My Phone Bias Part 2: It’s not about SLAMMING popular phones…

It’s worth checking in periodically. As my channel evolves and shifts over time, it seems some folks might miss what the goal is here.

To begin, I believe disclosing explicit bias is critical to fair reviewing. No human reviewer is a truly objective machine. There is no such thing as objectivity. Full stop.

I believe a review needs context. If we’re not sure where a reviewer is coming from, then we lack a critical perspective to understand why a reviewer might grade certain aspects of a phone the way they do.

I laid my cards on the table a couple years back, and I’m happy that basically everything I talked about in my “BIAS” video still pretty much holds true today.

Now you know where I’m coming from, and what I value.

Since then however, this conversation has grown more concerning. The issues I talk about at the tail end of that video seem to be getting worse, not better. Over 2019, a major focus for my channel has been to point out media literacy issues which I believe contribute to some disturbing trends in consumer electronics.

Today we find ourselves in a serious and unique situation. Gadgets and electronics are being stressed like never before. How someone spends their gadget money has never been more important.

I naturally have a bit of a contrarian streak, and I enjoy stirring the pot for fun debates. The goal of my channel has never been, and will never be, to trash popular devices simply because they are popular. I’m not praising “less popular” phones just to throw a thumb in the eye of the “cool kids”.

This needs a bit of explanation… Continue reading “My Phone Bias Part 2: It’s not about SLAMMING popular phones…”

OnePlus 7 Pro vs 7T Long Term Comparison: When has a phone surprised you?

We get lost in new releases and having the biggest specs. It’s important to keep track of how we use these gadgets. Looking at my own behavior using the 7 Pro and the 7T, a few things surprised me. I didn’t PLAN it this way, but what might it say about my personal bias?

Continue reading “OnePlus 7 Pro vs 7T Long Term Comparison: When has a phone surprised you?”

Does the Galaxy S20 use a FAKE Zoom?

How DO cameras work?

As I’ve been talking about the Galaxy S20 and LG V60, people seem surprised by some of the performance I’ve been describing.

We might complain about compromises on one phone, but how do those changes compare to the competition?

How closely should we examine marketing claims? Should popular manufacturers be graded on a curve JUST because they’re popular? Let’s take a look at the Galaxy S20’s spec sheet here…
Continue reading “Does the Galaxy S20 use a FAKE Zoom?”

Great Tech Resources for Homeschooling! Videos, Apps, and Websites!

More parents than ever are having to adjust to the realities of homeschooling, and my family is no exception. To keep kids intellectually engaged while traditional schools are closed, there are a variety of video resources, apps, games, and tech tools you can use.

In this video, lets rounds up some of my favorites and share some thoughts about the best way to keep our children learning during this challenging time.

We’re all in this together! Let’s share some good family tech!
Continue reading “Great Tech Resources for Homeschooling! Videos, Apps, and Websites!”

A Field Trip to Amazon 4-Star: Is the future of retail more physical stores?

Shortly before the strictest messaging came out on “social distancing”, we took a little field trip.

Amazon is opening more physical stores beyond buying Whole Foods. In our neck of the woods, an Amazon branded grocery store is being built, and recently a “4-Star” opened up in the local mall.

It’s a cute concept, trending products, with reviews above four stars on Amazon, are stocked in a physical retail location. Continue reading “A Field Trip to Amazon 4-Star: Is the future of retail more physical stores?”

5 Tips for Working from Home (in Under Five Minutes)

Working from home? Has there been a sudden change in your work/life balance? Here’s a quick and dirty vlog with five fast tips to get you started.

My first five common sense tips for getting your work done AND staying sane during a lifestyle change.
Continue reading “5 Tips for Working from Home (in Under Five Minutes)”

‘Knives Out’ and Playing by Apple’s Rules

Rian Johnson is one of my favorite current filmmakers. If his style could be summed up in a sentence, Johnson excels at deconstructing popular genres.

Want a Film Noir? He’ll set the heightened drama of a noir in high school, where kids are naturally more dramatic.

The Brothers Bloom is a fresh twist on a caper film. Looper tweaks the standard tropes of Time Cop-style time travel movies.

He’s at his best when he can take a format we’re familiar with, maybe even tired of, and he’s able to throw a tiny wrench into the machine we understand.

Even his Star Wars entry is less a good Star Wars film, and more a commentary on the most popular tropes of Star Wars films. It’s a fascinating examination of a beloved franchise, even if it doesn’t quite work as an episode of the series.

Recently we saw a handful of stories relating Rian Johnson’s experiences in using Apple branded products in his films, specifically how it impacts the story for his “whodunnit” mystery comedy Knives Out.

[SPOILER WARNING: if you haven’t seen the movie yet, there will be discussion which will totally wreck some of the most fun reveals of the movie.] Continue reading “‘Knives Out’ and Playing by Apple’s Rules”

Microsoft Office and the Future of Dual Screen Phones

Microsoft has been busy.

Office recently got an update where it combined multiple apps into one Office platform. It’s a handy upgrade, not having to swap apps to look through documents or reference spreadsheets.

On top of that, we know Microsoft is working aggressively on future hardware form factors, with a particular focus on dual screen devices.

The platform which runs the service seems less important to Microsoft than whether people are using their services. When a dual screen Surface phone arrives, it’ll run Android.

Microsoft’s services need to be ready to go at launch though. If an expensive gadget sporting the Surface brand stumbles on core Microsoft services, it’ll be an embarrassing misstep for a company which has struggled with their mobile strategy since the rise of the iPhone.

Thankfully, folks don’t need to wait for the Surface Duo launch to get a taste of Microsoft’s dual screen strategy. Current dual screen devices are ready to go. Continue reading “Microsoft Office and the Future of Dual Screen Phones”