I really should pick up my blogging pace, yet another long gap between posts. I'm sorry about that and try to do something about that in the future. I had one half-finished post hanging here for a few weeks now, and after reading it again today I ended up deleting it. Some posts are just not meant to be. So instead of finishing that failed post, I'll do something completely different and take a brief look at the mobile gear I use now.
What comes to phones, I still carry an iPhone 6 and a Nexus 5. The iPhone 6 is a nice device, but I'm somewhat concerned about Apple's current software quality and more than concerned about their handling of the App Store. I really hope they'll get their act together before frustrated developers jump to Android which has been making nice progress (Lollipop, Material Design, Android Studio 1.0) lately, but which has its own issues as well (e.g. WebView vulnerability leaving millions of relatively new devices unsafe with no fix in sight).
The Nexus 5 is also a nice phone, but its camera is no match to its iPhone 6 counterpart. Even more irritating is the poor battery life, which unfortunately wasn't improved as much Project Volta promised. However, it's my only phone that can read the balance of my travel card for the local public transportation so it's nice to have at hand when I'm out and about in public transit. If iOS 9 opens NFC access to 3rd party developers as well, I think that part gets solved, though.
My latest piece of mobile tech is the LG G Watch I have on my wrist. As it's an Android Wear device, it's naturally tethered to my Nexus 5. However, there have been some rumors about Google possibly bringing Android Wear support to iOS as well. If that ever happens, I'd definitely give it a go just to see how the experience compares to having it tethered to an Android phone. It would be a nice stopgap solution before there's a good version of Apple Watch available in Finland. Based on the current information the first generation Apple Watch might not fit the definition of good, but naturally we'll know only when the device actually gets released and the reviews appear. I'm particularly concerned about the battery life. If it really can have the screen on for only three hours including showing the time, then I'm not quite impressed as my G Watch shows the time all the time and I've had no problems whatsoever getting through the day with it. But the killer feature of the G Watch is that it's a Bluetooth device that I'm very likely to have where also my phone is, so I've set it up as a trusted device for my Nexus, so I don't have to be typing in my passcode all the time while not making any major compromises to my security.
I also have my Windows Phone devices (a Lumia 620 of my own and a Lumia 925 from work), but those are currently just backup devices for emergencies and testing out web stuff. Of course I could pick up my 925 for active use (for after all, Elisa Wallet SIM does work in both of my Lumias), but that would require Windows 10 for phones being really awesome, the app selection improving and having some way to avoid constantly inputting my passcode without disabling it altogether. Having Touch ID on my iPhone and the watch as a trusted device for my Nexus, I'm becoming really allergic to constantly inputting my passcode. I'm not sure if the Microsoft Band allows something like this, but it wouldn't be a fix anyway as it's not available in Finland yet and it's somewhat unclear if it's even coming here at all.
I would really like to scale down the gear I carry to just one phone and a watch to accompany it. However, that would require getting an Apple Watch or Google adding iOS support to Android Wear. If I could pair my iPhone with the LG G Watch, I could actually leave my Nexus 5 home most of the time as I can have it forward both the calls and SMS's (thanks to Tasker!) that come to it to my iPhone, while SMS forward is a much trickier thing to pull off on an iPhone without at least jailbreaking it. Another possibility is to get an Android phone that beats or matches the iPhone 6 in camera (not just specs alone but the whole experience of getting good pictures quickly and consistently) and battery life and replace my iPhone with that, but that would require a larger investment and maybe dealing with a phablet-sized Nexus 6. From cost perspective Google adding iOS support to Android Wear would be most optimal as I could achieve my goal with my current hardware, but I'm not exactly holding my breath for that.
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