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Julie’s gadget diary – Yes, I’m going to order the new iPhone XS Max

ARTICLE – Like many of you, I watched yesterday’s live stream of Apple’s Gather Round event and I really have to hand it to Apple. They are masters at reeling me in with their dirty nerd talk of bionic processors, neural engines, advanced algorithms, and sensors. Those terms give me goosebumps. Or maybe Apple is hiding subliminal messages in the new commercials that they demoed during the event. Whatever it is, it works and hooks me every time.

I came away yesterday afternoon excited about the prospect of giving an iPhone another shot at becoming my daily smartphone. Yes, I know you’ve heard this before and if you’ve followed me over the years, you know I say something similar every year only to either change my mind and cancel the order or return the phone within a couple of weeks.

This one time Apple fangirl, turned Android fangirl that you know as The Gadgeteer, just can’t help herself when it comes to trying to switch from one platform to another. I used iPhones for several years from the first one through the iPhone 4 but then I switched to Android and have been using Android smartphones ever since.

Why do I prefer Android? I often ask myself that question. I used to say it was because I like that Android lets me arrange icons and add widgets to the home screen where ever I want. But in reality, I rarely do that these days. Other than changing my wallpaper every so often, I don’t customize the look of my phone like I used to. I also used to say that I prefer Android because I use a lot of Google services and they just work better on Android. I’m not sure that even matters today. It’s simple to set up the iPhone to sync mail and calendars with Gmail and Google Calendar.

For me, it comes down to the hardware and really the camera. That’s why my current phone is the Pixel 2 XL. It has or had the best camera at the time I bought it last October. But all the talk and demos yesterday for the iPhone’s updated camera have me curious and excited for a potential upgrade/switch because my smartphone is my ONLY camera these days. All the product images that you see in my reviews are either taken with my Pixel 2 XL or the Huawei P20.

So I’ll be setting my alarm for 3am EST so I can wake up and pre-order a Space Gray 256GB iPhone XS Max for $1249 tomorrow morning. It’s crazy to spend the same amount of money that I could spend to buy a new entry-level 13-inch MacBook Pro, but then I’m a little crazy when it comes to gadgets. Will I actually Android and stick with the iPhone this time? I have no idea. But I’ll have fun giving it a try. At least until I get sucked back to Android when the new Pixel 3 is announced! Anyone else thinking of switching from an Android phone to one of the new iPhones?

Head over to Apple to check out the details on the new iPhones.

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Julie’s gadget diary – Yes, I’m going to order the new iPhone XS Max originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on September 13, 2018 at 1:56 pm.

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Julie’s gadget diary – The Samsung Note9 is one step closer to my dream device

ARTICLE – Three days ago Samsung officially rolled out their newest device, the Galaxy Note9 at their Unpacked event in New York City. The Note line of devices has always been the most powerful, feature-rich smartphones of Samsung’s mobile line up and this year’s new Note does not deviate from that tradition.

The Note9 boasts Samsung’s largest capacity battery for a flagship device. At 4,000mAh, the Note9 will have enough juice to power through your day with time to spare.

The 6.4-inch AMOLED display means you won’t be squinting while reading your favorite content and you’ll have lots of room to store files and images because the Note9 is ready for up to 1TB of additional storage when you add a 1TB microSD card. I don’t even have 1TB of space on my laptop! Which brings me closer to my decade’s long dream of having one-device-to-rule-them-all. It’s actually a dream that I’ve had from way back in the Palm Pilot days when I daydreamed about having a handheld device that could plug into a slot in my desk at my day job to do work with a monitor, keyboard, and mouse. And then it could plug in at home into a smaller setup for work (and play) there.

The Samsung Galaxy Note9 is the closest device yet to make that dream a reality. Even the new low power Bluetooth S Pen makes this new device more attractive to me than an iPad Pro with an Apple Pencil just because it’s so much more portable and pocket-friendly.

I keep hoping that the day is coming very soon when I can ditch my MacBook and go all in with either an iPhone or an Android phone and make it my only phone/camera/computer and that time is so close for me right now because of Samsung’s DeX feature. I reviewed their Dex Station last year and found it to be pretty cool, but this year the stand-alone DeX station is not even necessary because all you have to do is use a Type-C HDMI adapter with the phone to plug it into a monitor and you’re all set to use a desktop-like interface from your phone. It remains to be seen if some of the issues that I noticed with last year’s DeX have been fixed with the Note9’s version of DeX, but I’m excited to get my hands on the new Samsung Galaxy Note9 to find out.

The Note9 will come in two new colors: Ocean Blue and Lavender Purple, and will retail for $999.99 for the 128GB option and $1,249.99 for the 512GB option. You can pre-order now and the phone will be available online starting August 24th through Samsung, Amazon, Best Buy, and other retailers.

What do you think? Can you see yourself only using a phone as your main computer? Or maybe you already do this? Let me know as I’m interested in hearing about your workflow.

Pictures courtesy of Helena Stone of Geekspin.

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Julie’s gadget diary – The Samsung Note9 is one step closer to my dream device originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 12, 2018 at 4:26 pm.

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Julie’s gadget diary – The Huawei MateBook X Pro could actually replace my MacBook

ARTICLE – I have been using iMacs and MacBooks to do my Gadgeteer work for the past 13 years. I love the simplicity of macOS and although I use a Windows 10 laptop all day long at my day job, I’m always happy to go home and use my 12-inch MacBook. However, a few weeks ago my MB had to be admitted into the “hospital” to fix the keyboard and I was without it for 2 whole weeks. During that time I used a Windows notebook and I survived the experience quite well. So well in fact that it made me start thinking about my next notebook computer and if it will be a Windows notebook instead of another MacBook. One such Windows notebook to catch my eye lately as a potential replacement is the Huawei MateBook X Pro which I’ve had the opportunity to test drive.

I will let you know right away that if you came here to read a full review of the MateBook X Pro, that you’re going to be disappointed because this article is not a review. At least not in the traditional sense. You can read a bazillion reviews on other tech sites if that is what you’re looking for because talking about the ins and outs of hardware specs makes my eyes glaze over and might do the same for you. Nope, this article is going to be my general impressions after using this notebook for a few days to do the type of tasks that I do with my MacBook.

First of all, the Huawei MateBook X Pro is a gorgeous piece of hardware that looks and feels like a premium device. The brushed metal housing comes in either Mystic Silver or Space Gray. Hey, can they really call it that? 😉 I was sent the Space Gray version and it’s a looker. It looks like it has a blue or even purple tint to it in some light conditions. Regardless, it looks nice.

Then you open the display and wow. Super thin bezels and a gorgeous bright, vivid, crisp picture with 178-degree viewing angles. It’s a touchscreen too which I always forget about. There’s something about notebooks with touchscreens, I just can’t make myself touch the display. I guess it comes from years of knowing that doing so would leave smudges and could even harm the screens that keep me from wanting to use that feature.

This display blows my 12-inch MacBook away as far as resolution (3000 x 2000) which is a silly statement given the MateBook X Pro is 13.9-inches and my little MacBook is only 12-inches. Using the Huawei made me feel like I could easily do away with an external monitor, not that I really want to ditch my BenQ PD2710QC DesignView 27-inch Designer Monitor which I’ve been enjoying the last few months.

Besides macOS, what I love most about MacBooks are the keyboard (well at least until mine died!) and even more, the trackpad. I’ve tried several other Windows laptops over the years and the main thing that I hate about them is the trackpad. So I wasn’t expecting to like the Hauwei’s but I was pleasantly surprised by how roomy, smooth, tactile, and responsive it was. If trackpads were the main reason I’ve not switched back to a Windows computer, that excuse died when I started using the MateBook X Pro.

The backlit keyboard is also roomy and comfortable to type on. Another bonus is that it is spill proof. I wonder if that means that it is also dust proof… I’m looking at you Apple. The keys look very much like my MacBook’s keys as far as shape, color, etc. But the larger sized keys really make this keyboard a joy to type on if you’re a touch typist like I am. My fingers can absolutely fly on this notebook.

There are also two surprises hidden in the keyboard if you include the power button as part of the keyboard. The power button has a built-in fingerprint reader so you can turn on the notebook and sign in to the homescreen all with just one press.

The other surprise is hidden in the center function key above the 7 key. Press this key and a little camera pops up out of the keyboard. Nifty, but the only problem is that it’s not best angle if you have a double chin since the camera is pointing up at a very unflattering angle instead of straight at you.

Another plus is that even though the MateBook X Pro is thin and relatively lightweight at 2.93 pounds. It doesn’t skimp on ports either as there’s a 3.5mm headphone jack, a USB-C port, and a Thunderbolt 3 USB-C port on the left side of the notebook.

And on the right side is a USB 3.0 type A port for all of your legacy devices like flash drives, etc. The only thing missing is a card reader and another thing to consider is that the MateBook X Pro doesn’t have a fanless design. While using it, the fan did kick on a few times which reminded me just how much I hate fan noise. So that’s something to consider.

I have really enjoyed using the MateBook X Pro and I’m a little sad to send it back to Huawei. The battery life has been stellar, the display is killer, the Dolby Atmos speaker system is top notch, and the overall build quality is excellent.

As I’ve said many times in my other gadget diary posts, I do about 90% of my work in a web browser (my current favorite is Chrome) and the rest of my work is done in Photoshop and a few other apps like AirDroid, FileZilla, DayOne, ToDoist, etc. I’m not a gamer and don’t need to edit video all that often. So it all honesty, I can do the bulk of my Gadgeteer work in Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, or even Linux. So for me, when it comes to choosing hardware, it comes down to things like the keyboard, the trackpad, the display, available ports, size, weight, etc. Other than the built-in fan and that it runs Windows OS, I really like this notebook. A lot.

It would be nice if Huawei notebooks were available for people to see in person here in the US in stores like Best Buy because I bet they’d sell a lot more of them if people could touch and feel them. It can be scary to spend over $1000 on a computer without actually seeing one in person, but from the short time that I’ve spent with the Huawei MateBook X Pro, I am smitten with it. It’s a premium notebook that is on my short list of options when the time comes for me to upgrade.

When it comes to price, the MateBook X Pro starts at $1,199.99 which gets you the Intel Core i5 8th gen 1.60GHz CPU, 256GB SSD, and 8GB of memory. If you want to fully load it with an Intel Core i7 8th gen 1.80GHz CPU, 256GB SSD and 16GB of memory, that will set you back $1,499.99. Either configuration is less expensive than a 13-inch MacBook so if Windows OS is your preference, this notebook offers a great value and a real bang for your buck and should be considered if you’re needing to upgrade, buy a laptop for a kid going off to college, etc.

You can read all the specs and info about the Huawei MateBook X Pro on Huawei’s site and you can buy one from Newegg or Microsoft.com

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Julie’s gadget diary – The Huawei MateBook X Pro could actually replace my MacBook originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 10, 2018 at 4:10 pm.

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Julie’s gadget diary – I’m still MacBook-less

Last week I told you that my 12-inch MacBook had to be admitted into the hospital to get its keyboard fixed. It’s been at the MacExperience store in Bloomington, IN since Saturday. They told me that the turn around time would be 3-5 business days. With the July 4th holiday yesterday, I’ve been a little worried that I wouldn’t be fixed in time for me to pick it up this coming Saturday. That fear is getting worse since I just received an automated email telling me that my MacBook is only just now going through the diagnosis stage. Ugh 🙁

It’s not like I don’t have another laptop to use right now, because I do. I have a 3yr old Dell XPS 13-inch laptop which is allowing me to get my Gadgeteer work done just fine. As I had said in my first article. Besides Photoshop and Todoist which I’ve been testing, most of my Gadgeteer work is done in a browser, so it really doesn’t matter that much what type of computer I use. But one app that I immediately felt lost without was TypeIt4Me. TypeIt4Me is a text expander tool that saves me a crazy amount of time by letting me create text macros that get expanded when I type something like !sig and it immediately expands to:

Thank you,
Julie Strietelmeier
https://the-gadgeteer.com

I ended up installing a similar program for Windows called AutoHotKey that works just like TypeIt4Me but it requires that you edit a text file to add all the text macros. But it’s free, so I won’t complain.

I’m also getting used to dealing with weird little Windows 10 glitches and idiocracies like when I open a file manager window from some apps and it’s magnified about 10x too big on the 27-inch BenQ monitor that I have the XPS connected to, but in other apps it’s just fine.

I’ll admit that my eyesight isn’t what it used to be, but come on, this is a little ridiculous don’t you think?

Then there’s the weird sound that I kept hearing the other day and finally figured out that it was coming from the XPS. I recorded it for you. Take a listen but be sure to turn up your volume:

I think the noise is some type of interference and not the built-in fan because when the fan does run, it’s much more noticeable. Which reminds me that I’m not a fan of laptop’s with fans because I like quiet and lots of it.

Am I nitpicking and whining for no real reason? Yes, most definitely. I am thankful that I have another computer to use while my daily driver is in the shop. But that said, this little vacation from macOS has made me realize that I do prefer it to Windows 10. I’m not saying that to start an OS war, but honestly, I just like my little 12-inch MacBook with macOS better than the 13-inch Dell XPS with the latest version of Windows 10. It even feels faster to me.

It looks like I’m going to have to just suck it up though because I think I’m going to be using the Dell for another week. <sniff>

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Julie’s gadget diary – I’m still MacBook-less originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 5, 2018 at 5:20 pm.

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Julie’s gadget diary – My MacBook has to go to the hospital

ARTICLE – Sadly, my 12-inch MacBook is sick and needs surgery. It’s suffering from a debilitating SKD (Stuck Key Disease). Yes, it’s one of the 1000’s, maybe millions of Apple MacBooks with the newer generation keyboards that are obviously flawed due to their thinner mechanisms that are susceptible to breakage.

I’ve been dealing with a sticky spacebar for many months, but recently my delete key started exhibiting the same behavior. It’s annoying when you’re a fast touch typist like myself and have to stop in mid-sentence to back up (when the delete key works) to add a space between words.

Our own Dave Rees had his own 12-inch MacBook keyboard replaced a couple months ago. His was under AppleCare though. I bought my MacBook as a refurb and didn’t buy the AC. A repair without AC was priced around $600 and I didn’t want to shell out that kind of money to fix a 2016 MacBook who’s battery capacity is starting to show signs of aging.

I decided that I could live with my come and go sticky spacebar issues until I decided that it was time to upgrade to a new laptop. But then the delete key problems started and I feared I would need to upgrade sooner rather than later. But then, Apple caved in to the pressure of a class action lawsuit last week and owned up to the problem and began offering free keyboard repairs and refunds to people who had paid to have theirs fixed. Lucky me!

Since the closest Apple store is about 70 miles away, I’m taking my MacBook to an authorized repair store in Bloomington, IN tomorrow and will leave it there for the week and return the following Saturday to pick it up. That means I’ll be without a laptop for Gadgeteer writing for the next 7 days. How will I survive? I plan to use my HUAWEI MediaPad M5 Android tablet for casual tasks like checking my email, approving site comments, and reading my news feeds. But for real work, I’ve busted out my 3-year-old Dell XPS 13.

I rarely use this laptop, so I took it with me to work today to install all the updates (there was at least a dozen!) so it would be ready to go tomorrow once I turned my MacBook over to the doctors at the MacExperience store.

I used it a little bit today and was surprised by how nice the keyboard felt compared to what I’ve been living with lately. Even the trackpad which gave me troubles back when I was first reviewing this laptop felt fine to me.

Of course, this is a Windows 10 laptop and even though I use a Windows 8 laptop all day long at my day job, I have been firmly planted in the macOS camp when it comes to my Gadgeteer/home use computing. So I think this will be a fun trial by fire experiment for the next 7 days and it might even make me seriously consider switching back to a Windows laptop when it comes time for me to buy my next computer.

I’ll be sure to let you all know how things are going in a few days. And please send get well thoughts to my MacBook 🙂

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Julie’s gadget diary – My MacBook has to go to the hospital originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on June 29, 2018 at 5:25 pm.

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