The OnePlus 13R is the best Android phone I've used

 Google keeps sending e-mails about their new watch, their new phones.  I'm not buying them.  The Pixel 10 is apparently less fast than the Pixel 9, even with an expensive foundry change to 3nm process.

 

Why does Google bother? My Pixel 6a was a good three years behind the competition in power.  Since the Pixel 9, they were only a few months behind the rest.  Now, they're further back again.

I've gone through a few Android devices:

• LG Optimus S
• Google Nexus 7 (Nvidia)
• Google Nexus 7 (ASUS) 
• Lenovo Tab M8 FHD
• OnePlus 8T
• Google Pixel 6a
• Razer Edge WiFi
• OnePlus 13R

There is more history in that list than I care to remember.  The bright spots are the OnePlus devices.

 The OnePlus 8T used the Snapdragon 865.  I heard about the Snapdragon 888 overheating and didn't want to deal with that.  The good thing was that the 8T was smooth and configured as if it meant to get an iPhone user to like it.  It had a beautiful display and smooth scrolling.

The OnePlus 13R is a lot like the 8T in my mind.  The big difference is that time has brought more powerful processors.  The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC is quite powerful and includes Adreno (Radeon?) 750, which is reasonable.  Heat is a slight issue but it never shows a "cooling down" message as the Razer Edge does with its Snapdragon G3X.  Having UFS 4.0 storage is good and 12 GB of RAM is enough. I haven't tried to use Gemini or Copilot, even though they are pre-loaded.  I have used Google Assistant in the past, especially when I couldn't see the Pixel 6a display outside.

Playing games with either is satisfying but obviously, the extra power of the 13R helps.  The Razer Kishi V2 works with the 13R, but not the 8T.  However, the Razer Kishi V2 Pro does not work with either.  It doesn't work with my overheating, then melting Razer Edge, either.

 I have not tried the cameras but I'm sure that they're more than adequate.  I have a micro Four-Thirds camera body, as well as a 135 Format camera body, so phone cameras are adequate to more than adequate.

These are phones that would have me switch from iPhone to Android.  However, my iPhone 15 is my current phone and it's a good size for me to carry. 

Apple's Home Button is dead and gone: iPhone 16e

 I've been using Apple devices with a Home Button since the 2nd generation iPod touch around 2009.

With the iPhone 16e, the Home Button is gone.  There is still a fingerprint reader in some iPad Power Buttons but that's it.  The iPhone 16e has Face ID, along with a passcode to secure the device.

As someone who has kept with the original aesthetic through the 2022 iPhone SE, I'm not sure that I want to switch, but will probably do it just to arrive sooner than later.  I dislike the inane gestures, and there won't be any substitutes as there are on Android.  People around me have switched and when they need help, we struggle a fair amount.

The price is up US$170 with a minimum storage size of 128 GB in contrast to the 64 GB base of the 2022 iPhone SE.  When I bought the 2020 and 2022 models, I paid the extra $150 up front to get the 256 GB model.  Then, the 2020 was $0.00 per month (for 18 months) with credits and the 2022 as $1.25 per month (for 24 months) with credits.  If I remember correctly, I had a pay off at the end of the 2020 plan.  I would expect to pay something like $3.75 per month for the iPhone 16e.

What's good is that it has a version of the iPhone 16 SoC (System on a Chip), just as the 2022 iPhone SE had a version of the iPhone 13 SoC.  It's probably not as powerful, but better than the competition and 40% faster than the 2022 iPhone SE.  It has more RAM for games and AI.  I have zero use for AI right now.  In 30 years, it will probably be very useful.  Right now, it's an infant and I don't want to change diapers.

It also has the Apple-developed 5G cellular modem that they bought from Intel who bought from someone else. The modem in the 2022 iPhone SE isn't particularly quick but it is reliable.  This new one is the first of its kind.  It might work okay.  Supposedly, there are some outstanding patent issues they need to settle.  It does not support the infamous mmWave, which is just fine with me.  Who will be close enough to the tower, without obstructions, to actually use mmWave connections?

I hope that the OLED technology is at least as reliable as the LCD is on the current model.  It's a 60 Hz OLED display and that could mean problems scrolling.  I've seen how bad that could be with the Google Pixel 6a.  I don't care to revisit such a situation with an iPhone.

They replaced the 12 MP camera sensor with 48 MP and a 26 MP telephoto mode.  That's more than either of my camera bodies and they will still have better image quality because they're not trying to squeeze so much into a small space.  I have referred to this as a noisy bus.  The bus is nice and quiet with a few passengers, but when you overload it and have people standing in the aisle, people will be unhappy and complain.  The size of most phone sensors is tiny.

All that said, if you're looking for an iPhone, the 16e is a place to start.  It's only US$100 cheaper than the next available phone.  You can get less expensive Android-based phones.  If you're looking for something Android, take a look at OnePlus.  I saw a deal on a 120 Hz OLED display, 12 GB of RAM, 256 GB of storage, and a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for US$599.  It's a OnePlus 13R.

Update 2025.02.27: Apparently, the 16e has better battery life than the iPhone 16, and the 5G modem is partly responsible.

Update 2025.03.07: I just bought an iPhone 15 with my 2022 iPhone SE going back as a trade-in device.  It won't be as powerful as the 16e but it will have a better display.  At about US$1.50 more per month for 24 months, it wasn't a huge difference.  I would normally wait for Memorial Day deals but I don't care for the iPhone 16e.  I'm not saying that it's a bad phone.  It's just not a good choice for me.

With the iPhone 15 having a better SoC than the iPhone 13 generation, I'll have better power but not ultimate power.  Being pushed into a 6.1 inch display, I'd rather have one that is a bit better.  I'm not sure the extra camera module will have any significance.  I'd rather take a real camera with me.

Update 2025.03.11: The iPhone 15 is good.  There was lots of updating and the side-by-side phone transfer did not work, except for the SIM to eSIM  part.  I connected the cable between Mac and phone to restore.  Just finished with with operating system updates last night and there was a new one with security updates.  I guess their separate security update thing isn't working or they forgot how to use it. 

People on MacRumors are mentioning that the iPhone 16e is good and that they're happy with it.

Update 2025.03.19: I've been learning the inane gestures since there is no Home Button.

I can get the Control Center to work and there are three different pages, unlike the smaller display version.

I can somewhat reliably bring up the App Switcher, but sometimes, it just doesn't want to work in one swipe.  The App Carousel swipe at the bottom works okay.

Switching between Home Pages works the same as on the small screen.

Editing Home Pages requires press-and-hold in an empty area.

 I suppose it's not so bad, but it's certainly difficult to change from 15-16 years of doing everything with the Home Button. 

Update 2025.05.20: A week or so ago, I saw a security update for the Apple-designed C1 modem.  I have not seen anyone complaining about the modem itself.  The iPhone 16e seems to work well.  It just wasn't for me.  I'm getting better at the plethora of inane gestures required to use the phone well.

When I'm using a timer or waiting for Uber, it's convenient to see the status in that dark spot at the top.

 When I was walking through Target, I saw the prices on the iPhone display and I could only shake my head.  When I was buying the iPhone 8, the iPhone X was US$999 and that was just a bit shocking.  However, my Motorola StarTac in 1999 was $1599 down to $9.95.  It was a Digital PCS phone, but also had access to analog signals.  The least expensive full price phones I recall were Nokia for US$149.99 or $99.99 for the cut rate model.

In any case, Apple is still selling phones and the phones and computers have been exempted from the tariffs, thanks to $1 million for someone's inauguration fund.  I bought at the right time, though.

Android 15, errrr, 16 on a Pixel 6a

 It's been about a week since Android version 15 arrived on my Pixel 6a.  I just got a security update, as well.

I haven't seen a difference, positive or negative.  Being a stable operating system is the best thing about Android right now.

My replacement Razer Edge is still on Android version 12 and recently got a security update.

Update 2025.09.04: Grrr Razer Edge is dead and Pixel 6a is on Android 16 but it is stable.  The OnePlus 13R is on Android 15 and it's a smoother interface than what Google has.

Trouble with Blogger, Probably done blogging Update: Fixed

I recently went into one of my blog entries and it wasn't the typical text editor I normally see. It was the HTML editor and it said that I had problems with the HTML that needed to be corrected. I have never messed with the HTML side all of the years I've been using Blogger. I went to some entry that I'd done over a year ago, and that text was shown in HTML mode with an error message that there was a problem with HTML coding.

Just now, the entry looks completely off, as if they've made a change without testing it. I need to finish now, as I won't be able to trust the editing process. I would notify them, but they don't seem to make it easy to do that. I'm not sure that it's worthwhile to continue blogging, as only a handful of people read what I write. Some of the older entries have nearly 1000 views but that's over a rather long period of time. 

Be well!

 I will be at my new blog. 

Update 2024.11.18: Interesting.  Someone at Blogger must have noticed a problem.  The editor seems to be happier with my text now.

Update 2025.07.22: It's been about 2.5 days that the same problem is happening again.  Someone at Google should test what they're doing.  At least this blog entry is simple.

Disappointed in Apple announcements

 While a new set of phones is an annual happening, I'm surprised that Apple wouldn't try to be more giving.

The iPhone 16 will have USB, type C connectors but will have USB 2.0, 480 Mbps speed.  The Pro models will have 10 Gbps speed.

The iPhone 16, 16 Plus, 16 Pro will start with 128 GB of storage, even though the 16 Pro will be US$999.

I can't believe that 10 Gbps speed and 256 GB of storage across the line would have impacted their profit margins so much that they would so negative results.

Apple are just too worried about their balance sheet and not how they're perceived.  It's true that moving to Android would be a huge problem for many people.  Today's crowd seems so convenience-oriented that not getting the exact pumps of mocha they wanted will ruin their whole day.

Long time using Macs

I've been an Apple Mac user since 1993 when Atari was failing and Windows wasn't ready.  My first smart phone was an LG Optimus on Android 1.3, as I recall.  It barely had enough storage to update itself, after I un-installed my applications.  I went to the iPhone 4S afterwards and missed the "you're holding it wrong" problem.  I'd had a second generation iPod touch, so switching wasn't a big change.

I give Apple credit for coming up with some good experiences.  Windows and Android wouldn't be where they are today without Apple's leadership.

When I put MacOS Catalina on my mid-2012 MacBook Pro, Mac users were complaining about how horrible it was.  Just prior to that, I had an Omen by HP (2018) laptop computer and Windows update 1709 ate itself and I had to recover Windows 10 from scratch.

More announcements on the way

They didn't mention Macs.

The pandemic is over and the sales of stay-at-home equipment might never recover.  However, they haven't announced any M4 Macs.  The M4 is barely in iPad.  The iPad mini hasn't been updated since 2021.

If they said that the products will be available by Christmas, it would at least be something more than we've been told to date.  You'd think will the Qualcomm Elite X laptop computers actually out for sale that they'd be more energetic about saying something.  Those machines haven't been as horrible or as great as expected but they're available.  If someone starts converting games to work on ARM, I'll be ready on my M1 MacBook Air.  With all of the development studio closures and the layoffs, I'm not sure any of that will be happening soon.  The Resident Evil engine is working on ARM, just fine, though.

Maybe, there aren't enough M4-series SoC to make enough MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac Studio, and Mac Mini units.  They might as well ditch the Mac Pro line.  They screwed that up.  For something similar, Qualcomm is supposedly hiring Intel engineers to likely create desktop machines with interfaces to outside devices, such as graphics cards and internal drives.

Apple needs to "think different" because doing the same thing year-after-year isn't great.  Their security is better than the others but they tend to put certain software updates on the back burner until they make the news report.  Microsoft wouldn't even bother to respond in most cases, but would point the finger at someone else, if necessary.

Extensible Macs?

Will there ever again be Macs that have replaceable storage, graphics hardware, or memory?

I bought my M1 MacBook Air with as much as I could get.  It was 1 TB of storage, 16 GB of RAM, and the most cores that the SoC had available.  Even refurbished, it cost quite a bit.  Compared to an Intel quad-core i7, it was a huge step-up in performance.  The graphics hardware still needs more work to compete with AMD or Nvidia but compared to the GeForce 650M or 1050 mobile, it was good.

The EU is calling for removable, easily-replaceable batteries for phones.  Apple pretty quickly abandoned replaceable batteries in Macs back in 2012.  That's why my previous "last" Mac was from the series just before that.  My M1 MacBook Air doesn't have a thing that I can change easily.

Computers aren't as disposable as phones.  I've had 20 year old computers that were slow but fine.  Getting 5.25 inch floppy diskettes to not degrade is another matter.

Apple has shown and sold us machines that need their help to be repaired.  Can they do better?

Have the watches really changed?

I didn't mention the Apple Watch at all, until now.  I don't know that there is anything truly compelling, except for Sleep Apnea detecting.  The size has changed somewhat and the charging is better somewhat.  They haven't figured a way to speed up the transfer of updates to the watch, I'm sure, and I don't remember my 2nd generation iPod touch being so slow, even if it really was.

My Series 7 Apple Watch is sufficient.  It feels as though Apple has made it worse with each update.  The only good things I can say for it are that the original band is still okay, it detected that my heart rate was 192 BPM, and if I'm out walking to the store and forget to start the Outdoor Walk, it will give me an option to start it around 15 minutes later.

Update 2024.09.16: I was just reading an opinion piece about how iPhone 16 Pro didn't get so many pre-orders/reservations because AI wouldn't be available right away.

I'm thinking that people didn't reserve as many because AI would be forced on them.  Besides, the majority of people are probably spending their money on items that are more important to them.  Spending US$1000 or more probably isn't a priority for them.

Update 2024.09.17: Warning!  Updated to iOS 17.7 and macOS 14.7 today.  Went to California DMV to renew my license.  Filled out the application on my phone through the process to be ready for the window.  I got a notification and my application was GONE.  I could not log into the system through the California DMV app but Apple should have been checking since so many people working there live in California.  Maybe, someone at headquarters will return with a story and the fix will be out next week. 

Update 2024.09.30: Macs and iPad mini are supposed to be announced in October.  Hopefully, every Mac will have an update to M4 processors, including the Mac Pro.  The iPad mini will likely get an iPhone processor and hopefully, one that is an A18.  If the iPhone SE replacement in 2025 gets one and the iPad mini does not, it would be unfortunate.  They should have a fix for the wavy display problem, also.

Update 2024.10.07: Mac Studio and Mac Pro will have to wait until 2025 for upgrades.  The MacBook Air was always going to be delayed until spring, along with the iPhone SE.

Update 2024.10.18: iPad mini has been announced.  Going from the A15 to the A17 Pro will be enough to make it more powerful and just enough to keep it going for a year or two.  The better display hasn't happened.  This is the treatment I expect for the iPhone SE, but then, the iPad mini hasn't been the best seller, since it's almost the only tablet of a smaller size.  When the Google Nexus 7 (2012 and 2013) were new, I would compare those with the iPad mini.  Now, it's difficult to find competition for it.  The last 7 inch tablet I bought had performance like 2012.

This seems like pandemic hangover.  They started planning, were interrupted by the pandemic, and have had a rocky recovery.  Quite a few executives have left Apple in the last couple of years, but that also seems like pandemic hangover.  However, they desperately need a visionary.

Update 2024.10.29: The M4 iMac and Mac mini are out.  The MacBook Pro must be next.  The way executives are leaving, you'd think that Apple don't have a plan. Certainly, this release the products one-by-one without an event has been different.  It doesn't lead to "We watched an hour for...that!" reactions although people can and will complain about anything.

Update 2024.10.30: The M4 MacBook Pro models have been announced.  The good thing about all of these announcements is that the base RAM is 16 GB.  The bad thing is that they didn't increase the minimum storage.  How many can deal with 512 GB?  I'm still cleaning out my 1 TB drive regularly to make sure I have enough room.  It feels as though even a minor installation takes a lot more space than expected.  Obviously, Universal Applications take more space because of two executables--one for Intel and another for Apple Silicon.  We last dealt with such issues when moving from PowerPC to x86.

Even the MacBook Air is now at 16 GB of RAM.  Since the CPU and GPU share RAM, it's important that they have more, but usually macOS is so efficient, you'll barely notice a problem, unless you're working on high resolution video...or playing a AAA game that doesn't exist yet.  There are some of those on the way.

Update 2025.06.13: Since the M4 MacBook Air has been out for a bit, I've been considering a change.  My current M1 MacBook Air is the most complete model.  On Apple's website, the middle selection, configured to 16 GB of RAM, 1 TB of storage, and 10 CPU cores and 10 GPU cores is similar to my MacBook Air, but only $50 extra than what I paid for my refurbished machine.

 What's more, they showed me a $390 trade-in value.  That makes it somewhat affordable although the sales tax is based on the full value.  After 2.5 years, spending another US$1000 to replace this machine might be worth it.  The performance difference is bigger finally. 

 Update 2025.09.04: There are announcements in just under five days for Apple Watch and iPhone and iPad.  Macs should be announced in October.  Will people trade their phones for new models after just one year? 

Deleting Apple's App Store to be available with iOS 18

 Complying with the European Union's Digital Markets Act has been a dance with Apple.  They don't want to lose a huge source of revenue, some of which they should not be receiving.  e.g., Apple shouldn't be receiving any percentage on subscriptions.  They're not adding any value to the subscription.

Out of the various huge Silicon Valley companies, I trust Apple the most but will never trust them fully.  I'm sure they're positioning themselves to have indirect control of your life from your ears to your car.

Had they all all these products 20 years ago, maybe I would be more invested in what they're doing.  Right now, I'm okay with having alternatives.

The Digital Markets Act is giving consumers in the European Union the possibility of alternatives.  It's also giving consumers the chance to fail, to have unusable devices.

Part of compliance is to allow alternatives for everything, including the App Store.  However, the other part is that you'll be able to delete the App Store.  What happens when a consumer deletes the App Store without downloading another?  Perhaps, they can just use a web browser to download another, if they have a web browser available.  However, they might have deleted the installed web browser, also.

We can guess that the world will come together and have similar laws everywhere, eventually.  We can just view what happens in the European Union to anticipate problems elsewhere.  Hopefully, other governments will do better, but it isn't likely.

By the time all of this is settled, will Apple or Google or Microsoft even exist?

Update 2024.10.23: This shows that the Apple apps will be able to be deleted in iOS 18.2, at least, in the European Union.

Razer Edge on the way--It's here!

 If you've been following for a while, you know that I haven't been happy with the Google Pixel 6a.  It was much less powerful than my OnePlus 8T, but compatible with my Razer Kishi V2.  Obviously, I play too many games.

I had been looking for a Razer Phone 2 for a long time, but those days are long gone.  The Razer Edge is only available as a phone on Verizon, and I'm not switching.  Since Android 14 on the Pixel 6a wiped my data, I haven't had an Android phone.  I've been using it on Wi-Fi only.  The Wi-Fi only Razer Edge will be just fine.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon G3X Gen 1 will be so much better than the SoC in either phone.  The Snapdragon 865 in the OnePlus 8T was fine and I got it specifically because the Snapdragon 888 was overheating in several phones.  Hopefully, I won't experience that.

The 144 Hz refresh rate of the OLED display is faster than the 120 Hz of the OnePlus 8T or the 60 Hz of the Google Pixel 6a.  I'm betting not much is ready to use it, though.  There don't seem to be many "holy shit!" games on Android.

 However, even the ligher ones tax the Pixel 6a, which is why I wanted something better.

Newegg has a deal on the Razer Edge with a coupon for US$100 off US$299.99.  Getting a product for 66% is good.

I'm guessing that with Steam Deck doing well and ASUS and Lenovo creating competitors, plus the previous Windows-baseed handhelds, Razer Edge hasn't been the big seller that they had hoped.

The only thing that might be a problem for me is that not all games use Google Play Games for their status updates.  The good thing for me is that, since Android 14 wiped out the other information, I won't be worrying about those other games.  I will likely have to transfer my music from my Google Drive backup.

Update 2024.07.20: It has arrived.  The device directed me to connect the two devices with a cable to copy information.  It connected to my main Android account easily.  That set off the Google warnings immediately.

Then, it updated some system software, asked for permissions, etc.

The strange thing is that it's only using Android 12.  It also didn't copy my second user account and barely copied any of the apps.

There doesn't seem to be a way to add another Home screen to host my games.  I really don't want to use the apps drawer every time I want to start them.  They probably think that everyone is going to use their Nexus app, even when the Kishi V2 Pro is not connected.  I'm not sure that is a good choice.  By the way, the Kishi V2, Pro or otherwise, takes power from the USB type-C port.  If you're not well charged, you could go into the danger zone quickly.

The newer controller seems better with controls that are easier to find while playing.

They refer to the Edge as a tablet.  It's certainly big but what is a tablet these days.  Is a 6.8 inch display big enough for a tablet?  My Google Nexus 7 tablets were just a bit bigger but there are a lot of phones on the market that are almost the same size.  I don't know I'll be putting it in my pocket to game out of the house.  This one is Wi-Fi only and, while I can provide an internet connection from my phone, it wouldn't be wise to have two devices without power.

It's almost charged to a good level again.  Once I get my apps downloaded, I'll see how powerful it is.

It's powerful enough.  It's like the Snapdragon 888 with a GPU upgrade.  Device warms up too much.  Graphics flow smoothly.  I suppose it's a good thing that they didn't upgrade to Android 13 or Android 14.  Perhaps, the 5G version is capable of being upgraded.  It's a bit sad that it only has 128 GB of storage and 6 GB of RAM.  My OnePlus 8T had 256 GB and 12 GB, respectively.

There is a huge black frame around the display.  People talk about bezels but this feels more like an artificial frame that has nothing to do with the actual display.  However, it's rounded in the corners and covers some of the display so it's difficult to press buttons.

Kishi V2 Pro feels like the older version, but with force (haptic) feedback.  It's quite responsive on Asphalt 9 Legends/Legends Unite, although the game seems a bit sluggish since its re-design.

I've tried all of my Netmarble games and they work fine.

Those would be: Tower of God: New World, Seven Knights II, Solo Leveling: Arise, and Grand Cross:Age of Titans.

Black Clover M and Sword Chronicles: Awaken are also working just fine.

There are a lot of little, strange things about the interface that don't make sense but I suppose they wanted everyone to have the Nexus app running as their main interface.  If you want a machine that isn't a phone, this is a good device.  If you need a phone, buy something from OnePlus or Samsung, especially if you can get a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8, Gen 3.  For the price I paid, it was an easy choice, US$100 for the controller and US$100 for the device.

Update 2024.08.02: Something was odd when I was updating a game.  There wasn't enough space.  I've been using a Google Pixel 6a with two accounts on 128 GB of storage.  The Edge only has one account on 128 GB of storage.  It's certainly possible that the games have become larger.  However, there seemed to be plenty of space and I removed some screenshots and it was fine after that.

 I just can't imagine that one account has suddenly become bigger than two accounts put together.  Maybe, it's Android 12, although I had two accounts on the OnePlus 8T but I had 256 GB of storage.

Update 2024.12.02: It was flickering last night and I had been using it without charging for a while, so I thought that it was so low that I had missed the 20% warning.

This morning, it's a brick.  It's completely unresponsive.  It hasn't even been five months that I've had it.  The good thing is that it was essentially a US$100 device and the Kishi V2 Pro is still working.  I believe that's still working.  I got their Cyber Monday advertising and I don't believe I want to put any more of my money into a company with such poor quality.  Maybe, I'll open it and find that the Snapdragon G3X overheated, even though the fan was louder than my desk fan.

I'm not sure that I want to put money into another Android device, unless it's a OnePlus 12R.  My OnePlus 8T was good for games, but the USB type-C port is not working, so I couldn't charge it, and it didn't work with the Kishi V2.  The Google Pixel 6a barely works when it's working and it's so slow that it should have been US$100 instead of US$300.  I bought it just before the Pixel 7 series arrived.

Update 2024.12.23: Got the Edge back to Razer but their web site apparently wasn't tested and wasn't able to take input to receive my information, which they already have elsewhere in their system.  There is another one on the way from Hong Kong.  It took three days to get across Hong Kong, so I don't hold much hope that it will arrive before the end of the year.

Update 2024.12.30: Replacement is here.  They sent the whole retail package, so I got another Kishi V2 Pro controller.  I need to ask them how they want me to return the new one.  It wouldn't be fair to keep it or the extra power cable and brick they also sent.  Setting up everything is a bit of a pain, but I eliminated a few games this year, so it's easier than it would have been.

Update 2025.03.03: After playing a couple of games I went to charge the replacement Razer Edge and it flickered like the other one did before it died.  It was unresponsive for quite a while and I just plugged in the cable to charge it.  It's working again, but I suppose this one is also at its end soon.

Since Android 14, my Pixel 6a is suddenly unusable Update: slightly better

 Apparently, Google didn't test Android 14 very well on Pixel 6a, Pixel 6, or Pixel 6 Pro.

There is a problem with multiple users on the operating system on those devices.

After a few days of Android 14, it has decided that my data is corrupt and has pushed me to do a Factory Data Reset.  Otherwise, I'm stuck watching "Pixel is starting..." forever.

Since I've been using this phone, it's been one problem after another.  The developers really didn't consider that people would use the phones because it hasn't been as smooth as other Android distributions.

Even as chaotic as OnePlus was with their Oppo-inspired mix, it was made for users.  I suppose I should just go back to my OnePlus 8T, as it was faster, smoother, and a better experience altogether.

I'm seriously disappointed that Google isn't as good as smaller companies in developing Android-based devices.

Well, I did the Factory Data Reset and started fresh.  I've got one user account and very few apps.  It's going to be a very long time until I trust it again.  Sadly, some of my data is gone forever.

I won't buy another piece of hardware from Google.  This Pixel 6a is the last, after two iterations of the Nexus 7 tablets.  One of those (with the Nvidia Tegra) was such a disaster that I returned it immediately.

I've been fighting with the Pixel 6a ever since I got it.  At US$299.99 - 10% Target team member discount - 5% Red Card discount, it was an easy choice.  However, my luck with Android has been just okay.  I didn't figure that Google's own Android release would finish off my data. 

Update 2023.10.22: Asphalt 9, which was working on Android 14 is no longer working.  It just hangs.  Oh, never mind.  It starts after a few minutes.  That's not as fast as when it started in a few seconds.  Way to go, Google!

Update 2023.11.16: I added my other account, feeling a bit more cautious, as it might be labeled corrupt and cause everything to be wiped again.

Mostly, it's fine.  Asphalt 9 was running just fine, but days later, it isn't.  Something seems seriously wrong with Android 14, or maybe, it's just Google's phone team's implementation.  I really haven't done much with the phone, as I'm not quite ready to invest time on something that may never work correctly again.

Update 2023.12.06: Android update for security apparently had more in it than something like 37 security fixes.  Asphalt 9 is running again.  Hopefully, it will stay that way.  I wanted to transfer music back to the phone but the Files app is irritatingly difficult.  It could be worse, to be certain.  It found my USB drive after a while.  There isn't as much music as there is free space but it claims that there isn't room available.  It won't transfer some of it and it's a pain to transfer folder by folder.

Maybe, their new AI can figure out how people actually use phones and computers and they can use it to generate applications that actually work for people.

Google, you damaged the trust I had that the phone would work.  You destroyed what I had and, while I continue to try to use it, there is no way I will spend more money on hardware from Google.  It isn't in my best interest.

Update 2024.02.01: I let my phone plan finish.  Since I have a 2022 iPhone SE that's my regular phone, I only had a cheap plan to try Android.  Google has shown me that they don't care and I'm not about to spend money on such a phone.

The interesting thing is that, without a 5G connection, moving from my usual spot that is a floor above the router, causes the phone not to be able to access the internet at all.  Even if it's only a few feet (a meter or two), the phone can't find an internet connection.  Isn't that pathetic?

Update 2024.02.22: I almost bought a OnePlus 12R.  It's quite a good phone with a recent processor and multiple cameras and sensors.  My credit union signaled a fraud alert, which gave me a second chance to think about it.  I doubt that it works with my Razer Kishi V2, although the Razer web site finally mentions that the OnePlus 8 Pro doesn't work with it, and I had the 8T.  Would I buy the Razer Edge, which is guaranteed to work with the Razer Kishi V2 Pro and just let my Pixel 6a and Razer Kishi V2 sit, abandoned?

Update 2024.06.23: I've been looking at the Razer Edge again, since Newegg has it for US$299.00 and I can pay $76 something four times.  I'm sorry that I bought this Google Pixel 6a so much that I will never buy another Google product.  I'm doubtful that Google cares how much anyone likes their products, as long as they continue to buy them.

If they went back to being an internet search-only company, would the world care?

Update 2024.12.17: I got a notice for Android 15.  That's come a few weeks behind the announcement that Android 15 was ready for Pixel devices.  I'm allowing it to be installed.  Can they mess it up more?  I'd be sadly amused but not surprised.

It's still working.  I haven't done much with it, yet.  Hopefully, it doesn't act much different than Android 14.

Update 2025.06.26: Android 16 is now installed.  Tips showed me a couple of changes but I don't see anything remarkable.  It doesn't seem slower, which is a bonus considering how slow it is.

Switching from a OnePlus 8T to a Google Pixel 6a: What could go wrong?

 Now that the 8T is approximately 3 major versions behind, I wondered if it was time to switch.  I also recently bought a Razer Kishi V2, which for some reasons, doesn't work with it.  Android version 12 seems good but I wonder what kind of a mess the OnePlus/Oppo combination has made.  Things just don't seem quite right.  What better way to get a clear version of Android than from Google.

My last Google-labeled device was the 2013 ASUS-made Nexus 7 tablet with a Snapdragon S4 Pro.  It didn't seem to work very well with Android, but it worked well enough to play games.  It was much better than the previous year's version made by Nvidia.  However, even version 6 of Android just didn't work well and I gave it away.

I've spent time with Android 9, 10, 11, and 12.  They are better than previous versions.

Related to the Razer Kishi V2, there was a deal on the Google Pixel 6a for US$299.99, down from $449.99.  That's a good price for an unlocked phone.  It's slightly less than the US$399.99 I paid for the OnePlus 8T, but that had 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage.  The Pixel 6a has 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage.  Both have an OLED display but the 6a is limited to 60Hz while the 8T goes to 120Hz.  The Google Tensor SoC isn't all that different than the Snapdragon 865, but in all reality, the 8T is a flagship device and the 6a isn't.

Conversion

I charged the 6a and when I turned it on, the instructions asked if I wanted to switch from another phone.  As instructed, I plugged a USB, type-C cable into each phone.  The 6a couldn't see the 8T.  I wasn't surprised.  Sometimes, it's difficult to get the phone to charge.  I connected them wirelessly and that seemed to work.

After some time, it finished.  I wondered how it did a complete backup so quickly.  It didn't do a complete backup.  That's how.

It sent the list of apps, contacts, and more.  The apps were being downloaded immediately, but that took quite a while.  Apparently, the data was not always available.  A few Android apps still cling to Facebook and other methods of storing progress, while Google is clearly available.

It took about a week to get things running the way I wanted, although I'm still not sure everything is where it should be.  The OnePlus 8T is empty now, though.

Thankfully, the 6a has a tiny, compatible SIM slot.  Mint Mobile is hard at work.  I've yet to test communications speeds.

On the other hand, game speeds seem decent.  Scrolling a game in landscape mode is jerky.  Animation is fine but that movement across the width of the display is pretty bad.  Is it the display or the graphics processor or the lack of RAM?

So far, the 6a seems okay for the job, and if it seems not good enough, I only have to remember my first Android smartphone: the LG Optimus S that was forever short on storage.  I had to delete apps to update the operating system.  That phone was US$299.99.

Real Life

Okay, so out in the real world, away from Comcast/Xfinity, it's okay for the internet connection.  I was concerned because I tried it close to work and got 3G-type speeds.  At home, I turned off the WiFi and it was faster than the XFinity connection.

What's a bit disappointing is that the display is dark in sunlight, even on cloudy days.  I turned it up to about 80% of maximum brightness and I could barely see the display.  The display on the 8T was readily visible.  Something else that hurts is that the system continues to drop the brightness level to around 30%, without asking.

The horizontal scrolling jerkiness has become less but is still noticeable.  I suspect that having half the storage and half the RAM isn't helping.  However, the 8T was reporting that 150+ GB of storage were in use, and since I don't have that much, I'm not sure how things are working or what extra the 8T was reporting as used.

Cases

Crave Dual Guard case recommended by Amazon is strong but slippery.  It's slipped off the desk and has slipped out of my hands.  I'm glad the case is tough.

Instead, two Spigen cases caught my attention:

Spigen Liquid Air Armor

Spigen Tough Armor

I have used the Tough Armor case for the OnePlus 8T and it was very good.  I've settled on the Liquid Air Armor case for now, as it is a slimmer case.  It doesn't have the kickstand but I rarely used the kickstand for the OnePlus 8T.

Still, I have to remove the case for the Razer Kishi V2.  It's possible that an adjustment to the pads on the controller will allow the case to be used on the controller.

Update 2024.07.15: Ordered a Razer Edge Wi-Fi model to replace the Pixel 6a.  It's been over a year with this awful phone and I just don't want to deal with the frustration any longer.  Newegg had a deal for US$100 off, putting the final price at about 66%.  The Snapdragon G3X should provide a much better experience.  Even the Snapdragon 865 was better than the Tensor 1st generation.

iPhone 8 replacement will probably be available in spring 2020

As with me, a smaller group of people have been uncomfortable with larger and larger phones.  Years ago, the phablet was an unusual item--a phone too big to be considered a phone.  Now, it's commonplace, especially since iPhone X.  Samsung's Galaxy Note has been around for a while, but it still seemed a niche product.

The iPhone 8 has continued but has not truly been updated and of course, there would not be an iPhone 9.  As of the next spring (March/April 2020), there should be a replacement that could be called iPhone SE 2.  Given that the iPhone SE was based on the iPhone 5, but with more advanced internal hardware, it's easy to predict a similar treatment for the iPhone 8.  Whether the name will be used or not doesn't matter.  They could call it the iPhone 11 mini, for all I care.  Having the A13 processor and 3 GB of RAM seems worth the price of US$399/US$499 for 64 GB or 128 GB of storage.

I told Apple that, without a successor to the iPhone 8, I would consider switching back to Android.  There aren't many Android-based phones I like but Razer and Asus have phones strong enough to get my attention.  Whether I'll grind my teeth every time I read some security glitch or not, who knows?  After my Asus/Google Nexus 7 tablet never really was in sync with Android, I didn't feel great about using it and gave it to someone who clamored for a tablet.  He lost it within a month.  I've looked at the Razer Phone 2 for an alternative, if the iPhone 8 replacement doesn't happen.  Of all the Android-based phones, this one seems to come from a company that is enthusiastic about making something interesting.

It's been suggested that the iPhone 8 replacement will not be named SE 2 but iPhone 9.  That would suggest an end to the 4.7 inch display phones.

Update 2020.02.17: My iPhone 8 battery has been beaten regularly by iOS 13--lately 13.1.1--and it isn't recovering.  The battery health states that it the battery is at 83% of new capacity.  That's close to replacement time.  After nearly 2 years, that is understandable. I'm considering a replacement for the battery in my 256 GB over a new, more powerful phone with a new battery.  If they're still US$79, isn't worth the money, especially when no phone payments (one time or monthly) would be necessary for a while.  US$27.09 each month would be good to save.

Hopefully, the rumors are true and that there will be a media event on 31 March and the actual launch on the 3rd of April.

I've seen another rumor that it won't be a 4.7 inch display but a bigger display of over 5 inches.  That might suggest an edge-to-edge display, which isn't likely in a budget phone.

Update 2020.04.15: Tax Day is here and so is the iPhone 8 replacement, the iPhone SE.

US$399, $449, and $549 for 64 GB, 128 GB, and 256 GB isn't too bad, especially since it's got the same processing unit as the iPhone 11.  The camera is somewhat different with some depth (of field) control.  How much is optical and how much is digital remains to be seen.

Considering how warn my battery is, better with 13.4.1 than earlier releases, but losing power quickly, it's probably better to put US$79 toward the $549 model, so I don't have to give up capacity.

Update 2020.05.22: Sprint just offered me a 18 month lease with $0.00 payments.  I ended up with the 256 GB model since I already have an iPhone 8 like that, and it cost me US$150 + tax up front.

This is possibly the first time since September 2000, when I wasn't with Sprint, that they offered me something better than expected.  That time, I got a Motorola StarTac for $9.99.

Not only was the monthly lease payment waived, but so was the $30 upgrade/activation fee.  We'll see what happens when I get the phone.  Still, it's a great deal compared to paying $79 for a battery swap on a two year old phone.  The latest reviews show that the processing power is better than most anything else on the market, expensive or inexpensive.

I posted something on Instagram and someone complained about my buying so much storage, saying that Apple should allow removable storage.  If there was a possibility of that working as well as internal storage, it would be expensive.  I've worked on a number of big iron systems that had something called Single Level Store--every drive was meant to work together as one.  That was the only time I saw a system work well with multiple, different kinds of drives, but they were all similar with a certain hardware interface, and there was no inbuilt, dedicated storage, so everything had to work together well.

I think I will be surprised at how good the new phone will be.

Update 2020.08.05: My iPhone 8 replacement, iPhone SE 2020, has been very good, just like the iPhone 8.  There isn't much difference, except for the processing power.  That is a good thing, and it was also good that I didn't have to replace a battery.  The price made it extra wonderful.

Google Home Mini is a Useful Device

Back in October, Best Buy was having a huge sale on their Insignia speakers with Google Assistant.  I bought one for each of the two people who live in this apartment where I rent a room.

Sometime in December, he opened the package and got the speaker out.  She still has yet to open the box.

Thanksgiving Day, Target, where I work, had Google Home Mini speakers for half price--$24.99--as doorbusters for Black Thursday.  I ordered one and it was waiting for me when I clocked out.

It took a bit of configuring and unfortunately, there is no user-accessible battery unlike the Best Buy Insignia speakers, so if it comes unplugged, it doesn't work.  Thankfully, it retains settings and re-connects to the WiFi connection on its own.

From the beginning, I didn't have much luck with Siri in English (Japanese was better), but Google's speech recognition worked for me.  Google Assistant is fairly useful, but often tells me how it doesn't know how to do something.  What was disturbing is when I asked "Where is my package from Amazon?" and it told me.  When did I connect it to that information?  Who asked me?  How did this happen?  Thankfully, it can't go into my wishlist, but I should investigate all of the connections to the e-mail account.

It is especially interesting considering the effort to get Pandora and Spotify to work.  I haven't done a lot of talking to the speaker, except to start and end the music.  Occasionally, I request a certain playlist that I already added to my account.  Music playback is good, considering $24.99 and the compactness of the device.  In some ways, it reminds me of a Bose Wave Radio in that it can fill the room with music.  Vocals are good enough.  Bass is implied, not implemented.

One thing that would really help would be a connection to iHeartRadio, since I miss various radio stations across the country, especially WDAS 105.3 from Philly.  iHeartRadio is having financial troubles, so I'm not sure how they would make a deal.  (Yes, it can be used as a Bluetooth speaker, but it was a pain when I did that and I don't want to try again.)

I'm not sure that I would ever pay more than $24.99 for a speaker with an assistant.  Obviously, Apple's HomePod is too expensive at $350.00--you might as well just pay for the computer.

Google have changed the name to Nest Mini.  I'm not sure that helps but it does confuse.

First Impressions of my 4th generation Apple TV

I bought a 4th generation Apple TV yesterday, along with a Steelseries game controller.

I've been waiting a while, since the Ouya Android-based game micro-console.  The Nvidia Shield micro-console looked particularly good recently.  I have an Apple iPhone 6 and a 2013 Google Nexus 7 tablet, so I'm familiar with both mobile operating systems and their games.

However, as far as connecting anything to the TV, I've only connected my old DVR, DirecTV DVR, and my Blu-Ray player.  The TV and Blu-Ray player have many connections to the outside world, so buying an older Apple TV, Roku, or Google box had no appeal.

Connecting the Apple TV wasn't difficult.  I wanted to connect it to the computer first, so it would take my current iTunes library of movies, TV episodes, music videos, and music and store them in the extra storage the 64GB model would have.  There is no such connection.  In fact, the only cable was a USB to Lightning cable for the remote control, for charging.

So, the actual connections are power and HDMI, and they don't include the HDMI cable.

As it was starting, I had some extra "fun" with my TV complaining that the signal didn't match the Deep Color that was expected.  I had to make some setting changes on the TV that most people will not have to make.

It wanted to connect to my phone but they could not meet in the middle.  It detected my phone over Bluetooth immediately, but since I didn't have the phone connected to the local network over my mobile hotspot, it wasn't able to grab the settings from my phone.  (They haven't found each other over Bluetooth since then.  The phone is on iOS 9.1 and I wonder if it's just too buggy still.)

The Apple TV wanted to connect to the internet, which I did through the odd keyboard.

You have to slide across the keyboard and select by clicking on a character.

The keyboard was alphabetical, which I suppose is easier than showing QWERTY, AZERTY, QWERTZ, or whatever pattern each country uses, but it made entry slower for me.

There really wasn't much to set up.  I selected my country and language, and it did some configuration.

There wasn't much included except for the apps to buy music, TV episodes, or movies and those apps to connect to the computer and get other apps.

I immediately downloaded the YouTube app, but couldn't decide on games or anything else.  Later, I bought and downloaded the Galaxy on Fire: Manticore Rising game, as I've been playing the series since the original iOS version of Galaxy on Fire.

The YouTube app required a link through an activation code to connect to my YouTube account.  The game wanted to connect to Game Center, of course.  It also downloaded more content, much like the Android-based version of Galaxy on Fire 2 HD does.  Perhaps, the iOS version does this, but it doesn't mention it or make you wait.

The game uses the remote control.  It is both simple and frustrating.  It seems to lose calibration easily, and it is much easier to go left than to go right.  The game is quite amazing looking, as with their previous games.  For playing only a few minutes, I feel as though it will be a great game with more familiarity, and with fixes.

When I was in an Apple Store, I tried the Geometry Wars game and it seemed to work well with the remote, but I had no idea how to play the game.  I think the games that use the remote, and using the remote to play them will take acclimation time.

I have a Steelseries game controller and I have yet to pair it to anything.  There is a companion app on iOS, and I downloaded that.  I'm currently charging the controller, which uses a Lightning connector.  The box has graphics indicating that it works with iPad, iPhone, Apple TV, and Mac.  US$50.00 doesn't seem that much.

As Asphalt 8 Airborne is available, I'm thinking that the controller will be very useful.  I've got the game now and it not only works well, but it looks great.  The game controller is useful but the control scheme isn't yet comfortable.  The best thing about the game may be a bug--my purchases from the handheld game are available, as I downloaded the iCloud data.  This was another that downloaded more content quite often.  Given that the iOS/Android app runs about 1.5 GB and the tvOS app was about 450MB, I would expect every unplayed course will have to be downloaded, as well as cars.

I was intrigued by the Pangea games' 3D capability.  I haven't played any of those games for years, but Bugdom was a bit of fun.  I have 3D capability on my TV, as well as 4K resolution, so this should be interesting.

Oh, and this version of Apple TV does not support 4K.  I get the feeling in a year, they'll put out a version with upgraded hardware capable of 4K, especially since the Nvidia Shield already supports the resolution.

I'm looking at potential more than anything else right now.

Update 2015.11.11: The minor software update to the operating system was very minor.   I haven't noticed any differences.

Update 2015.11.26: How is it that the remote control is worth US79.00 when the Wii Remote Plus is only US$49.99, and the Steelseries game controller Apple is selling in their stores is only US$49.95?

You'd think that it would be easier to grip since it is meant to be used with games.  You'd think that there would be a strap included instead of being available for another US$12.99.

You might also think that the remote might have a headphone jack, so you could listen remotely.

I like the latest Apple TV.  I'm just annoyed that it seems to be experimental at this point.  I expect Google to sell products in this way but Apple should know better.  The MacBook Air took a long time to become desirable to me, and then, they brought out the MacBook that was even more extreme.

As this year is ending, they will most likely push out some small change and a bigger change around February.  Eventually, it will feel good and all other products will feel ancient and clunky.  Right now, it works, just.

Update 2015.12.02: Thankfully, the games can be played without an internet connection.  Unfortunately, music, music videos, movies, and TV episodes cannot be seen because they are not copied to the device.

So far, I have three games: Galaxy on Fire: Manticore Rising, Asphalt 8: Airborne, and Geometry Wars 3.  The Galaxy on Fire games have been intense.  When I played the first, I often had to power off/power on the 2nd generation iPod touch.  Even when I had moved to an iPhone 4S, Galaxy on Fire 2 was often very intense for the phone and then, the HD version came along.  It's only with the iPhone 6 that it's been particularly good.

It will take a while for Apple to fix tvOS and the games will need to be smoothed out plenty of times.  The hobby needs to be given a higher priority.

Update 2015.12.04: I finished the story mode of Galaxy on Fire: Manticore Rising but I have to say that the performance was so slow when busy that the game wasn't much fun.   Even the network connection was dropped a couple of times.

The trouble will probably be alleviated by April with various efficiency improvements between tvOS and the game but it's obvious that this box is underpowered at the moment.  That's probably why it doesn't support 4K, even though it's technically possible with the CPU and GPU.

Update 2015.12.05: Since Galaxy on Fire: Manticore Rising was updated to support game controllers, I waited a while and tried it today.  The game isn't fighting me.  Supposedly, there is a problem with the remote control.  Strictly, performance isn't any better but I've managed to complete waves much more quickly and get time bonuses on some.  Since I can actually focus on one enemy vessel and it doesn't move much, I can get rid of it quickly.  It was enough of an improvement that I went from something like 219,000 to 326,000.

Previously, I thought the achievement badge (in Game Center) of getting through 30 levels was completely nuts and now, it seems that 10 levels should be easily repeatable.

Still, it's not smooth yet.  Between the controller and the TV, the movement is a bit jerky but it goes where I want it, mostly.

Update 2015.12.08: The tvOS 9.1 update has smoothed things a bit.  The remote control itself works better in GoF:MR.  It still seems as though the game is fighting me, compared to the game controller, but it is close to being what it should be.

Manual Update seems much like iOS on the phone

It still doesn't help when the system is too busy.  Seeing that it has disconnected from the network is troubling.  When I was playing a game with the remote, it also said that the game controller had been disconnected.  Since the game controller has only one real function, I'm fairly sure that it wasn't the one which disconnected from the Apple TV.

Update 2016.03.22: tvOS 9.2 arrived and I saw a minor performance improvement.  I'm still seeing the network connection go away during Galaxy on Fire: Manticore Rising, which is a very busy game.  It seems to me that the Apple TV should have been tested and tuned much better than this.  I hoped that almost all of the problems would be fixed with this release, but that's definitely not true.  Of course, they added a lot of functionality into this release, such as enabling Bluetooth keyboards, that was available in the previous generation.

Update 2016.10.04: The 3rd generation Apple TV has been discontinued.  With tvOS 10, my 4th generation Apple TV seems good, but still not great.  You'd think that the A8 processor would be enough but it doesn't seem to be.  They haven't improved performance enough, which is sad.  Hopefully, getting rid of the 3rd generation model will give development resources to the 4th generation model.

Update 2016.12.14: tvOS 10.1.1 is out and they've included a new TV app that helps you attach to your other apps, if they're compatible, and connect to the store.  So far, it only connected to the CW app, but I suppose others will make their content compatible for easy access in one place.  I have seen some fight for control of TV, which is why generation 4 of Apple TV is a set top box and not a whole TV line.   Apple should probably just buy a cable company and make enhancements, as SBC/AT&T has recently done to create DirecTV Now.

I'm not sure whether the performance of tvOS is enhanced or not.  I played Galaxy on Fire: Manticore Rising for a few minutes and only got one network disconnection message.  I suspect not much has changed and it was only my short play time that caused the difference.  I didn't get powerups that normally slow things down.

However, I am happy with the box.  I've been able to watch local news, TV shows, and more as though they belonged on the TV.  Even YouTube videos look good.

Update 2017.03.27: tvOS has been updated yet again, this time to 10.2.  There are few changes and I haven't used it much yet.  It's naturally becoming more stable, but it's still not finished.

I remember expecting excellent performance by April 2016.  It's almost one year later and it still isn't great.  The fact that they're only supporting a maximum of 1920x1080 makes me think that they're making a load of money on the box.  If Android boxes can support 4K resolution, why didn't Apple?

There has been one notable recent change for me.  When Apple TV asks for text entry, my iPhone wakes up and presents me with a keyboard.

Apple Watch: Who will Buy? Update: Series 2 announced

Obviously, the watch is out of the bag, after their Spring Ahead event.

I've been asking for a while about this product, especially as Sony and Samsung have made failure after failure.  Pebble is really the only company that has made an interesting product that works in a way that is desirable and useful.

Apple changed their idea to make it a medical device, as they were having a difficult time with reliable information.  Still, they have some applications in mind, and will likely end up solving the problems eventually.

It's easy to guess who will be the first buyers--the fashion conscious, even though the smaller face is still a bit large for a woman.  There should likely be a large group of iPhone users who will buy the phone no matter what.  The fashion conscious will buy one and a few bands, naturally.

On the other hand, I belong to a group who finds value important and doesn't currently wear a watch.  I haven't worn a watch since maybe 2005 or 2006.  That is a long time without one.  Also, my most expensive watch was around US$150.  The minimal Apple Watch will be over twice that much.

I suppose this would mean much more to me if I kept my phone in a bag.  With my photographic equipment and a computer in my bags, I don't keep my phone in there.  It's usually in a front pocket.

I was at the nearest Apple Store today and they were pretty happy to get the new "experience" display for the watch.  They tried to increase my enthusiasm but I'm just not into it.  By the way, you need an appointment for the experience of trying the watch.

Supposedly, there are many restrictions to keep things more orderly at the start.  Once everything is comfortable and they have more supplies, it will surely become more casual.

Who will stand in line at the first?

Update 2015.04.10: They're already sold out of the first batch today, and all of the categories are apparently available in 4-6 weeks.  Seriously?  Maybe, there were fewer available than expected.  Certainly, the big deal about sapphire watch crystals and GT Advanced lengthened the wait.  Drama over watches?  Who knew?

Update 2015.04.21: Google seems to be finishing an update that will be useful, if only for retaining current Android Wear customers.  I suspect that as soon as Samsung get their hands on Apple's Watch, they'll be seeing what they can use, but Apple and Google will carefully copy each other, making smart watches actually useful.  At some point, the majority may want watches, though I'm skeptical that will ever happen.

Update 2015.09.20: With WatchOS 2, they seem to be adding more, early functionality.  Remembering how the iPhone's operating system evolved, I'm betting that Apple's watch will become significantly more powerful.

It's sold well enough, apparently, but it's not exactly phenomenal--typical early Apple product.  I still don't see a need for me to have one.

Update 2016.09.08: Apple announced a new set of iPhones yesterday, along with a new watch.  The new watch has some differences, such as improved water-resistance and a brighter display.   Battery life is supposedly quite a bit better but that's going to take a while to prove.

The operating system is continually being re-thought.  This is how Apple gets things working properly and why I was so frustrated with Android and Google.  Apple will see what works and change what doesn't work until it is useful.

If you're wondering, I'm still not buying one, even though the original watch price has been discounted permanently.

Update 2019.03.09: It's been almost four years since I started this blog entry, and looking back, there have been a lot of changes.  Pebble seems to be gone.  Fitbit is still out there.  Every Chinese electronics company seems to have a watch, and Google has gone through many iterations, trying to find something that is appealing.

Even I have changed--I find the Apple watch somewhat appealing, due to my heart problems.  I'm not spending that much money on any such device, but it has some appeal.  Being able to make calls would be a plus, a la Dick Tracy.  I still remember using a phone in 2004 that had internet access and the tiny display was miserable.  Voice commands would be more useful, but Siri is still less versatile than it should be.

Lollipop (Android version 5.0) was installed on my 2013 Nexus 7 tablet a bit ago

An hour or so ago, I got the notice that Lollipop was available for my 2013 Nexus 7 tablet.  Despite my reluctance to embrace x.0 versions, I decided to have it downloaded and installed.


You can see visual differences here in this Ars Technica article.

Naturally, the update took a while, and there was a bit of time involved as it was "optimizing" applications.

I haven't spent much time at the moment.  So far, my most consistent experience is when I unlock it, by pressing the lock icon and sliding it, which gives me the camera.  Perhaps, they want me to see how much better the camera is.  I really don't know.

The system icons at the lowest part of the display look less indicative of their functionality.  The joined rectangles were more of a clue of the multi-tasking manager than a single square.

Google Play seems okay when updating applications.  I'm not sure it works better but it looks better.  Perhaps, that's the thing--we're to be enraptured by its new look, and will forgive any lingering problems.  Apple tried that and it didn't work.  I get the feeling that Google never tests anything with regular people who aren't directly connected with the company.  Apple does it somewhat, but things aren't always intuitive any longer.

I look forward to finding if performance is improved.  I've read that it could be smoother and faster, but until I experience it in real life, I'll continue my skepticism.

So far, the delay from booting is still there.  It may be diminished somewhat, but I need to let the tablet sit a while before I do anything.

iPad Air 2 good, iPad mini 3 pathetic

Late last year, I chose a Google Nexus 7, the 2013, revised version.  Why?  The iPad mini didn't really meet my needs.  It was too wide to be held in one of my hands, and it wasn't very powerful, but it was really expensive.  Now that the newer (second generation+) version is out, last year's model has been dropped by US$100, and it's still not a bargain for what is there.  However, the newer version isn't worth an extra US$100.  People are better off buying last year's model for less.

Why does it seem that Apple are trying to push the iPad Air 2, even more than they were trying to push the iPad Air?  That's my only explanation for the relative crapiness of the iPad mini.  It makes the current iPad Air look a relative bargain.  I'm even considering an iPad Air 2 for me.  I would consider a refurbished iPad Air, if I could get it in a 64 GB configuration at a substantial discount; however, the anti-reflective surface of the newer model would be useful.

Another problem for the iPad mini is the iPhone 6 Plus.  It is big enough, and its resolution is brilliant for the size.  It also has strong processing power.  Except for the size, it seems a great choice.  I was interested in the LG G2 and Nexus 5 last year about this time but they were so large that I thought twice about them, despite the power.

I'm sure Apple will do well enough, especially with the iPad Air 2 but who will buy the newest iPad mini?

Update 2014.11.04: There is a rumor that the iPad mini may go away, making way for the huge 12.9 inch iPad.  Someone mentioned that Apple gives poor upgrades to products that aren't selling.  Isn't that the correct strategy for a product you're hoping will lose?

I would think that an aggressive company would drop the price and improve the performance, not try to give a product one new feature and polish it a bit more.  The U.S. automotive industry was hit hard because they didn't help themselves, choosing style over functionality.

Update 2015.02.13: I've been waiting for the Apple announcement.  It should be soon, and we should expect the watch, the big iPad with a keyboard/cover, and likely a revised Apple TV box.  While Apple continues to make headway with content, until they start to resell networks or the networks' content, there will not be TV with a display.

Update 2015.04.07: Apple seem to be taking it easy, playing it safe, and any other relaxed idioms that apply.

The new 12 inch MacBook looks interesting, even though it's not very powerful.  The latest rumor on the yet-to-be-announced Apple TV replacement is that it won't feed 4K media to the TV, even though the chipset is capable.

Update 2015.11.19: They fixed the problem by making the iPad mini 4 with the same processor as the iPhone 6.  It's much more powerful having an A8 instead of an A5.  The display is apparently very good, and for color accuracy, apparently better than the iPad Air 2 and the iPad Pro.  That seems odd considering that the iPad Pro should be used by artists.

I guess the rumor about the Apple TV replacement was true--no 4K.

!@#$ navigation!!!

May I take this moment to interrupt your calm with "Why doesn't navigation work properly in North(ern New) Jersey?

I complained back in 2006 when Telenav kept telling me to turn around, even though I was very close to where I needed to be.

I've been staying at a motel in Manasquan, NJ and I've been up and down the state, mostly using Apple's Maps app.  It doesn't know what a jughandle is, but that's okay.  I can adapt.

I took it to Little Falls on Sunday and it got me to a downtown area, and freaked out a little and I shut it off, and parked.  After my meal, I went to Fairfield, and since I knew the way back to the main road, it didn't really have a problem.

A couple of times, it has stuttered because I did not do what was expected.  Sorry!  Sometime, I've been through the route too many times and know a better way and don't want to go down every side street to get there.

Now today, I went back to the camera store in Fairfield, and it was mostly agreeable.  (Seriously, I don't use the Express lanes of the Garden State Parkway because there is no cash lane at the toll plazas on that side.)

As I was leaving, it was 4:45 p.m./16:45, and I know how difficult traffic can be.  I thought to go to a certain pizza place I was missing that is in the next county, in Rutherford.  It's mostly a very straight path.  SR 3 east and SR 21 North.  The only problem is that there doesn't seem to be a direct way to get to SR 21 going North.  Usually, you have to go to the next exit, cross over, and go north, which is what I did, while the Maps app displayed "Rerouting..." and reminded me to "proceed to the route" many, many times.

After eating, it was no easier.  It had picked an odd route that made no sense.  Once I remembered how to get back to SR 21, it was catching up, still telling me to turn.  I finally turned it off.  I tried Waze, which had me down every side street possible, and instead of taking me directly to the Garden State Parkway, which was straight ahead, it wanted me to take a county road off SR 3.  I quit that also.

I would have tried Google Maps, but it couldn't even find where I was.

Thank goodness my memory wasn't completely gone.  I'd still be down some side street in Rutherford.

Update 2014.06.15: I was travelling to the Orlando, Florida area--to Oviedo in particular, an area where I lived for 10 years.  Waze had wanted me to traipse down every side street from the Florida state line until the center of Oviedo.

When I selected my motel in Yelp and got to Maps, and asked for directions, rather than take me on a direct route to International Drive via Kirkman Road, Apple's Maps wanted me to go to a toll road further along the way, and apparently backtrack.  When it finally re-routed me, it still picked an odd route, taking me into more traffic than was necessary.

Thankfully, I generally know where I'm going, so I can't be confused quite that easily, but what are they (Waze, Apple, Google) thinking?

Update 2014.07.04: I was trying to use Apple's Maps two days ago around San Jose, California.  It did okay most of the time, but requested U-turns where there was a turn lane into a shopping center already.  Perhaps, their information is old?  I'm not sure but I didn't have the problem last August with one of the locations.

In one case, I was trying to get to Westfield Valley Fair mall, and I wasn't on the correct part of the exit, twice.  I didn't understand, and it was a complex juncture, but the navigation tried to loop me around twice when the answer was much more simple--turn left, follow the road, turn left at the appropriate road, and drive straight until the mall.  I found it when I followed my own path, but for some reason, navigation wanted me to avoid city streets.  I've had situations where one of the navigation apps put me into freeway traffic jams to avoid those crowd city streets, which were moving fairly well.

You'd think that the maps could get around the San Francisco Bay Area with great ease and accuracy.

Apple gets "it" again?

I'm skeptical.

I've seen bits and pieces of the announcements this week, in-between packing, loading, and cleaning and getting ready to move.

My trouble with Apple is that they never seem to finish anything any longer.  I understand that they're big and important now, but the bugs are bigger and more frequent now.  Pleasing the whole population by adding feature-after-feature, while ignoring the bug list just screams Adobe.

Apple does seem to test, when they feel like it, which is better than Google.  Google only seem to test while they're creating their software.  I have a 2013 Google Nexus 7 tablet with Android version 4.4.2 on it, and it seems to have all sorts of little issues which make the tablet unlikeable.  Those little issues of course, are exacerbated by little issues in third party software.

I'm still having silly issues with (Mac) OS X 10.8.5, and 10.9.4 isn't ready yet, so I'm not moving.  Equally, iOS 7.x seems buggy but Apple leaves mobile users hanging in the breeze quite often, security issues and all.

One thing that struck me that Apple gets it again is the mobile hotspot functionality that you can start from your Mac running Yosemite.  When I use my iPhone 5c as a mobile hotspot, they have the cheesy little links icon to show that Apple products are happy together--at least, when they work together.  (Do I seem more bitchy than usual?  I'm not sure the lack of sleep is helping.)

For developers, the Swift language seems to be quite useful.  The one thing that will cause resistance is that it's not one of the already-established languages.  Microsoft copied a lot of Java to create C# but they had developers stuck in their development platform.  Google has been grooming developers with their summer coding programs.  Apple has often been knocking heads with developers, rather than courting them.

Mind you, Objective-C is a fine language, and it's been around since the mid-1980s.  Apple extended it to work with C++ somewhat in Objective-C 2.0.  Naturally, in the mid-1980s, C++ wasn't much.  People were still coding in Pascal and making the switch to C.

However, all of those iOS game developers will like where Swift is going because of its interactivity, if it doesn't slow down performance or throughput in development.  Remember CASE tools?  Magic has its price.

I look forward to updating quite a lot and getting my hands dirty.  I haven't done much independent development for a while, and if Swift can re-kindle my interest, all the better.

What if Apple was in your car, your house, and on everything mobile you had?  Would it be a nightmare or a dream or both?  My history with the company says that it would be both.  "Two steps forward, one step back." always seems to apply.

On the other hand, I don't see Google being much different, just in a different form.  However, they have to deal with everyone who wants to create something from their open source code and still call it Android.  By the way, have you seen anyone using a Chrome OS computer?  I have not, though I expect my near future proximity to the San Francisco Bay Area may change that.  (It's odd to see the new Maps for OS X practically pointing to my new home.)  It's just that a lot of the country is still not connected so well.  Google doesn't get that.  Apple doesn't get that.

Should I be amused when apps help me with my location?

Today, Google Wallet let me know that one of my rewards cards' stores was close.  I'm not sure whether to be concerned or thrilled.  It's more than the other, Key Ring, ever let me know.

Last week, the Speedway app let me know repeatedly that one of their filling station/convenience stores was near.

It's definitely useful, but should I be concerned?

I've said in the past that the best privacy on the internet is to delete yourself and stay off the internet.  That remains true.  It is the safest way to privacy.  It's also not a good answer when you have a phone or other mobile device.  You will connect to the internet at some point.

Apple has been working with a company to provide in-store proximity alerts.  i.e., when you're in the vicinity of a product they think you'll like, they send you a message of some sort.

Now, if this happens as part of an explicit choice I make--fine.  If it happens without my control, and I have no choice, that doesn't work for me.

To a certain extent, I get check-in alerts when I use the Yelp app.  Stores with which they have an advertising agreement will put up a coupon of sorts that you can use or discard.  In general, as I use the Yelp app, I am agreeing to such advertising.  Obviously, they're a business trying to make money.  They can't host all the information for free.  I've only made use of a few of the deals, such as service discounts with my car dealer.

While I appreciate the notice about things around me, I'm a bit concerned that it will become so rampant that I will start to remove apps in order to control the flow of information, especially if they give me no effective option to shut off alerts.  (I've had plenty of apps where you tell it to stop, and it ignores the setting.)

The Web Browser Wars continue

I remember using Spyglass Mosaic as my first web browser.  It was possibly the worst software product I'd ever seen, and as a software developer, I thought that the developers had no pride in their work.  How else could they have released it?

A while later, there was this Netscape Navigator, which was about 150% of Mosaic, but somewhat based on it.

Up until that time, my telecommunications experience had to do with 300/1200 bps modems and the various Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) that occupied someone's floppy drive, plus being able to communicate over 2400/4800 bps modems with large systems, all using text.

In those days, things were a lot more technical, and I did a lot of human interface work, to let anyone use a computer easily.  I'm not responsible for your being able to use a computer easily, most likely, though.

When Apple made an agreement with the KHTML folks (don't get started on this, please!), a lot of things changed.  After WebKit and Safari, along came Google Chrome, another offshoot.  Various mobile browsers have been switched to use the WebKit bits, and more recently, Opera because of Google's somewhat proprietary work.

Thinking back, I've used:

Mosaic
Netscape Navigator/Communicator
Cyberdog
Internet Explorer
OmniWeb
Chimera/Camino
Phoenix/Firebird/Firefox
Opera/Opera Mini
Apple Safari
Stainless
Google Chrome
TenFourFox (PowerPC-based adaptation of the latest Firefox versions)

I also used some browser on BeOS and the various crap browsers on feature phones running Brew and whatever browser Android 2.2/2.3 had available.

I'd probably be using Camino now, if it had gone multi-platform.  It didn't, but it inspired Firefox, which did, and I've been using Firefox regularly since version 0.76 or some such.  I remember trying version 0.40 and it wasn't ready, even though Camino 0.5.0 was quite good.

Lately, it seems that the browser wars are back, mostly between Chrome and Firefox.  For all the hoopla about Chrome being so fast, I still find Firefox to be faster and better for me.  Even on Android 4.4.2, I find it better.

It seems odd that it took until version 29 for the desktop version of Firefox to become touch-friendly.  There are many machines which support touch, and there have been hardware add-ons to enable touch on a flat panel iMac for quite a long time.  Visually, Firefox version 29 seems to pick up a lot from Thunderbird, the e-mail application started by Mozilla as an offshoot of Communicator/Sea Monkey.  (My list of e-mail applications is similarly long.)

My real question is: why do people have such strong viewpoints about the way a browser looks?  I find that a browser should display web pages brilliantly, and stay out of the way.  If the browser application displays a lot of information that is irrelevant, I don't need it to do that and there had better be a way to turn that off--a way that is simple.

I really just want to use the browser to view a few pages--I don't keep 20-30 pages open all week long, as I've seen some people do.  If I want news from that many sources, I have Twitter.  Just now, I have the browser window open to this blog editing session and that's it.  I can concentrate on it, and if I need resources, I can open more tabs and then, close them when I'm finished.  I'm obviously doing it incorrectly because Firefox works very well for me, and Chrome doesn't.

Is the flat look taking hold?  When I first installed Mac OS X Public Beta in 2000, the loads of blue overwhelmed me.  The liquid effects, of course, were blue, but the browsers tended to be blue also.  Since iOS 7, everything seems to be flattened, as though a steam roller is smashing everything.  It's not hideous or beautiful--it's just the current state of things.  I liked when things were more colorful, but gray and flat they are now.  Happy browsing!

(I would say something really amazing about Opera, but it's in a huge state of flux, and I'm still tied to version 12.x)

Will iPhone size balloon to hold a 5.5 or 5.7 inch diagonal display?

When I switched from the iPhone 4s to the iPhone 5c, the display size was somewhat altered with the 3.5 to 4.0 inch display change.  It's not as comfortable as I would hope.  I was reasonably happy with the smaller display.  Putting another row of icons on the display wasn't my priority.

We're expected to believe that the iPhone 6 will have two sizes, such as 4.7 inch for a typical model, and a 5.5 or 5.7 inch phablet-sized model.

I know that some people have larger hands and yes, typing with thumbs can be a problem.  It's especially a problem with Android-based devices, as I've found with the LG Optimus S, 2012 Google Nexus 7, and 2013 Nexus 7.  You'd think on a high resolution, larger-display device that the keyboard would be spacious, but it is still a bit cramped, though better with 4.4.x than with 4.1.x.

Apparently, displays are becoming less expensive somehow, as we reach for intense densities.  Otherwise, how can they afford to put such displays in smaller hand-held devices such as phones?  Phone carriers aren't going to accept more subsidies/discounts degrading their profits.  Besides, in some parts of the world, people have no subsidies at all.  Often, their contract (or lack-of-contract) deals are better than those in the U.S.A. or Canada.

Of course, with a larger display, efficient or otherwise, more battery power will be required.  Since the case is bigger to hold the display, that automatically provides some thin real estate in which to add batteries.

If the display requires more power than the current displays, of course, it will need more battery capacity just to stay even with the current phones.  Hopefully, they've found some magic beans, errr, magic screens.

My first color display-using phone required too much recharging.  So did my first 3G phone, and thankfully, the iPhone 5c chipset for LTE seems a bit more thrifty than the previous chipset in the iPhone 4s, although in 3G mode, it seems to quickly drain because of poor connectivity, tower or phone-related.

When I see reviews about an airport, they often mention electrical outlets.  Isn't it sad that we're so tied to hand-held devices that we need to find outlets?

I'm not sure of the actual sizes, but it seems obvious that Apple will put together some bigger devices, perhaps, as they did with the MacBook Pro--three sizes, to compete with the larger Android-based devices.  I'm just not sure I'll be ready for them.

Update 2014.05.08: I saw something the other day suggesting that tablet sales have dropped a lot, in favor of phablets.  If that's the case, then, Apple should be targeting the space with both 4.x and 5.x devices.   I'm still becoming acclimated to the 4 inch display.  I think it is good but a bit on the large size.  Other hands will disagree.  As long as the pixel density is similarly tight, I will be fine with a larger phone when I switch.  I can't imagine having a phone with a display larger than 4.5 inches but things may happen and I'll have to go with the crowd.

Update 2014.12.17: 4.7 and 5.5 inches for these two.  I got an iPhone 6 at the smaller of the two sizes and it's not quite comfortable.  I moved to the 4 inch iPhone 5c fairly easily from the iPhone 4s, and to that from the second generation iPod touch.

As far as I'm concerned, a phablet wouldn't work for me, nor would a tablet that of 5.5 inches.  It's both too big and not big enough.