iPhone SE rant

A few weeks ago Apple announced their “new” smartphone, the iPhone SE. I say “new” because it’s not exactly a new, jaw-dropping design. What Apple did was to release the iPhone 5S…again.

From every angle you look at it there is no denial that this is the exact same hardware as the iPhone 5S, which had the exact same hardware as the iPhone 5…which came out in 2012! So Apple now takes the stage with a phone that basically has a 4 year old design and they’re saying that this is the phone many of us will want to buy. And in my case they are 100% right!

So during my year of absence from the blogging world I also finally took the dive and ditched my android powered Moto X for a new and shiny iPhone 6S. And I really enjoy my phone even tho it costed me a small fortune. However, now Apple took almost everything that makes my phone a 6S and somehow made it fit inside an old iPhone 5S.

It has the same 12MP camera as the 6S, it has the same functions on the front facing camera (with the screen “flash” and live pictures) and it’s now compatible with Apple Pay.

Many people have criticized this move saying that Apple aren’t doing anything innovative right now, that they are going backwards, that this is not the phone that they were expecting etc. Yes, that’s the point! Of course it’s not the phone you were expecting, that’s the iPhone 7 coming later this year! Yes, Apple is going back…back to their roots, to the days when they we’re providing stable and fast mobile experiences and performance from a 4 inch phone while everyone else was going bigger and bigger in screen size.

I’m not sure if that was the reason or not, but anyway I will agree that a bigger screen has its advantages. However if I want a bigger screen I can to my laptop, or I can get a tablet and use that. I am a bit of fan of the minimalism so for that reason every time that I picked up an iPhone 5 or 5S I just loved the way it felt in my hand. Here’s why:

• It has sharp edges, which means it won’t slip out of my hands even without a case.
• My thumb can reach all 4 corners of the screen, which means I have an entire hand available for…other activities while doing stuff on my phone.
• It doesn’t stretch my pockets when carrying it around. It fits nicely and doesn’t take up a lot of space.

But I’ll admit it’s not all just fun and games. There are a couple of drawbacks:

• Typing on the 5/5S takes some time to get used to as suddenly the keyboard is smaller than what I’m used to.
• Apple made sure not to include 3D touch technology on this phone. Many people still consider it a gimmick, but I actually like it and use it every day.
• No one will know how awesome (and expensive) your phone is. Now you have to go to everyone and specifically tell them that you have the iPhone SE not the 5 or 5S. That is if you’re that kind of a douchebag.

What I’m trying to say is that I believe Apple are going in the right direction here. So far the only other company that were putting high-spec parts in a small(er) device were Sony with their “Compact” lineup. I don’t wanna hear about the “mini” variants from Samsung, HTC, LG or others. Those come with “mini” versions of the processors and cameras and internal storage as well. If I knew back in October that this phone was coming and that it would look identical to the 5S, honestly I would’ve waited for it. I like the design. It brings back a sense of nostalgia and I just have a familiar feeling of robustness and sturdiness when holding it.

What’s your thoughts on it? Would you go back to an old design with brand new specs or do you simply like the bigger form factor and design of the 6/6S?

 

 

How is Apple changing the industry

Apple has been in the tech game for a very long time and along its history, many have stated that Apple reshaped the way we think about our tech and the way we use it. Others say that Apple revolutionized the world and invented cool new stuff for us to use. And then there are others that just don’t care or that say that Apple did nothing extraordinary. I personally think it’s a bit of all.

Apple is claiming to be a company who’s goal is to offer customers with the most personal, easy to use and beautiful technologies, ranging from music players, to desktops, to laptops, to phones, tablets and more recently watches. And there is no doubt, people love apple products. Pretty much from the ’90’s onward, Apple has been a force to recon with, building beautiful PC that had a simple interface and that got the job done for people. It allowed many to discover the beauty of a PC and moved that futuristic piece of technology from your office, into your living room. Then in 2001 Apple launched the iPod which made having all your favorite songs with you at all times much more easier than it was before. Then it went on with laptops, and then it announced the iPhone, which set the standard for what we now call a “smartphone”. A couple of years later it announced the tablet, and then everybody wanted and loved it, and know they are going with smartwatches. But did they really changed the industry?

Most of the success Apple had in the past was not due to some crazy new technology they invented, it was because of the way they were thinking about the problems of the time. Take the iPod for example: Apple didn’t invent the mp3 player, they just came up with a better way of using the technology of the time. And they knew how to market it. Same goes for most of their greatest hits, not necessarily new inventions, but mostly rethinking, reinventing the uses of the technologies available. They did have some inventions trully to themselves, and the first one that comes to mind is the iTunes Store, which was a new way to advertise music and that helped the music industry develop and join the 21st century. But what all of these inventions and reinventions did was make Apple a huge name, a fierce competitor and something other companies tend to aspire to and something they want to become. And now Apple is using its influence to change the industry.

Apple is now using their momentum to shift the tech world in the direction they think it’s best, and they are right now a key element for setting new standards for the industry. It’s been like this for a few years: they were among the first to get rid of the floppy disk and soon enough everybody else did. They did the same with flash extentions on their devices and now they are doing it again with the USB-C ports. And because it’s the most recent, it’s also the fact that caught my eye:

Last year, Nokia announced the N1 Tablet that came with a usb type C charging port. And nobody really cared. That was the first time that I’ve heard about the USB type C and I thought to myself “yeah, it’s a nice technology, who knows in how many years will see it become mainstream”. Well, looks like it only took a few months because now Apple has started using it and everybody wants to know what it is, what it does and how to get it. Now Apple aren’t the only one doing it: Google announced a Chromebook that uses the same technology, but somehow I doubt that Google has the same power to push out a new standard as Apple does.

This is the love and hate thing about the Cupertino based company: they can get away with pretty much anything because of the huge momentum that they have: if Google, HP, Asus, or anyone else released a new laptop with just a single port, that being a new USB type C port, the whole world would’ve laugh and ignore them completely. Apple did it and while there were some comments, I believe people are still going to buy it. Same goes for their new $10.000 smartwatch,

So they might just reuse some existing technologies, and they might just have a really good marketing team, but the fact is that right now they are a huge force of the industry, one that is by no means conservative and that has a big impact on the direction the industry is heading. And that’s how Apple is changing the industry.

 

Angry Birds must die!

Twooruuut-too! Or whatever’s the sound those weird little pissed off birds make when you launch them from a giant slingshot. Let’s face it: is there anyone with internet access that hasn’t heard of Angry Birds? Thought so; it is one of the most popular games for mobile phones, and for good reasons too! It’s fun, challenging and kinda addictive. But it has to stop! Let’s take a walk on memory lane:

A few years ago the world around me was split in three categories: those with iPhones, those with normal phones and a few here and there with Android. I was in the middle category at the time, and at one point while on the subway I saw that every other person was on their iPhone 3G(S) or the new 4 playing a weird game with what looked to me like colorful balls: you were supposed to throw the red and yellow ones into the green ones. Then I saw it was about round birds doing a suicidal kamikaze-like dive into green round pigs. Weird. But funny! Them I kept staring left and right and I learned the name and what it was about.
Fast forward a few months and I got an Android phone too! And by that time Angry Birds became available to the mortals using Android, so I had to have it. After a few centuries of waiting for it to download and install, I started playing: it was moving with probably 1-2 frames per second and when I was finally able to launch my bird the app would probably freeze till it reached the pigs. Yep, that’s how bad my first Android was! So no Angry Birds for me. Just an Angry Me.

Fast forward a few years, and I got a Windows Phone. And I got Angry Birds again. Actually I PAYED for it! (the next day it went on sale for free for a few days) That’s how much I wanted to play that game! It was really addictive and fun in the weirdest of weird ways. I was launching exploding birds into green pigs with mustaches. I was like “wtf logic?” but I was happy doing it. But it was funny, it was challenging, it was weird in the way fun games should be. It was frustrating when you got stuck for a few days on one level and it was greatly satisfying to see all those pigs die in the end (green bacon, yummy!). But then it all started to be a bit too much.

After the first game with its hundreds of levels, came another one, this one themed by seasons. After that came one themed after a movie. Then they were in space. Then in Star Wars. Then somewhere else, then back in Star Wars, then the pigs were flying away from them, then they were in Go-Karts and now they’re in Transformers! Not to mention that over time you could see them in pretty much every shop: Angry Birds toys, key rings, Lego, books, pens, furniture etc. I think the only thing I didn’t see was a Angry Birds condom. And by this time I’m like: “could you please stop trying to get into everything I like and enjoy!?”. I get it: you like the game, you like the idea, you enjoy playing it, that’s great! But why do a million spin offs that are basically the same birds only flying towards something else beside pigs, when you could just keep adding more and more levels to that original game. Give that game a million levels and that’s that.

Right now I don’t even like playing Angry Birds because every time I think about the name I keep thinking about how much it tries to still be part of our lives. I’m still waiting to see: “Angry Birds: The Hobbit Edition” or something like that. I will probably at some point go back to the original game for a few more sleepless nights killing pigs, but that doesn’t change the fact that every time I hear about a new Angry Bird, I become even angrier and wanna slingshot myself out of here.

How about you? Are you a hardcore Angry Birds fan? Have you ever been? Which is your favorite Angry Birds game (if any)?

 

Can your parents keep up with technology?

A 98 year old man is emailing his grandchildren to keep in touch with them. A 50 year old mom doesn’t have a PC. Parents are a weird thing: as we are young they are (in our eyes) the wisest and most up-to-date persons in the world. As we grow up we discover that’s not always the case, and we also discover Google and we get to that point in life when our lives are connected to the internet, but our parents are still in the land of 8 o’clock news and primitive cellphones.

Recently I was browsing the web and I stumbled across this article about a 98 year old man uses the internet to keep up to date with things that are important to him. And I think that is brilliant! For some reason it makes me very happy to know that older people keep adapting to our always changing world and I have a real strong respect for them. And it also made me think about how my parents are trying to adapt to this internet-dependent era. The answer? Well…. there is some potential but it needs some work (and by “some” I mean “a lot”). What I did notice was that if you want something to change, you have to change something yourself. You can’t expect those around you to suddenly change if you don’t do something to make the change needed.

As I was growing up, after I got my first PC and started loosing nights just staying awake and clicking away, I was the go-to person for anything computer related. Sending a mail, searching something Google, creating a table in Word, moving a file from the PC to a memory stick, those were all things that my parents asked me to do for them and I, as a young and enthusiastic child, was more than happy to help them.

When I got older and I first moved away from them things changed a bit: my father was pretty good with Word editing and sending emails even before that, and my mother, as I left, learned how to write a mail by herself and how to attach something to a mail, although she would still call me from time to time to make sure she got it right.

But we would still see each other really often and on those occasions I was the IT guy once again. Then my father had to go on a business trip to China for a week, and when he got back he was pretty convinced that a laptop or a smartphone would have helped him more on that trip. So I helped him get a smartphone. And introduced him to WhatsApp, emails on the phone and Google searches. Surprisingly enough he started using them and remembered what I once told him: “If in doubt, Google is your friend!”. I wish I would have had the same luck with my mother. While my father called me and called the telephone company to complain when his mobile internet was down (which sounds like a teenager move) my mother can’t really see the difference between having or not having an internet connection on her smartphone. She’ll read her whatsapp messages one or two weeks late, I would get her’s late as well, but she doesn’t really mind it. She likes her phone cause she can take photos and can make phone calls.

Then I moved further away from my  parents and now the cheapest way to communicate was Skype. So, I thought them how to Skype. My mother likes the idea, and when she has time she might call me on Skype for a few minutes and still ask me how to save a file from her computer to her memory stick (drag&drop isn’t exactly her strong point), but now she uses her phone to get email notifications that she reads from her PC. So I guess that’s ok.

My father had another approach. Not having much time, he wanted Skype on his mobile phone. I was surprised, shocked, but willing to help. So earlier this year I got him an iPhone 4S. I was pretty confident that he could handle the transition from Android to iOS, but I didn’t expect what happened next. He actually loves his phone now. He calls me on Skype sometimes from his phone to ask me about different apps he found on the app store, he sends me random photos of things he finds funny on WhatsApp and mail, he started using the mail app on his phone almost as much as he uses it on his computer. And that says a lot. Not to mention that now he is a passionate YouTube user. He doesn’t have an account (yet) but uses it to find all the long lost songs of his childhood and sends some of them to me via email.

And, both my parents have random moments when they decide they want a Facebook account. And weird enough I find that kinda scary.

But I think my father will end up just great in this digital, always online era. My mother…she will struggle a bit, but if she is happy with what she has, for me it’s all that matters.

How are your parents holding up? Are they online as much as you or do they prefer to stick to the traditional newspaper for news and classic phone for talking?