about how it felt so limiting compared to Android devices. If you go back through my past gadget diary posts, you’ll see how I would get excited about new iOS hardware only to send it back a few days later due to disappointment with iOS.

So what changed this time? ,I’m not really sure. All I know is that when circumstances caused me to return an LG G6 that I had purchased for myself last month, I made a spontaneous decision to buy an iPhone 7 Plus. I remember telling Jeanne that was what I was going to do and she rolled her eyes and gave me a “you’re nuts” look. I had previously told her that I would never buy another iPhone again after I bought the iPhone 7 last fall and returned it.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure I would keep the iPhone 7 Plus that I bought last month. I just bought it on a whim because I needed a phone and could get one instantly by driving to the Verizon store. So that’s what I did and I haven’t looked back since.

Through the years I’ve complained about the iOS restriction on home screen widgets, the inability to place icons exactly where you want with spaces between them, lack of a back button, and the lack of wireless charging. Those four things have been my main “issues” and they sound dumb now. Well except for the wireless charging because I still miss that – at least until I get an iPhone 8!

Regarding the home screen widgets complaint, I’ve gotten used to placing all the widgets on the swipe right from home screen page. Would I rather have the option of putting at least one widget on the home screen? Yes. I would place the Up Next widget there. But I have found that I’m checking the widget screen pretty regularly throughout the day, so it’s really not a huge deal.

I still wish I could move the icons around exactly where I want them on the various home screens, but I’ve learned to deal with that too by using folders which I never used when I had an Android phone.

No back button is a non-issue because I can just either press and hold the left side of the screen or double tap the home button to switch between open apps.

So it turns out that those complaints were all pretty lame. Except for wireless charging 😉

There is a new complaint though. With Android I would use my Flic buttons or an NFC tag to do things like send a TXT message to Jeanne when I would arrive home from work. NFC usage with iOS is currently limited to things like pairing Bluetooth speakers and not with automation. The FLic buttons work with my iPhone but they can’t be programmed to send a TXT message because the phone has to be unlocked first. Even if you ask Siri to send a message, she’ll make you unlock the phone before she sends the message, which is annoying.

All in all, I’m really enjoying using the iPhone 7 Plus and am excited about what the iPhone 8 will bring.

Are there any other recent Android to iOS switchers out there? How’s your experience so far?

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Julie’s gadget diary – One month with the iPhone 7 Plus has taught me never to say never originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 3, 2017 at 10:43 am.

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Julie’s gadget diary – Another successful gadget giveaway day has just ended

Being the Gadgeteer certainly has its perks. I’m very lucky that I get a chance to play with and test the latest and greatest gadgets. But what do I do with all those great gadgets and gizmos once my reviews have been published? I continue to use some products, but the ones I don’t use end up cluttering the shelves of Gadgeteer Headquarters (otherwise known as the basement office of my house). When I can no longer see the floor in the office, it’s time for a gadget purge and another gadget giveaway day at Cummins Inc. (otherwise known as my day job).  

Once or twice a year I fill storage bins with forgotten and unused products sitting on my office shelves, in drawers, in baskets under the desks, and even sitting in the middle of the floor.

That’s what I did this past weekend and was able to fill three large storage tubs with goodies. Then yesterday, Jeanne and I brought the tubs into work so they would be ready for another gadget giveaway day. I always like to bring the items in on a Sunday and then have the giveaway bright and early Monday morning.

The image above shows the bins under my desk filled with gadgets that are ready for a new home.

Before the gadgets are set out. It’s still dark outside because I get to work at 6 AM each day 🙂

At 8 AM I get some helpers to help me move the bins and set out all the items. I then take a picture and give the thumbs up for everyone to grab what they want.

It’s a lot of fun to watch everyone’s excitement as they look through the items and ask me “what’s this?”, “how does this work?”.

 

My co-workers look forward to gadget giveaway days as much as I look forward to clearing the clutter out of my office!

After 30 minutes, the majority of items are gone and by tomorrow, almost everything will be gone. If anything is left after that, I usually take the leftover items and put them in the vending area with a FREE sign and within just a few minutes, they will be gone too.

It feels good to free up some shelf and floor space in my office, but I know that will be short lived.  The life of a Gadgeteer is tough, but someone has to do it! 😉

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Julie’s gadget diary – Another successful gadget giveaway day has just ended originally appeared on on July 10, 2017 at 9:51 am.

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Julie’s gadget diary – Is this really what the iPhone 8 will look like?

Earlier in the week, Boy Genius Report posted a quick article with a picture/rendering/rumor of the soon to be announced Apple iPhone 8. Click on the BGR link and take a look. I’ll wait… Ok, now look at the image above. The screen shape, bezels, and top screen edge looks very similar, doesn’t it? What is that in the image above? It’s a screen protector. A screen protector for the iPhone 8. Or at least it sure seems like it’s going to be for the iPhone 8 considering the email I received this morning.

It’s not unusual that I receive emails from screen protector makers and companies who make cases for devices that have not been yet officially announced yet, and this morning I received such an email from a person representing Smartificer Techology Limited in Shenzhen China.

As you can see and read from the email, this company is trying to sell this new tempered glass screen protector to me because they think The Gadgeteer sells products. I get emails similar to this one every day from other Chinese companies, but this one caught my eye because I had seen the same style of the screen in the BGR article.

So do you think this is just a scam or the real thing? Unfortunately, we won’t really know for sure until Apple unveils the new iPhone in a couple months. I hope it’s true because I like the look of this device.

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Julie’s gadget diary – Is this really what the iPhone 8 will look like? originally appeared on on July 7, 2017 at 1:27 pm.

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Julie’s gadget diary – I returned the LG G6 and even I’m surprised by the phone I’m using now


Are you confused by the title of this post because you remember that I just purchased an LG G6 a few weeks ago? It’s true, I did buy one and I enjoyed using it… for awhile. Then a few bugs crawled in that annoyed me enough that I decided to return the phone while I was still within my 30-day return window with B&H Photo. The problem is that I had already sold my Nexus 6P. So I didn’t have another phone to use while I figured out what to get next. 

I tried putting my Verizon SIM into my ancient LG G3 and it complained that I had no service. So I tried an even older iPhone 4S and had the same result. I came to find out later that older phones like the LG G3 and iPhone 4S will not work with the newer SIM cards due to not being able to work with 4G LTE.

Not having a working smartphone would normally not have caused me to panic had it been a few weeks prior, but I had also recently disconnected my landline phone at home meaning that without a smartphone, no one could contact me.

First I thought about the higher end Android phones currently on the market that I might want to buy. The main ones I considered were the Samsung Galaxy 8, and the Pixel XL. Since I’m not a fan of the S8’s curved screen, I put an X through that choice. Then I gave some thought to the Pixel XL and although that would be the best choice for an Android fan like myself, I just couldn’t get excited about buying one.

So what did I do? I bought an iPhone 7 Plus and I’m as surprised by that as you probably are considering my last attempt to switch from Android to iOS failed 9 months ago with an iPhone 7. But this time is different for two reasons.

First of all, I don’t have any other Android phones to fall back on right now. So that means that I am forced to give the switch a better effort than I did the last time.

Secondly, I am ready for something different. Even though I always harp on the fact that Apple won’t let you customize your home screens like Android does, and that they lock down certain features like NFC, and their phones don’t have Qi wireless charging, I have to be honest with myself that I’ve been living without Qi charging for the past year with the Nexus 6P and I don’t use NFC at all these days. I do like to customize my home screens by moving around icons and adding widgets, but I rarely pay attention to the widgets I use. So my arguments for not liking iOS limited customization features are weak.

This past Saturday, I walked into my local Verizon store and walked out a few minutes later with a black 128GB iPhone 7 Plus. I’ve been using the phone for 3 days now and I have almost zero buyer’s regret. I say almost zero because the price of the iPhone is stupidly expensive, which makes me feel guilty for buying something so pricey for myself.

After 3 days do I miss Android? So far the only thing I miss is being able to arrange the icons exactly the way I want on the screen with black spaces here and there. But other than that one thing, I’m actually really enjoying the iPhone which surprises the heck out of me.

I’m especially impressed by how well all my other devices like my Kevo lock are working with the iPhone. With Android, it would take minutes to lock or unlock the door using the app on the phone, but with the iPhone, it only takes about 15 seconds. I also noticed that my Flic wireless smart buttons react faster with the iPhone than with my past Android phones.

Am I going to stick with the iPhone this time? It’s still really early in the switch, but so far it’s looking good!

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Julie’s gadget diary – I returned the LG G6 and even I’m surprised by the phone I’m using now originally appeared on on July 4, 2017 at 5:21 pm.

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