Apple Watch - a revolution?

 Wearing an Apple Watch has been uneventful.

So far the most used function is to unlock my computer which takes about the same as me typing in the password.

Most annoying part is having to charge another device. Yes, I don't miss having to charge another gadget.

In ideal world I wish I could leave the phone at home and just rely on Apple watch for all my communication needs but that's far from that. For example my gym has an app with a barcode to sign in but no apple watch version. So I need to bring my phone anyways. And if I have my phone I don't need apple watch.

Navigating with apple maps and watch displays the turns with taps on the wrist to remind you. I like that as it is useful not to miss the exit.

Overall I am underwhelmed. I think I will use the watch for tracking fitness classes and sleep but from my previous experience having that data does nothing in reality. In my opinion living worry free has much greater impact on a good nights sleep.

Until Apple Watch can replace my phone it is not that useful. And currently it does not so if you want to free yourself from iPhone and migrate to the Watch current state of things does not allow it.

However as a discrete notification device Apple Watch delivers. With ringer off I still get taps on my wrist for calls and messages that need not be missed and that is useful.

I have tested Apple Watch SE gen2 44mm, Apple Watch SE gen2 40mm and Stainless Series 8 41mm. I have to say that having a display on all the time makes the watch so much more useful that in retrospect I would skip SE for missing that feature all together. And smaller size of "ladies" watch is just fine for me as I prefer not to wear gargantuan timepieces lately in fashion. In this case less is more.

Smart Watch Saga Continues - Apple Watch SE v2 is en route through eBay

 I have decided to get an Apple Watch SE2 44mm as my new notification device. 

I've been using Fitbit Ionic and although it is excellent on battery life (I get 3-4 days of use before I charge it) the only feature it has that my iPhone does not is heart rate monitor. Sleep tracking is interesting, but I just don't see much benefit from it. For notifications I do get them on Ionic, but it is somehow not consistent and thus I am not a big fan. 

I am hoping that Apple watch will have rock solid messaging and phone notifications as that is what I need when I can't have my phone on me (exercise classes, rock climbing, swimming, etc.) 

Having cellular connectivity is a plus although I seem to carry my phone with me most of the time. Visible charges $5 a month for adding an Apple Watch to my account and I am looking forward to see how well it works.

I have been curious about Apple Watch Ultra but before I commit I would like to get a taste of experience which SE2 should be able to provide.

At the end I am looking for quality of life improvements. If my life becomes better due to the tech - then it is worth it. If not - then it just adds to an experience (hopefully not in frustration).

Smart Watch Update - 2023 Summer Edition

 I've been rocking Samsung Galaxy Active 2 (died after hot tub submersion) and then Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 (I had to take it off as my Sony Xperia 1 mk3 died after our trip to the beach).

I tried re-pairing Samsung Galaxy 5 to my iPhone just to find out that it can not be done. Bummer.

So now I am at the crossroads of either getting another Android phone, another iPhone compatible watch (Apple Watch probably), both or neither.

Let's refresh what I use the watch for.

Most useful feature is picking up a call when the phone is stuck somewhere out of reach. There were several times when I was able to answer the call from childrens school or my mom when otherwise I would had to let it go to voicemail. Useful, but with planning it all can be done with a phone.

 Sleep tracking - the phone lets me know how I slept. However, if I had a terrible night I already know and  tracker or no tracker is going to help me. 

I though the tracker could let me know if I am getting sick or being stressed out but that tech is not there. 

Exercise tracking - I could make it keep track of my heart rate and calorie counting but as I join either the group class that has a rhythm of its own or just follow the workout over headphones again the smart watch is just a glorified timer.

For hiking I would set the watch, but the same can be done with the phone.

For walking I tried using the watch but the constant buzzing if I decided to slow down to take a picture or keep up with the kids make it an annoyance on Samsung.

My conclusion is that I will probably try an Apple watch Ultra to see how it fits my lifestyle as a hands free calling is useful but I am in no hurry as the "wrist computer" doesn't have a killer feature that I must have. And I have missed my old Seiko for way too long.

The best camera is the one you have availabe at moments notice

Los Angeles Zoo - Giraffe Feeding

The camera you use the most is the one you have with you. But let's not kid ourselves - cell phone cameras still leave a lot to be desired - I still prefer the ergonomics and image control of a stand alone camera. Why would I want to use an inferior cell phone camera when I have superior dedicated one?

I've been always carrying camera in a camera bag with its lenses and accessories when I am on the move. That made camera less accessible for spontaneous shots.

I never liked camera straps as I felt they left cameras exposed and more vulnerable to damage by dangling next to the body. I always preferred to have a hand strap (the one I've owne was with Canon 1DS Mk3). However, with a camera "in hand" you don't have a free hand when needed. So I would carry a small bag to place the camera into when not shooting. This strategy works relatively well but prevents grab shots as it takes about 30 seconds to get the camera out of the bag and shooting. 

To have camera accessible at moments notice it either needs to be in your hand or within a grabbing distance. I've done some research on YouTube and Reddit and decided to try a Blackrapid strap system. There are 3 parts to the system - strap itself, FastenR5 attachment point that screws into your cameras tripod mount socket and ConectR swivel carabine. Swivel carbine slides up and down the webbing material strap so you can quickly get camera up to your eye level to grab the shot. 

I've picked up a used strap with a storage pocket on top of it - that sounded like a good idea, but by placing a spare battery in a top pocket it made the strap unbalanced and it kept shifting forward/back around my shoulder and made it less than ideal for carbine to slide up unhindered. At the end I placed nothing in the "pocket" area to maximize padding comfort. Also I shortened the strap to have camera hang above the hips to prevent the camera banging into the side of my leg. The camera did not interfere with my LL Bean Traveler fanny pack that I wear as well for carrying my phone and wallet. 

I am also going to try the Blackrapid strap with a stabilizing strap running under the armpit to prevent sliding. Whichever strap works better that's the one I am going to keep. I am also curious about Spider holsters - I've seen photogs use them more than once. I might try them as well in the future as I do like hanging things around my waist.

Is "premium data" a money grab by the carriers?

What is "premium data"? Many carriers advertise that as a feature yet no one is clearly defining what it is. Carriers want you to be very scared when you run out of "premium data". Lets look at AT&T postpaid offerings: AT&T UNLIMITED PREMIUM℠ PLAN - "Unlimited talk, text, & high-speed data that can’t slow down based on how much you use" which is unlimited premium data. AT&T UNLIMITED EXTRA® PLAN - "Unlimited talk, text, data + 50GB of Premium Data. After 50GB, AT&T may temporarily slow data speeds if the network is busy." AT&T UNLIMITED STARTER® PLAN - "Unlimited talk, text & data. AT&T may temporarily slow data speeds if the network is busy." Only Premium plan offers unlimited premium data. Extra has 50gb of it, and Starter has NO premium data. What does it all mean? Every network has a capacity limit based on chanels of wireless connectivity and connection to the cell site. For example, if the backhaul to the cell cite has capacity of 10GB/s that is the maximum bandwith for all users connected. Now if you have enough users to exceed total of 10 GB/s throughput non-premium users have their speeds throttled and "premium" users should get faster speeds. But what if there is not too many people connected? In reality I find my "non-premium" data just fine. I don't see a difference when streaming audio or video. So in reality it does not matter.

Mobile Phone Adventures in 2022 recap

Following last year I've decided to experience Google Fi. First step was to port the number from Google Voice and that's where things started to go wrong. After waiting for 5 days the port by Fi was not finished. I checked with Spectrum Mobile to see if they could port in the number. They said they could but... Fi never ported the number in. Spectrum has ported the number in but assigned it to a wrong person and I got a theirs number assigned to me! It took me 3 months to resolve the issue but at the end I got my original number back. I had to contact Spectrum VP offices and I got a special liaison assigned who was indispensable in making the process move forward. But it was quite a battle with countless hours wasted on the phone. I did try out Google Fi and it works great on my Sony Xperia mk3. I got 5G signal, WiFi calling and international accessibility. Then I decided to try it out on my iPhone 12 Mini. That's where Fi falls flat as LTE coverage is quite spotty. I would get interruptions in my streams, and voice call quality was on the borderline unusable. As I frequently switch between phones that was not acceptable for my main line. So for now I keep Fi line for international use. I have the line being "paused". I still have my main number on Spectrum Mobile but soon I will be moving on. Spectrum runs on Verizon network and although the voice quality is much better than T-Mobile it is still not as good as AT&T. So I have got $25 AT&T prepaid line and it has been working well besides being little low on data (8GB a month). I have signed up with Boost Infinite who provide 30GB of data a month for $25. I've been with them for past week and so far so good. I wonder how the prepaid AT&T and Boost will do when traveling to Mexico. Spectrum drops the connection to 3G (HSPDA) and it is barely useable. If I get 3G connections on AT&T and Boost then Fi is definite way to go. With Fi I was getting 4G (LTE) or even 5G connections (in Helsinki airport). And if I am traveling abroad and relying on mobile for anything more than couple days I will invest into local prepaid SIM card which is usually much much cheaper and has larger data allotment. I've looked into AT&T postpaid as I qualified for a "discount" through work and Fiber, but at the end Elite plan was still over $50 and was gonna go up after the credits expired - I did not feel it was worth it. To finish the year with a bang I've dropped my iPhone 12 Mini on concrete and put several fracture lines onto the screen. But even before that I've noticed that the screen was scratching very easily. Conclusion is that Apple's "ceramic shield" is not that hard in comparison to my Pixel phones. I've gotten a used Pixel 4 to check out and it compares very favorably against iPhone 12 mini. Pixel 4 face unlock works in vertical or horizontal vs only vertical on iPhone. Built in rubber bumper of Pixel 4 allows you to use it without the case as there is sufficient grip to hold it comfortably and firmly. iPhone needs the case just to be able to hold it without dropping, and even with the case (Spigen) it shattered on impact. I tried putting on the case on Pixel 4 (Otterbox Defender) but the buttons were too stiff to be able to operate camera comfortably and I could not use "squeeze" functionality so now I use the phone bare. If it broke I would just replace it as it would be still cheaper than replacing the screen on iPhone 12 Mini ($229 at Apple). I think I will just get a screen protector and that way prevent from cracks getting worse. I don't feel them with my finger anyways and screen/digitizer work 100%. At the end you have to be aware where and how you use your phone - if there are the deadzones and how much data you need. Based on that you can find a plan that fits without breaking the bank.

Android Adventures in 2022 - from Sony Xperia 1 mk3 to Google Pixel 6 and back

Little bit of background - it all has started when my iPhone 7 Plus started uploading gigabytes of data over cellular. If you were on an unlimited plan you probably won't even notice, but I wasn't and I did. I contacted Apple (the phone was still under warranty, I bought it refurbished from Apple) but after a month of data dumps and analysis nothing came out of it. I lost trust in iPhone for the first time after using them since iPhone 3G. I wanted the Android experience and narrowed down the choices to either Samsung Galaxy or Google Pixel. I didn't want to buy a used phone with an exausted battery so I shopped manufacturers refurbished sites. I didn't find anything on Samsung, but ran across refurbished Pixel 3. Pixel 3 was a great phone. It came with Android 9 or 10 and I used 11 with it. Eventually I updated it to the last version - Android 12 which is the last update it will get. The phone also came with unlimited ORIGINAL Photo and Video storage, but later that got reduced to Storage Saver mode, while still unlimited. Pixel 3 had a good camera, but I was also shooting my Sony A7r mk3 and was able to transfer photos to Pixel to be uploaded to the cloud. It woked great as Pixel 3 provided GPS information for the photos as well AND the uploads did not count to my cloud usage as they came through Pixel 3 phone. I also found out that on Android it is possible to upload to the cloud services in the background - unlike iOS. On iPhone I had to keep Google Photos or Synology Memories in the forground for the uploads to take place - quite a hassle as Apple tried to herd you to use Apple Photos which does upload in the background. Eventually I got enamored with Android and decided to take a leap with a current "spec champ" Sony Xperia 1 mk3. This phone has it all - dual SIMs, expandable storage (at the cost of one SIM slot), triple lens camera system - the works. It looks pretty good too to me. So I took the plunge and picked one up. Honeymoon did not last too long. I found out that the shutter had a long delay and shots of my kids were quite chalenging. Also, I experienced regular lockups of camera app - just as you launch it it would not start and the only way to get it working again was a phone reboot. Eventually the microphone failed and I had it repaired by Sony. Lesson to be learned - even when specs are making you salivate the reality is what matters. I decided to go for Pixel experience as I had good luck with Pixel 3. I picked up a new and shiny Pixel 6. Pixel 6 was a good phone although I could not get eSIM to work on AT&T prepaid plan. Phone support tried and failed, at the store I was told that only on iPhone prepaid eSIM would work. Postpaid would work on Pixel 6, but it was not what I had. So back it went to Google. People complained a lot about the phone but I did not experience those issues - yes, the touch ID was little slow but it still worked and "Hey Google" response was immediate unlike on Sony where I had to call several times. But I was back where I started - Pixel 3 and iPhone 7+. I also did not want a large phone. Pixel 6 was pretty big - big enough for me to get uncomfortable holding phone while in bed. I wanted something small. So I got iPhone 12 Mini through Apple refurbished program. And that's where I am now. I am no longer craving "Pixel 7 Pro" or "iPhone 14 Pro" because they are not that better than my current one. iPhone 12 Mini is a fluid single handed user phone. It is not a phablet or a folder but it does what I want it too. If the phone does what you want it to comfortably then you don't need another phone.