Apple Watch Day 1

DAY ONE of the Apple Watch. I love it. I can honestly say I missed wearing a watch. Most useful thing is the notifications and the ability to have speech to text. It was faster than using my iPhone for me. Mainly I think because I keep my phone locked. Its just one press, choose your contact then speak message.

I think the activity tracker and calorie counter is amazing only for the fact that you actually know how many steps you take in a day vs leaving your phone on your desk or in another room and your steps not getting recorded. I think that becomes a real motivator when your tracking that stuff. 

A whole day with the Apple Watch and giving demos and playing around on it I am now at 27%. Not bad at all I think. My phone would of been less than that if I didn't plug it in this evening. I will be interested in seeing how long the battery will last this weekend on the golf course using Golf Shot.

If someone asked me right now why they should get an Apple Watch, simple notifications. 

Who wouldn't want all the new Products?

Apples announcement was disappointing for some but I'm not sure if they are seeing the big picture. The release of the iPad Air 2 and the iPad Mini 3 were not very exciting, the excitement comes later. Yes, they improved the basics, better screen, camera and of course it's thinner. They mentioned reducing the weight and thickness .04 pounds and 1.4 mm from the iPad Air. I understand some people want thinner but how thin is enough. That is something that Apple is exceling at pushing the bar and not compermising the quality and battery life of the previous product. I just got my iPad Mini with Retina last December and I still have an iPad 3 that is working great so I'm really not in the market for a new iPad. I guess that is the downfall for Apple, they make such great products that work with the new operating systems. Is it getting to a point that every year a new iPad is nessesary? Do you thing they could skip a year? Would the releases have more excitement to them? I only raise those questions because some say the iPad sales are lacking. I guess we shall see when the pre-orders and sales start coming in for these devices.

Okay here is the exciting stuff! Continuity, Hand Off and Apple Pay, Oh My!! Oh and Air Drop between Apple devices and and hey Camera Roll is making its return. I had a chuckle at that when Tim Cook announced that. It was a good feature to bring back. Between Camera Roll going away and my devices suddenly not sharing photos, or me not knowing where to look for them I was a little annoyed. I later discovered after updating my iPad Mini to IOS 8.0.1 I had to turn off photo sharing and turn it back on and all my photos synced up again. Just a glitch I guess when I updated. With just those couple features I mentioned coming to the Mac and IOS Devices Apple is locking in their ecosystem and just improving the quality and the demand of the products. When you have products that work seamlessly together it just locks you in that much more. With having all Apple products I could never even think of switching to another phone, tablet or laptop. Even just having Safari seeing all my other devices and what is open on them is so unbelievably helpful. With that, Handoff will be amazing having IOS Apps talking with your Mac, just make sure they are all on the latest and greatest software updates.

(Photo from Macworld.co.uk)

Oh Continuity, I have a feeling that is going to be entertaining at first to everyone. As a developer I had a preview of it and it cracked me up when all my devices would start ringing when I recieve a phone call. Yes there will be setting to turn that off and do not disturb features. That feature is great for when I'm in my basement and I don't get the best signal. I won't have to worry about that anymore.

And then there is Apple Pay. Oh I've waited for this for so long, ever since I could start paying for Starbucks with my iPhone. One word Amazing okay and another one, convenient. Not having to dig around for a credit card and just scanning my phone was great to me. I will not have to reach into my purse once throughout the day because my car has the MyFord Touch so I just touch my door to unlock and now paying with my iPhone 6. The service is rolling out Monday October 20 so be ready for every iPhone 6 and 6 Plus user to be paying with it in line in front of you. I will be checking out Panera Bread for lunch it sounds like just to use Apple Pay.

I will leave it at that and all the fantastic stuff to come for Apple. Next up the Apple Watch, very excited to see that come to life. I won't even go into the iMac 5K Retina that was announced today. I mean who wouldn't want that. I'm still holding out on the 5K Retina Display now. I hope that happens really soon now that they have the iMac. Hint, Hint Apple. 

IPhone 6 First Impressions

The big day has arrived, the iPhone 6 was delivered to my door. The unboxing of the iPhone as to be expected, simple. My first reaction was wow it's so thin! I really thought the 6 would be large in my hand but with the rounded corners and the thinness of the phone makes it very comfortable. 

I am almost debating to go to the Apple Store to hold the 6 Plus to see if I could handle the size, maybe upgrading. I hesitate to even say that because I am the person criticizing and the enormous phones our there right now. As I type this I can't even justify a sentence to say why I would want to go bigger, only maybe because it's an option now. I know for some they only went bigger just because it was the highest model out there and hey it has to be the best phone since the word Plus is in the name. 

As I am now searching around for cases, I almost don't want to put a case on it. I would like to find a full phone protector but I know as soon as I try that I would drop and dent it. I'm trying out a new case by X-Doria. It should arrive Monday so stay tuned for reviews. I searched for a stylist, thin, and durabe case. I'm looking forward to see the one I ordered. 

As I'm writing this and using the iPhone 6 for the first day iOS 8 is running very smooth, smoother than my iPhone 5. I noticed a lot of little bugs but they will be fixed I'm sure in the nexted release. As I test out the camera the photo quality is fantastic and I really like the editing options now. There are many more options in the Photo App now. I am a little disappointed that iPhoto is not supported. I mainly used it for organizing my photos and some of the retouching brushes were great on it. 

I am still getting used to the word hints on the keyboard. I feel that I type faster without them. I'm sure it's just something to get use to. I did notice they changed the landscape keyboard for the iPhone 6 and I am not liking it at all. It feels more condensed and trying to see what you type in some Apps is almost impossible. The keyboard comes up so high it covers most of the screen. I also keep tapping the globe while in landscape mode to get to the numbers and punctuation. I guess I'm a creature of habit but boy is it annoying. I wish I could drag the globe someplace else so it's out of the way.  I did try the new Swiftkey keyboard it was actually fun to use for a while. I can see myself getting used to that. It is really nice to have these different options now for keyboards. I am waiting for someone to make a keyboard so the numbers are on top of the text. (Yes, I know Android already has that, I never said they didn't have cool features on their phones.)

I lowered the text size to the lowest size and I am loving it. I feel like I have so much more real estate on the screen. This is the first phone for me with Touch ID and I couldn't wait to get it. BUT I can't stop swiping to unlock my phone! This will take a bit of time to get use to. I just laugh at myself everytime I try to get into my phone. I can't wait to see where Touch ID takes us. I love the fact I don't have to enter a password and it saves me one more step. Everyone that knows me if I save one click out of my day I feel like it was a successful day. I think once the Apple Watch arrives next year it will be huge for me. As I use the Touch ID I am finding it working half the time for me. I usually unlock my phone with a sideways thumb and the Touch ID doesn't always work. I have even tried to re enter my thumb print a couple times, still nothing. I also noticed if your hands are wet or sweaty it doesn't work either. I actually have to wipe off the button and then it works. I don't think you can do much about that one.

The last thing I will touch on is the calendar. I've been waiting for the location to actually pick up your contacts addresses and bookmarks for your appointments.i don't know why I love that feature so much but I do. I also love the drive time based on location and it books off your calendar. One thing they need to add is the ability to access your home location like in Maps. They currently default to Current Location, I actually have to type in my home address.

So that's my first look on the iPhone 6 and only a couple features in iOS 8, there are so many more features in iOS 8. If you are on an iPhone 5 or below I think it would be a big jump. If your on an iPhone 5s then it's just a size enhancement. I skip the S's, I really don't need a phone every year unless someone gives one to me to test. (hint, hint) If your still looking into getting an iPhone 6 check your local Best Buys. They still had some in stock when I went in the other day.

Until next time. 

App Reviews - Worth the Money

I just downloaded a few Apps I found out within the last couple months. I don't typically pay for Apps unless they have stellar reviews and or recommendations. I believe these are worth every penny.

I will start with PopClip for the Mac. It's a handy little tool to download. It allows you to copy, paste, search, spell check and other options. The extensions are available to download for free from their website. When you highlight text on a page you get a popup that looks familiar, it's what you get on any mobile device when you hold your finger down. It takes away the right clicking when copying or pasting something. If I can save a click in my day, I'm a little happier. I think my favorite extension for it is the Amazon search. I compare product prices a lot when shopping online so this makes it really convenient, simply highlight the words then click on the amazon button and it opens a new tab with the results. Very Nice.

  

The PopClip App is $4.99 and will prove to be a handy purchase. You can find it in the Mac App Store.

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The next App is a productivity App named Blotter. It displays your iCal and Google calendar events and reminders on your desktop. This is a great tool if you are planning a lot or just have a busy life. It's nice not to have to open the calendar App just to see an appointment for the day or to verify when a birthday is that week. The calendar on the desktop is not interactive by click on it. It can be docked in your top banner where you can find the next and previous weeks toggles or you can set up keyboard shortcuts for the navigation of the weeks. It's a little inconvenient to do that but the option is there. There is one improvement they could make, the calendar display. It would be nice to have an option to display a yearly, monthly, or weekly view of the calendar, currently its only the weekly view.

 

The Blotter App is $9.99 in the Mac App Store. It will make things a little more convenient on seeing you daily schedule.

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Last but not least an iPad App Tweetglass. I just heard about this one today and had to share. As you can tell in the name it's a Twitter App. I'm on Twitter for my tech news only and I would like to see other peoples replies once in a while. It's kinda annoying on the iPhone you can't see them easy and on the iPad you have to click on the tweet then you get the drop down of the responses if there is any. Again, a click I can save in my day. Well, this App wraps all the conversations up into a single click and displays them on the same screen so theres no in and out business. The App is visually appealing and simple. They also have a timeline on the right so you can scroll, which is very convenient. I also like how there's a photos icon in the menu area that will bring up all the recent photos that your friends posted instead of digging through the tweets to find them.  Definitely an App to check out if you are a twitter nut.

 

The Tweetglass App is $0.99 in the iPad App Store. Again, very useful if you want to see replies on the same page and an overall great App.

Eye-Fi SD Memory Card Review - A Handy Little Piece of Technology

This is one little piece of technology I couldn't wait to share. I bought the Eye-Fi SD card about a year ago and love every time I use it. It's a memory card for a camera that can transfer photos taken instantly to your computer, iPhone, iPad, or Android device. One day after taking photos I started thinking, someone should make a wireless card for cameras, then I was on the hunt. 

Yes, I am either that lazy or that nerdy that I really wanted one. The problem I have is that I leave the SD card in the computer then I forget to put it back into my camera. This is nice because you can get home from taking photos and turn your camera on and the photos will then get either copying or transferred from the SD card to your computer. It's so convenient. I take it one step further. I'm starting to carry my point and shoot camera on me with the SD card in it. I have the card setup with the Eye-Fi iPhone app and as soon as I take a photo it transfers it to my phone then I can upload it to Facebook or Twitter. Yes, my phone has a camera and Yes it's nice but it doesn't offer all the setting that my Canon s90 point & shoot or my Canon Rebel T1i has.

I give the Eye-Fi 5 stars and it's worth every penny if you are in the market for a new little gadget. There are 4 different options to get this card in 16GB or 8GB Pro X2, 8GB Mobile X2, and the 4GB Connect X2. A couple vary in features, I have the 8GB Pro X2 and that offers Wireless Upload of RAW, JPGs, Video files and geotagging. Right now the 8GB Pro X2 is for $79.99 and the 16 Pro X2 is $99.99. You can compare all the models at http://www.eye.fi/products.

Here a little video from Eye-Fi's website.

Nest Thermostat - The Best Household Gadget

The Nest thermostat came out last October. As soon as I read about it I knew I had to have it so I preordered it. It's been a year now and I don't regret it at all. I can honestly say it's the best and most useful electronic in my house, so far.

When it arrived I was impressed with the packaging. It's funny I'm starting to pay more attention to that stuff. I can really blame Apple on that because the way they package their products. If you have bought a Mac you know what I mean. It's very clean, simple and not filled with wasteful material. In the box it came with a little cute screw driver, two different optional backings, and then the show stopper, shiny, sleek, thermostat.

It was so easy to install it was the matter of minutes. Just make sure your wires are compatible, you can check that on their website. I was and still am impressed on how it really does learn your schedule and notice when you are home and when you are away. Yes there is some learning time but key word is learning. It retains when you wake up and when you get home. If you have crazy work hours you can also set a schedule. The one thing that I love is that I can turn the heat up while at work so when I get home from the house can be nice and toasty. You can control it by using an iPhone, Android app or the nest.com. All are very convenient while away or on the go. Going out of town for a week is great now because I can control the thermostat from across the US or even in Canada which I did when we gone for our wedding. When returning to the house we didn't have the still air feel that you get when you are done for awhile. If you have a house sitter you could really mess with them too by turning up the heat while they are in the same room as the thermostat. It will suddenly glow and start raising. That would be really funny. One of our friends that was house sitting for us called us and asked out to change the thermostat because he was scared to touch it so we just changed it for him while on the phone. We thought that was funny. It's really not scary you just turn a dial, really nothing to it.

The reporting of the energy usage is really nice. You get a monthly email stating how much heat or air was used, how many times it was in away mode and how many leafs you earn. I will attach my last month energy report, to say the least I didn't do so well in the leaves area. The most leaves I've earned is 17 and that was in the spring. Im still tracking my monthly consumers bills to see if there is a difference from last year. It's so hard to track because of the weather and you know I am in Michigan. Year to Year the months are never the same. I do feel it has helped.

The iPhone app shows a week of energy use at a time. It's another way to track your usage and see how many times your heat or air is kicking on while you are away. You can also track how often your husband or wife comes home for lunch because it will sense someone in the house and shows a person. It's not real time so sorry it's not a spy thermostat. The thermostat is smart you don't have to worry about animals walking around and having it get confused and coming on. It's based on where it is on the wall, unless your dog is walking around on their back two feet they won't set it off.


The 2nd Gen Nest is coming out mid-October and they just reported a software update to 3.0. When the update came out I had nothing to worry about since its hooked up through wifi it updated it's self. Completely maintenance free. The review I'm writing is on the 1st Gen and I couldn't be more happy with it and I would highly recommend it if you are itching for a new home gadget. The 2nd Gen's design is 20% smaller than the 1st Gen's and has some some extra features. The 2nd Gen thermostat will cost $249 and the 1st Gen will drop down to $229. If you don't want to wait until mid-October I would just recommend the 1st Gen and save a few bucks. If not wait and get the latest and greatest either one you won't regret it.

I would love to hear other opinions if you bought it or if you heard of anything other useful gadgets that are a must have for the household like this.

Check the Nest Thermostat online at www.nest.com.

The New iPhone 5 Case

Royce for iPhone 5 (Silver White)

When the iPhone 5 was officially announced and the date was set for preorders I started searching for a case.  When I search for a case I want it to standout in a subtle way but of course be durable, I don't look for the cheapest one I can find and call it a day.

I have always been a big Speck Case fan since the first iPhone but now I ventured out and ordered a case from The Joy Factory called Royce. It arrived today and I was very impressed with the packaging. The plastic was surrounded by cushioned foam and sealed by metal snaps. I felt like a kid a christmas opening a present and saying "ooohhhh bubble wrap" and inside the box was a new shiny Wii,  yes my nephew did that a couple years ago. It was pretty funny. Anyways I was like that with the snaps. 

I have to admit not having a case on my phone for the last week has been really nice but its not worth the one time I forget it's on my lap when I get out of the car.  I almost forgot, I was again distracted by the snaps, the case also came with a Screen Protector and a BubbleShield Water-resistant Sleeve.  To bad I already bought a screen protector so I will probably give it away but the water-resistant sleeve is a great idea for summer and vacations when near sand and water. Its a little more stylish than a baggy.

Overall the case is nice but I will say just nice. The silver synthetic leather on the back and the edges kinda feels like foil. I can make a faint fingernail print on the side but Im sure once being used and abused that feeling of softness will go away. I will be interested in how it holds up in the months to come. My normal wear and tear for a case is a year. I think to pay $34.99 for a stylish case, screen protector and a water-reststant sleeve it's a deal.

They have a lot of cases online and some not so girly like this one, worth checking out. 

Visit them at http://www.thejoyfactory.com

Another case I would also recommend is the Speck CandyShell Flip for iPhone. This one I know can take a beating with pavement and not leave a scratch on your phone.

*Stay turned my next review will be of the The Nest Thermostat, the 1st generation. The 2nd generation comes out mid-October.