I listened to Apple’s WWDC keynote a couple of weeks ago and didn’t come away with an immediate need to melt my Visa card on a bunch of new Apple gear like I usually do after such events. The new iPad Pro 10.5 looked nice enough, but I didn’t feel compelled to buy one.

I listened supportively as Dave Rees wrestled with his own buying decision. Dave and I both have older Samsung Galaxy tablets that are starting to show their age. Dave’s 12.5″ Galaxy Note Pro has freezing problems with his and the home button on my Galaxy S Tab 10.5″ has a short and often requires multiple button presses for it to go back to the home screen. It’s also very slow launching and switching between apps.

Dave ended up buying the iPad Pro 10.5 about a week ago and has been gushing about how great it is and that I need to get one. But even gadget peer pressure didn’t flip my gadget lust switch… until… it flipped. Now I am considering buying one to replace my sickly tablet. Why? Mainly because it’s time for me to have a new tablet and the iPad Pro 10.5 is the best tablet available right now. It would also be nice to have an updated iOS device so I can do some iOS app and hardware reviews again. The newest iPads in the house are the original iPad mini and an iPad 2 that Jeanne uses as an eBook reader. Yeah, it’s been awhile.

My mind isn’t 100% made up, but I’m definitely leaning in the direction of buying an iPad Pro 10.5 (and maybe a Pencil too). 

Anyone else in my shoes?

Be sure to check out Larry’s iPad Pro 10.5 accessories ideas post.

Filed in categories: Articles

Tagged: gadget diary

Julie’s gadget diary – The pull from the dark side is strong. I think I’m going to order an iPad Pro 10.5 originally appeared on on June 19, 2017 at 1:47 pm.

Note: If you are subscribed to this feed through FeedBurner, please switch to our native feed URL http://the-gadgeteer.com/feed/ in order to ensure continuous delivery.

I’m in the process of a tech downsizing. I’ve already physically downsized my phone from a larger Nexus 6P to a smaller LG G6 which just arrived yesterday. And now I want to downsize the amount of data I upload to the cloud by finding an alternative to Nest cams.

Why do I care how much data I’m uploading to the Nest cloud? Because I’m also trying to find an alternative to my insanely expensive T1 line. If you don’t know what a T1 line is, it’s my broadband connection. Where I live, I don’t have the options for connecting to the internet as people who live in larger cities or even smaller cities. I live in a rural area where I don’t even have access to cable TV.

I had a Hughesnet satellite dish over a decade ago, but it wasn’t a good experience so I went with a T1 line.

The best things about a T1 line are that it’s unlimited and that the line is managed and has 24/7 support if it goes down… which it does at least a few times a year.

But the bad thing about the T1 line beside the monthly price is that the speed is only 1.5Mbps down and 1.5Mbps up. Stop laughing, I know that’s slow. But it’s stable and it’s been my only option for the past 10 years until now.

The speed really hasn’t been a big issue when it comes to day to day surfing and even Netflix streaming. But if Jeanne and I are both surfing and one of us tries to watch a Youtube video, the other one knows about it because surfing comes to a crawl.

Now I’m going to try a wireless solution for my internet which comes with its own set of pros and cons. The pros are lower cost and faster speed, but the con is that it’s not unlimited data. It’s only 32GB a month. That might sound like a lot, but it’s not if you have home security cameras like the Nest cam which can upload from 60GB – 160GB a month per camera if you subscribe to Nest Aware which saves your video on the Nest servers.

I have 2 Nest cams in my home which means I am currently uploading as much as 320GBs a month which is 100 times my monthly limit. Yikes, that madness has to stop.

So it’s time for me to find a good home security camera system that has these features:

• Notifications sent to my phone when motion is detected
• 24/7 video saved to a local drive
• Easy access locally saved video even when I’m away from home
• Software that works with a Mac (although I could build a cheap PC or use a Windows laptop if needed)

If you want to help me brainstorm possible solutions, leave a comment.

Filed in categories: Articles

Tagged: gadget diary

Julie’s gadget diary – It’s time to find an alternative to Nest originally appeared on on June 15, 2017 at 6:07 pm.

Note: If you are subscribed to this feed through FeedBurner, please switch to our native feed URL http://the-gadgeteer.com/feed/ in order to ensure continuous delivery.

The Apple rumor mill is churning wildly today with news (should I call it fake news, if it’s still just a rumor?) that we might not see the mythical bezel-less iPhone 8 until 2018 instead of later this fall when Apple typically rolls out new phones. There appear to be problems in the supply chain with the availability of critical components.

This autumn (usually in September) won’t be completely devoid of new iPhones though, Apple will most likely launch the iPhone 7S and 7S Plus models.

-Queue the cricket noises-

Does anyone really care about iPhone 7s devices at this point when all the hype is for the iPhone 8? After all, wasn’t the iPhone 7 just an updated iPhone 6?

It’s true that I haven’t been an iPhone fan for several years, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t care about a potential delay for the iPhone 8. I’m always excited when Apple trots out a new device because I feel like there’s always the hope that it might be the one to seduce me back to the Apple empire.

What do you think? Bummed or meh?

[via The Verge]

Filed in categories: Articles

Tagged: gadget diary

Julie’s gadget diary – No iPhone 8 till next year? originally appeared on on May 2, 2017 at 4:50 pm.

Note: If you are subscribed to this feed through FeedBurner, please switch to our native feed URL http://the-gadgeteer.com/feed/ in order to ensure continuous delivery.