The iPhone is my default smartphone of choice. We also share history, it was unvailed in the same year I launched Nozbe. These posts explain how I use the iPhone as a pocket computer alongside my iPad… and as a phone.
When the AirPods Pro launched two years ago, I immediately got them and never looked back. I carry them with me everywhere. I love the noise canceling (NC), the transparency mode (where you can hear everything around you) and the fact that they’re so small and so compact that you can just have them on yourself and start listening through them anytime. Apple now launched the second generation - below is my short review and a few tips if you’re planning to get them:
When the original iPhone 12 Mini was announced, I got to it and loved it! I called it the “ultimate cuteness” and with it I embraced the MagSafe lifestyle. When iPhone 13 Pro was announced, I wanted a better camera and pro-motion and went with the Pro instead. I spent a year with it and it was a great phone… but it was too heavy and bulky for me. Long story short, two months ago I got a discounted iPhone 13 Mini for iOS16 testing and it was so much joy to use, that this week I made it my main iPhone. Here’s why this year I’m forgoing the “Pro” phone and going with the last Mini:
When I published my best posts from 2012 I realized that there are things I started doing a decade ago and I keep doing to this day. Like working standing or using iPad as my main computer. It turns out, that 9 years ago I started having a minimalist wallet attached to my iPhone and never looked back. Today, my iPhone 13 Pro wallet looks like this:
I watched last week’s Apple Event with much enthusiasm and as I tend to upgrade my iPhone every year, I was very happy to see the cameras got slightly better as well as battery life. This year though, the difference between the pro and non-pro models is substantial so I decided I’m going back with a bigger iPhone. I’m replacing my good old iPhone 12 Mini with the iPhone 13 Pro, here’s why:
Despite the pandemic and lack of long-haul travel, I’m still using my backpack almost daily when I need to leave home. As recently I embraced the MagSafe lifestyle I decided to review everything I carry in my backpack and write it up over here so that it might be also helpful to you. Here goes:
Apart from reducing the size of the iPhone 12 last year, Apple introduced a new type of accessories for the iPhone, which have to do with charging and magnets - MagSafe. While I was a little skeptical about this, I ordered the MagSafe Wallet and gave it a try. After a while I decided to go all in on MagSafe and embrace this new magnetic lifestyle.
Now after I’ve posted the details of my iPad Pro 11” home screen it’s time to share the Home Screen of my cute iPhone 12 Mini. As I was doing my annual review I decided to also simplify and reduce the number of apps on my iPhone’s screen as well as embrace the two things iOS14 was all about - the widgets and the app directory. Here’s the result:
Every now and then it’s good to get off the screens of iPads and iPhones and just play a board game. As a father of three girls, we like spending evenings playing Catan, Carcassonne or Monopoly. Or even just a simple “Snakes and Ladders” game. But to be able to play, you need dice. And in a household like ours, dice magically disappear… so in order to be able to have them always handy, I decided to quickly build virtual dice, so that we can use the phone to throw them in a truly random fashion! 🎲🎲 Get virtual dice here.
It’s hard to satisfy a geek like me. I don’t like to buy many things and I’m very specific about stuff I want. And there are also gadgets that I need. Here’s the list of things I got on Black Friday or will be getting soon this holiday season (or will be telling my relatives to get for me). Hope it’s useful to you and inspires you to get something for yourself:
As I upgrade my iPhone every year, I usually go with the same kind of model, just better. Three years ago I went with the iPhone X. Two years ago I had a choice between XR, XS and XS Max. I chose the natural successor - iPhone XS. Last year I went with the iPhone 11 Pro. So naturally this year I’d go for the iPhone 12 Pro, right? Well… wrong! I went with something smaller:
