We ALL Suffer When Apple Products DON’T “Just Work”

Apple needs to be held to the standard they advertise for themselves. When they slip, they should be criticized harder than any other consumer tech brand operating today. When they make mistakes, they deliver those mistakes at a scale no other brand can approach.

The potential for consumer harm from an Apple mistake is an order of magnitude higher than any other competitor, and Apple has a clear track record of trying to break standards to sell proprietary solutions for their own benefit.

Case in point: AirTags.

AirTags are a really cool idea. Continue reading “We ALL Suffer When Apple Products DON’T “Just Work””

When iPhone Parents Bully Android Parents…

This post was originally published in my Production Diary on Patreon.com/SomeGadgetGuy. Many thanks to the Patrons supporting production on this blog!

It’s finally happened. My wife has been bullied by an iPhone owner. One of Lex’s best friend’s Mom attacked her over text messages. Our community will be torn apart.

DOGS AND CATS LIVING TOGETHER! MASS HYSTERIA!

Naw. It wasn’t that dramatic. Marie and I are having a nice little chuckle. We’re still going to let Lex play with their son. It’s all good.

It’s an interesting situation, and a complicated social dynamic. It showcases perfectly how Apple marketing “encourages” iPhone owners to act like missionaries. Continue reading “When iPhone Parents Bully Android Parents…”

Can we just admit that Google Photos kinda sucks?

HUGE UPDATE!

Almost a year after I wrote this editorial, I’m happy to report that Google Photos has been updated, and we see a HUGE improvement to processing times!

The rest of the app is still ugly and clumsy, but now it’s ugly, clumsy, and FASTER!!!

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Not the SERVICE Google Photos. The SERVICE is great. I’m talking about the Google Photos app.

Google Photos (the app) kinda sucks. Allow me to explain.

I’ve been digging into the iQOO 11, and performance testing the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. It’s really exciting to see the improvements coming to PREMIUM tier smartphones. These are much better behaved hot rod pocket computers.

I’ve added some new tests to my collection of benchmarks, and I’m tracking two different tests using Google Photos.

Google Photos is painful to use. Continue reading “Can we just admit that Google Photos kinda sucks?”

RiotPWR XBOX Controller for iPhone: Game Pass FTW!

RiotPWR Controller Review!

Turn your iPhone into a portable XBOX! Mobile gaming is huge right now, and mobile game controllers are really popular. RiotPWR is selling an officially licensed XBOX controller for iPhone users, and it’s reinforcing why Game Pass is such a great deal. Let’s play!

RiotPWR Controller on Amazon https://amzn.to/3CDuVum

Continue reading “RiotPWR XBOX Controller for iPhone: Game Pass FTW!”

iPhone 13: I’m not buying one.

I’m not going to buy the iPhone 13.

I won’t be reviewing the iPhone 13.

If you’re curious why, let’s chat.

How techies get phone camera reviews wrong…

A camera isn’t the same thing for every consumer.

Even though standalone cameras have become less popular for consumer point and shoot use, we still see an incredible variety of hardware and form-factors. There is no universal agreement on what a camera “is”. People still have entirely unique needs where those differences matter to the individual.

This isn’t just some oblique idea of specialty or “pro” use. At a basic level, someone’s specific needs will be better fulfilled by a tool designed for those needs.

Yet in the world of smartphone camera reviewing, we crouch a significant portion of the conversation behind some idea of “The Avuraj CunZoomer™”. We build phone camera conversations around a fallacy that there is some common or objective agreement on what a camera SHOULD be.

It’s only at the most regressively basic level that we might find some agreement.

You should be able to push a button that results in an image being captured.

Beyond that, cameras should specialize. We should see different pros and cons. That’s what makes cameras exciting. Continue reading “How techies get phone camera reviews wrong…”

Google Pixel 5A vs iPhone SE: What real competition looks like!

We love phone showdowns. People cheer their “team”. We get emotionally invested in the products we buy and use.

It’s surprisingly difficult to properly divide up phones into categories where those comparisons are fair. It’s casually easy to look at a landscape of phones under $500 and pick a few for a fight. If you’ve followed my videos and reviews, you know I really like to get more specific about what KIND of device a phone might be.

I don’t think price is the decider as much as functionality or the target consumer demographic.

We should compare “communicator” phones against other communicator phones. Content creation phones should be compared against other creator phones. Gaming phones should be compared against gaming phones (and the Nintendo Switch).

With all that said, allow me to be a hypocrite as I purposely select two phones to fight based on price! Continue reading “Google Pixel 5A vs iPhone SE: What real competition looks like!”

Sideways App Drawers Are Lame! How do YOU Organize Your Phone?

Vertical app drawers FTW!

How we customize our phones is a very personal thing. But, I think we can ALL agree that sideways app drawers are the worst! Continue reading “Sideways App Drawers Are Lame! How do YOU Organize Your Phone?”