Trivial Trade-offs with the iPhone SE(2) →

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This time, the new SE’s trade-offs seem trivial. No face scanner, shooting photos in the dark or humongous screen? Those are minor inconveniences when you are paying 40 percent less than for an iPhone 11.

Who doesn’t want to save 40% on a new iPhone that uses the fastest and more current mobile processor as well as having an excellent camera? The biggest point that agree with Brian X. Chen on his iPhone SE (2) assessment is exactly this. He goes on to mention that he is more inclined to spend the $999 on an iPhone, as am I, but on day 2, why spend any more money?

“The new iPhone SE’s lack of compromise is what makes it remarkable. Apple took all the best parts from its expensive iPhones — including a fast computing processor and an excellent camera — and squeezed them into the shell of an older iPhone with a home button and smaller screen. At the same time, it managed to include useful features that were previously exclusive to fancy new phones, like water resistance, wireless charging and so-called portrait photos.”

Say Goodbye to the Butterfly Keyboard, Hello Magic Keyboard →

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I’m was “fortunate” to wait and wait for a newly designed MacBook Pro since I was going to spend an exorbitant amount and I am more than happy that I did. Consequently, I skipped the entire butterfly keyboard in its entirety and with it, much of it’s many defects and highly publicized issues! Apple debuted the 16” MacBook Pro last November and has since released the new Magic Keyboard along its entire lineup concluding today with the new 13” MacBook Pro. From 2020 on, you won’t be using that butterfly keyboard on any of Apple’s new devices including the new iPad Pro Magic Keyboard which debuted just two weeks ago! I’m contemplating buying it for my 11” iPad Pro but I’m still unsure and disappointed in the price.

Apple today updated the 13-inch MacBook Pro with the new Magic Keyboard for the best typing experience ever on a Mac notebook and doubled the storage across all standard configurations, delivering even more value to the most popular MacBook Pro. The new lineup also offers 10th-generation processors for up to 80 percent faster graphics performance1 and makes 16GB of faster 3733MHz memory standard on select configurations. With powerful quad-core processors, the brilliant 13-inch Retina display, Touch Bar and Touch ID, immersive stereo speakers, all-day battery life, and the power of macOS, all in an incredibly portable design, the new 13-inch MacBook Pro is available to order today, starting at $1,299, and $1,199 for education.

If you want to know which configuration of the 13” I would opt for, specifically, I’m surprised that Apple didn’t debut the long-rumored 14” bezel-less MacBook Pro. But I digress. Obviously, the first option, since you can’t upgrade most of these machines after the fact, is to max out the RAM. While the base model starts at $1,299, it only comes with 8GB RAM and I know that macOS Catalina along with Google Chrome or Apple’s Safari web browsers will eat it all up. While the $1,299 and $1,499 only max out at 16GB RAM, the higher model with the Intel 10th Generation CPU starts at 16GB 3733MHz LPDDR4X and can be maxed out at 32GB RAM which is also faster than 2133MHz LPDDR3 found in the lower two models.

So with that, I start at $1,799 base setup then upgrade the RAM, for $400, then upgrade the hard drive to 1TB for $200. If you have anything left over, going from the Intel i5 to the i7 for $200 is a logical upgrade too in my book. You can always add hard drive space with external drives or USB sticks but the RAM and CPU are nonupgradable components. So with all that added up, we’re back at $2,399 or $2,599 with the i7 CPU. Still an amazing little computer and also near the same price as the outgoing model.

Can the iPhone SE (2) Make You Reconsider $1000 Phones? →

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Is all of that worth the cost? Sure, for a lot of people. Is any of it necessary? Other than low-light photography, there’s virtually nothing that I do on those $1,000 phones that I can’t do equally well on the iPhone SE. It is fast, capable, reliable, and familiar. I’d miss those advanced features and more expansive displays, but not as much as you might think.

If I were buying the iPhone SE, I’d seriously consider spending the extra $50 to upgrade the storage to 128GB, just in case I’d want it three or five years down the road. That timespan is the reason the iPhone SE is a big deal. No other phone that costs less than $500 can claim to be this good, nor last that long.

The iPhone SE is not just a good deal. It’s also a really good smartphone.

I'm really liking the videos that The Verges' Dieter Bohn has been putting out and the fact that I concur 100% with this write-up gives me even more confidence that I'll be "fine" for the next 6-8 months. Heck, it'll most likely make me even reconsider purchasing the iPhone 12 for $1149, maybe.1 I mean seriously, I spoke about this upgrade cycle at length a while back (6 years ago) but I'll break it down again.

The iPhone X 256GB Silver cost me $1149 + tax = $1250 - $320 for trade-in = $930 divided by 30 months = 913 days of constant and daily use is about $1 a day for a TOOL that we are accessing day in and day out. Whether that's a good thing or bad, at least we get to track it now and step back. But hell, I just even bought a new 16" MacBook Pro and am producing again! Priceless.

  • The fact that a $1000 straight out of pocket for a device is definitely absurd hence the reasoning why I was trying to make my iPhone X 256GB Silver last for 36 months!↩

    • Ordered My iPhone SE (2)

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    I broke down just less than a week after the initial online orders were made available and consequently, I’ll have to wait until May 8th - May 15th. Apple offered the highest value for my iPhone X 256GB Silver at $3201 and I ended up having to push for the iPhone SE 256GB White which should be around $229 out of pocket before taxes. Love the white back and the all-black front too! I tried to go with the 128GB version but I looked and I had only 88GB left on my 256GB meaning I was using more than 128GB! Oh well, Being that this phone was around $549 + tax, I’m wondering how much I’ll be able to get for it in 6-8 months when the iPhone 12 comes out? Since it will cost around $300 out of pocket, I’m actually okay with it trading in for that much. Dang, I just looked it up too and my iPhone X 256GB Silver was $1,149 + tax!!! And yes I bought Apple Care back then!

  • 27.8% residual after 32 months… try finding an Android phone that can do that!

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    And if you didn't catch my hovering "bigfoot" footnote, it reads: 27.8% residual after 32 months… try finding an Android phone that can do that!

    Apple's Newest 2019 iPhone SE →

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    Starting at $399 for a 64GB phone that posses the fastest mobile chip on the market in both iOS and Android ecosystems, this is a steal giving this device either the best value for performance and size or overall best phone for the 2019 year! I know that’s pretty conclusive of an idea but where are you going to get this kind of performance for this kind of price? I would opt to pay an additional $50 for the 128GB model in white.

    For someone who has a 2.5-year-old iPhone X, if I go through Apple’s trade-in program, I get $320 credit, to which I can pay $79 to upgrade to the latest device and even have some features that the iPhone 11 (non-Pro) has in terms of camera quality! I’m thinking about this every day but at the same time, I’m deciding on whether to just wait for the iPhone 12 which is looking more and more like it’s going to be delayed due to the current global crisis.

    Introduced with iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro, A13 Bionic is the fastest chip ever in a smartphone and provides unparalleled performance for every task iPhone SE handles. Perfect for photography, gaming and augmented reality experiences, A13 Bionic makes every action feel fluid.

    I’ve always been about having the “latest and greatest” especially for something that you are constantly using everyday and this pricing is key! If you want a great comparison head over to 9to5mac for their iPhone SE vs iPhone XR write-up.

    Full Series TV Shows on SALE! →

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    I was hoping for either a sale on the full series edition of Friends since it was removed from Netflix at the end of 2019 and now is the time! With it absent from the general streaming services, you’ll have to subscribe to HBO Max but starting today for a limited time, check out what Apple TV / iTunes has today! The complete series on sale for $80.00 down from $140 or if you wanted something a little more recent, check out the sale on How I Met Your Mother for $30 down from $75!

    There are a few more shows that 9to5 Toys has listed and you can check out their full list here but some other honorable mentions is Cheers for $20 down from $40 and New Girl for $25 down from $50.

    Apple and Google Collaborate on Contact Tracing App →

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    I’m happy that both these amazing companies, that dominate the smartphone world, are finally collaborating for the great good of humanity but much bigger questions loom. Without a doubt, I’m happy that Apple is taking a lead in this project with their concerns for privacy as I hope that they will champion in protecting us more so than what we have seen from other corporations. You can find both Apple and Google’s Press Releases here with their images below on how the app will work. Privacy is the biggest issue here and really does seem like a big brother way of tracing but is there a better solution? If you want to read further into the technical documentation, click here!

    Apple and Google will be launching a comprehensive solution that includes application programming interfaces (APIs) and operating system-level technology to assist in enabling contact tracing. Given the urgent need, the plan is to implement this solution in two steps while maintaining strong protections around user privacy

    Techcrunch put it best in summary:

    There is zero use of location data, which includes users who report positive. This tool is not about where affected people are but instead whether they have been around other people.

    If you haven’t been able to stop by Google’s COVID-19 Community Mobility Papers, that’s something to definitely check out!

    BMW Backtracks on Charging for Apple CarPlay →

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    According to the British specialized AutoCar website, BMW has reversed its decision to charge for the use of CarPlay. Until now, customers could try the service free for 12 months when buying a new BMW car. After that, they would pay $80 a year in the US or £85 in the UK. A BMW spokesman said that the fee will no longer be charged for all cars that run the latest version of the ConnectedDrive infotainment system.

    It was completely foolish in my mind for BMW to even charge for Apple CarPlay when other vehicle manufacturers that are much lower in cost don’t even think about charging their customers. As I have stated in the past, this is one of the reasons why my family will no longer own a BMW; aside from the multitude of mechanical failures.

    It’s important to note that Apple claims not to charge manufacturers any fees for using CarPlay, as the system only depends on a paired iPhone to work. The decision to charge customers for this feature is taken by the car companies itself, and BMW was the first to do so.

    Shameful…

    Lasers Can Talk →

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    Be careful out there.

    “Smart speakers like the Echo and Google Home, however, have none of that voice authentication. And given the physical nature of the vulnerability, no software update may be able to fix it. But the researchers do suggest some less-than-ideal patches, such as requiring a spoken PIN number before voice assistants carry out the most sensitive commands. They also suggest future tweaks to the devices designs to protect them from their attack, such as building light shielding around the microphone, or listening for voice commands from two different microphones on opposite sides of the device, which might be tough to hit simultaneously with a laser.

    Until those fixes or design changes arrive, Michigan’s Genkin suggests a simple if counterintuitive rule of thumb for anyone concerned by the attack’s implications: “Don’t put a voice-activated device in line of sight of your adversary,” he says. If they can so much as see your Echo or Google Home through a window, they can talk to it too.”
    — https://www.wired.com/story/lasers-hack-amazon-echo-google-home/

    Mac Powers Higher Employee Satisfaction and Productivity →

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    As I’ve been trying to tell people, my job in helping you manage your systems or in other words, get paid for IT troubleshooting goes down when you convert. Also, 16% higher sales should bode well for those in the industry. Time to migrate!

    This year, Previn announced first-of-its-kind research that shows how Mac enables IBM employees to be more productive, along with improving employee satisfaction and retention.

    • Improved employee performance – There are 22% more macOS users who exceeded expectations in performance reviews, compared to Windows users. Also, high value sales deals tend to be 16% larger for macOS users, compared to Windows users.

    • Greater employee satisfaction and retention – IBM’s research shows that employees using Mac have a higher net promoter score than Windows users, 47.5 compared to 15 respectively, and are also 17% less likely to leave IBM compared to those who use Windows. Mac users are happier with the third-party software availability within IBM. Only 5% of macOS users ask for additional software, compared to 11% of Windows users.

    Previn also announced research on how macOS users and devices require less support, as seven engineers support 200,000 macOS devices versus 20 engineers required to support 200,000 Windows devices. That is a 186% increase in support engineering needed for Windows devices.

    Rivet and Other Cool Children Apps

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    I'm always looking for new, child friendly apps for the iPad / iPhone or even maybe Amazon's newly updated Amazon Kindle Fire 7 Kids Edition Tablet specifically when it comes to reading or math. Granted, I'm pretty sure that my children do not spend more than 20 minutes on any device per week when I'm home as I have a strict no screen time during the week and only VERY limited time on the weekend. Anyways, that's a whole different batttle these days as the Wall Street Journal points out.

    Out today is Google's new Rivet app from their incubator team Area 120 called Rivet on Apple App Store or Google Play. It's a speech processing app that has over 200 books availble for children to read and learn. I played with it yesterday with my son for just over 3 minutes and it was awesome. I've also done the Apple Coding App for children called Swift Playground on the iPad but of course, Google has their own app as well, by the same group called Grasshopper. I encourage you to check them all out. Pretty intuitive and interactive stuff!

    Late 2018 MacBook Pro Vega Benchmarks

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    The benchmarks that we have all been waiting for (at least me) have finally been popping up and Macrumors.

    The machine, which includes a 2.6GHz Core i7 Intel processor, a Radeon Pro Vega 20 graphics card, 16GB RAM, and a 1TB SSD, earned an OpenCL score of 72799. Additional benchmarks found on Geekbench with a similar machine using an upgraded Core i9 processor demonstrated OpenCL scores of 75817, 76017, and 80002.

    In a separate benchmark uploaded to Geekbench, the new high-end MacBook Pro with Core i9 processor also earned a Metal score of 73953.

    Comparatively, machines with similar specs and Radeon Pro 560X graphics cards on Geekbench earned maximum OpenCL scores of right around 65000 and Metal scores of approximately 57000, suggesting much higher graphics performance with the new Radeon Pro Vega 20 card.

    So in Metal, we are seeing a 25% in performance in Metal and around 20% boost in OpenCL. These numbers are far from the 60% that was touted on Apple's website, but then again, maybe we haven't seen a true software tweak / update that utilizes the full potential of these new dedicated graphics cards or maybe throttling is once again part of the issue. Looking to pull the trigger in January so stay tuned!