Living with the Apple Watch

Well, after the previous blog post my phone dilemma was solved to the point where the snappiness of the 6s won me over despite the Nexus 5X being more versatile. I was thinking about what to do with my now-unused 6+, and I tried to sell it online for a while. However, secondhand market for the larger iPhones doesn't seem to be as active as the one for the smaller iPhones, and as a result of that I couldn't attract any buyers despite a reasonable price demand. Then I noticed a trade-in program with a Finnish retailer Gigantti. Of course the rate they offered wasn't quite the same than what I could get with selling the phone directly to a new owner, but still it was quite decent especially when considering that I'd get to keep all the accessories such as extra Lightning cables (you can't have enough of these lying around) and chargers, so it turned out to be an OK deal. However, part of the deal was that I'd spend the amount they'd pay for my 6+ on other products from the store, so I thought I'd finally get myself the Apple Watch. Sure, there are lots of (maybe clickbait?) articles popping up around the first anniversary of the Apple Watch, but despite all the gloom and doom in the articles, I'm rather happy with mine and so far it seems to beat the LG G Watch Android Wear device I used to wear, and it does so in almost every category. Currently the G Watch wins only in the "display the time constantly" department, as that's something which is not currently possible with the Apple Watch. However, I've noticed that the gesture for waking up the screen is rather reliable, more so than the G Watch equivalent that I used before just setting it up to display the time constantly.

I'm not going to do a category-by-category comparison for the simple fact that my Apple Watch gives my G Watch such a severe beating in too many ways that a more serious comparison wouldn't be even funny anymore. Let's just say that I'm happy with the more reliable activity tracking (no more bogus cycling credits for driving my car in a slow traffic), some quite useful glances and the possibility to respond to messages (using canned responses, though) and answer phone calls directly from my watch.

Sure, apps are slow to launch on the watch, but I use them so rarely that it doesn't really matter. I didn't use apps that much on my G Watch either. I mainly want to know what time is it (well duh, it's a watch), get my notifications and hopefully also deal with some of them straight away, and track my activity and hopefully motivate me to exercise a little bit more. The Apple Watch does these just fine and wins two out of three categories compared to Android Wear. In addition, even if the apps are quite slow to launch, having a slowly launching Authy on my wrist is still faster and more convenient than getting up and fetching my phone from another room when I need my two-factor authentication. However, getting up and walking to another room would fill my standing ring, so it's a win either way.

I also appreciate how easy it is to change the bands. However, I don't quite like the price of many Apple's bands, so maybe I'll give some 3rd party bands a try.

Now if only Apple Pay were available in Finland...

Phone Dilemma Revisited

Whoa, it's been a while since the last update. Quite a lot has happened since the last post. The iPhone 6+ is now sitting powered down and waiting for me to decide what to do with it. The reason why it's powered down is that I first got myself a Nexus 5X from a deal (32GB for 349€, not bad with the prices over here), and just recently got an iPhone 6s from work. Just the 16GB model, though.

What comes to the 16GB storage, that abomination does not belong in an expensive flagship phone in 2016. It just kills the user experience, something which Apple at least used to hold in high regard. I had to forget about restoring my old backup as the device would've been full straight away. Granted, I did have quite a lot of unused apps, so instead of slimming down my backup I decided to start out fresh. I installed just the bare necessities, but still I was running into problems with the storage even though I took Schiller's advice and used the cloud. However, with my first 16GB iPhone since the iPhone 3G (where 16GB was all you could get and it was quite sufficient for the time with much smaller photo resolution and smaller apps) I quickly found out that the "optimise iPhone storage" option for the iCloud Photo Library doesn't quite work as expected. Instead of offloading my local photos to the cloud, it insisted on pulling some ancient pictures from my iCloud Photo Library to the device even though I hadn't even viewed any of those photos in years. That in turn made things a little bit harder when I was trying to empty my local camera roll into the Mac OS X Photos app. All those ancient pics it synced to the phone were identified as new even though the OS X Photos uses the very same iCloud Photo Library. I had been running Google Photos alongside iCloud Photo Library for a while now, and this episode actually pushed me to disable iCloud Photo Library and trust my photo backup to Google Photos instead. So far I'm really happy with the choice. Now I actually have some headroom on the all-too-cramped device and unwanted old photos no longer show up to mess up the photo import. If the minimum storage would've been the more appropriate 32GB I might still be actively using iCloud Photo Library, but now that Apple's stinginess with storage revealed the shortcomings of the "optimization" algorithm, I think I'll scale down my iCloud storage subscription since I no longer need or trust iCloud Photo Library (I had some issues earlier on already, but this "optimization" mess was the last straw). Great business move Apple. If you skimp on the storage in order to sell your cloud service, maybe first make sure that the cloud service actually works? If the cheapest model (read: the only one you'll get from the company) had 32GB of storage, photo library taking up close to 5GB on day one could've gone unnoticed as there would've been plenty of headroom on the device, but when you're fast approaching 1GB free and the Photos app goes "Oh look, another pic from 2005! Gotta cache that on the device!", you start to take measures against such stupidity. That meant disabling iCloud Photo Library and soon I'll be scaling back my iCloud storage subscription too.

OK, that's for the iCloud rant. Now to the actual dilemma. I have a hard time deciding which device will host my primary SIM now. Currently it's sitting in my Nexus 5X, but I've been considering about moving it to the iPhone 6s. It's rather funny (if I were Apple, I might call that alarming instead) that a phone that costs only half as much as the 6s and still provides more storage is so strong in this competition. Let's make a quick comparison of the pros and cons of each.

Nexus 5X
Pros:

• Mobile payments. Pivo provides these and they even link against my debit card, which is nice.
• Camera. It actually seems to capture better details than the 6s camera, something which surprised me quite a bit.
• Voice control. I can actually control both music and podcasts playback hands free in my car, thanks to Google Now supporting both Google Play Music and Pocket Casts
• USB-C fast charging. While the battery isn't too good, being able to top it up quickly is nice.

Cons:

• No work email or calendar. However, company policy is here to blame instead of Android itself. Still an annoyance that I can't do much about
• Bluetooth issues with some apps. Google Play Music seems to handle an incoming call, but e.g. Pocket Casts resumes playback as soon as the ringtone finishes playing even though I've answered the call. That leads me to having to interact with the phone itself to pause the podcast so that I can actually hear what the person in the other end is saying. I've submitted a bug report about this, so let's see what they'll do.
• USB-C availability. I have some chargers, but finding a friend with a spare USB-C charging cable is still quite rare
• Apps. Some apps just aren't as good as their iOS counterparts. However, there are apps that are currently impossible to implement on iOS, so this is more of a draw.
• No apparent waterproofing and really poor waterproof case availability.

iPhone 6s

Pros:

• Wicked fast. Is this thing snappy or what?
• Work email and calendar. Helps quite a bit quite often.
• Good apps. Even though all innovative stuff isn't available thanks to hardware and/or review policy limitations
• Lots of good apps for a musician. Yes, I play guitar in a band and every now and then even hit the right note.
• Surprisingly good built-in water resistance even though Apple hasn't acknowledged this, but iFixit teardown and several tests have revealed this. Also plenty of case options (including waterproof ones) available.

Cons:

• Siri just doesn't work with the apps I use. Sure, it's now available in Finnish, which is nice, but as the music controls are limited to Apple Music (I use Google Play Music for cloud stuff and this 16GB PoS doesn't have space for syncing local stuff to Apple Music) and Apple Podcasts (which I'm not going to bother with when Overcast and Pocket Casts are available).
• No mobile payments yet. We're well into 2016 now, so how about expanding Apple Pay a little bit more, Apple?
• Somewhat poor battery life & no fast charging. Sure, Lightning cables are nowadays everywhere, but how about making the phone a little bit thicker to accommodate a more usable battery?
• Camera isn't as good as I've been used to on an iPhone. Surprisingly many failed shots on this one. I'm starting to suspect the hardware in my phone might be defective.

As you can see, both phones have their pros and cons. I now just have to figure out which pros are more important than the associated cons. Apple could help its device quite a bit here by rolling out Apple Pay in more countries and opening up Siri access to 3rd party apps. I'm quite confident that Marco would implement Siri support to Overcast if it were just possible. Well, maybe I'll need to play around with both phones a little bit more. 

Oh, one more thing. If that phone call continuity weren't restricted to the same wifi, I'd just put my primary SIM to the 6s and the work one into the 6+ and never miss a call without ever having to mess around with toggling call diverts. Pretty please, Apple?

Back on iOS - Again

Well, as it turns out I'm once again running an iPhone as my daily driver. I managed to find a person who wished to trade in his 64GB iPhone 6 Plus that was warranty replaced with a new device on new year's eve for my 64GB Nexus 6P. Even though I would've preferred the 6s Plus with 2GB of RAM, the 6 Plus was still a good deal as it removes the battery issues I had with my iPhone 6 and also solves the annoyances my Nexus 6P got with Android 6.0.1, i.e. Bluetooth and occasional connectivity issues. The 6P wasn't a bad experience (far from it), but in the end iOS seems to fit my needs better. With the iPhone I get better and more predictable battery life, my work email and calendar (granted, this is a company policy issue instead of a technical limitation), and most importantly stable Bluetooth. Those irregular one second gaps of silence every now and then that 6.0.1 introduced were slowly driving me crazy. With podcasts it was an annoyance, but when it comes to music it's approaching the dealbreaker territory quite fast.

Maybe I was just using the wrong apps on Android, but upon my return to iOS it was nice to see how many of the apps I used had 1Password and/or TouchID integration. The Nexus Imprint on my 6P was a bit of a letdown as it wasn't of much use besides unlocking the phone even though it did that blazingly fast. 

However, I did lose mobile payments for now with the transition as Apple Pay is not yet available in Finland and thanks to iPhone NFC being locked down to Apple Pay only, the NFC hardware is currently totally useless. Even more than having Apple Pay here, I'd like Apple to open up the NFC interface so that Pivo (the app I used for mobile payments on Android) could introduce mobile payments also on their iOS app. I prefer having those smaller payments linked to my debit card (like I had with Pivo) instead of piling up stuff on my credit card.

I still have my Nexus 5 for staying in touch with the Android side of things, but with my 6 Plus as my daily driver I'll be eagerly waiting for iOS 9.3 and Siri in Finnish + Night Shift. If the iPhone 7 does indeed have the rumored waterproofing, I think I'll upgrade to the Plus version of that once it comes out.

Oh, one more thing. I kinda like the fact that I got my 6 Plus secondhand as I didn't get to pick the color. I now have the gold version which is quickly growing on me (Apple going with a toned-down more champagne gold is the key here, I couldn't stand some flashy bling gold), but if I had initially bought it myself, I might've gone with the Space Gray as my color preferences regarding iPhones have been pretty much in line with those of Henry Ford.

Android Annoyances

So, I've been living with the Nexus 6P as my daily driver for a while now. In general I've been satisfied, but it's obvious that the honeymoon's over and some issues are really starting to annoy me:

• 6.0.1 update seemed to make the battery life somewhat worse. I now have to resort to occasional top-up charges during the day despite the beefy battery.
• I keep missing my e-mails due to notifications not firing. Looks like I'm not alone.
• It would be nice to get my work email on my phone (however, our workplace policies are more to blame than Android here).
• Some apps aren't just as good as their iOS counterparts. For example 1Password has an Android version with Nexus Imprint support in development, but it's sure taking its time to arrive. Granted, there are some apps that aren't currently even possible on iOS and I do like the fact that I can pay with my phone on Android as Apple Pay is still not available in Finland, but still some of key apps I use regularly not being as good on Android as they are on iOS is annoying.
• I just can't seem to find any decent waterproof cases for the 6P. iPhones have lots of options available and I was happy with the Catalyst case I had for my iPhone 6.

If the camera weren't as good as it is especially in the low light, I'd most likely be eyeing the 6s Plus right now, but with the camera being actually good I'll try to survive with the 6P for a little longer and hope that the problems get sorted out.

UPDATE: My 6P was kind enough to remind me that I had actually forgotten one issue from my list, i.e. wifi just deciding to stop transferring any data at some random point in time. I need to toggle wifi off and back on again every now and then to be able to e.g. open links. Annoying.

Nexus 6P

Well, life with two small kids is such that there's often not enough time for blogging, so this entry is a little bit late. I was thinking about writing my immediate reactions to getting my Nexus 6P, but I've had it for a week and a half now when I have the time to write something about it.

I guess the most interesting question is whether it's any good, and the answer to that is oh yes it is, definitely. I've gotten used to the size quickly, the display is just amazing, the camera is actually good and takes surprisingly good shots in low light, and also the battery gets me through the day without worries even though it's not quite iPhone 6s Plus caliber.

As the 6P isn't exactly cheap, I ordered a Spigen Rugged Armor case for mine together with some glass screen protectors from CaseBase. I think I have to mention that the Spigen case isn't even nearly as bulky as the name Rugged Armor suggests, but I'm still confident that it can save me from some extensive damage when I inevitably drop the phone at some point. In addition, as the phone charges via USB-C, I needed some extra cables and having read about some of the cables not being up to spec, I decided to get cables from a brand with good reputation. I ended up ordering some Anker cables in both USB 2 and USB 3 versions and they didn't let me down. According to the CheckR app all of them are up to spec. I also got myself a USB-C OTG cable, so now I think I just need myself another quick charger, as the charging speed I get with the charger that came in the box is quickly spoiling me. I'd need one at least for the office.

The Nexus Imprint fingerprint scanner is also great and well up to par with at least the TouchID sensor I had on my iPhone 6. I didn't have the 6s+ at the same time so it's hard to say which one is actually faster, but both the 6s+ TouchID and the Nexus Imprint are fast. The location of the scanner also seemed odd at first, but I quickly noticed it's right where my finger lands anyway, and the Rugged Armor helps with the alignment. Now we only need to get fingerprint authentication support to more Android apps. I'm looking especially at you, 1Password and Pivo.

Android 6.0 Marshmallow on the phone is really snappy and makes a nice combo with my Android Wear watch. I haven't missed iOS a bit during my time with the 6P. The only downside is that my backup Nexus 5 now feels slow.

It should be clear that as the overall verdict I'm a really happy Android and Nexus 6P camper now. But could we just get waterproof Nexus phones next year?

Looks like I've switched to Android

No Nexus 6P news yet as my phone hasn't arrived :( I ordered mine from Saunalahti and at least they seem to have a shortage in 64GB models. Well, I hope it won't take too long. In addition, with the Finnish postal services mostly on strike currently, my case & USB C cables from Amazon haven't arrived either. We'll see when those finally make it here.

As I gave my previous daily driver, i.e. the iPhone 6 to my wife after her iPhone 5 broke down a couple of weeks ago, it meant taking a different phone into active use myself. At first I was using a loaner iPhone 6s+ for a week and as mentioned in the previous post, I was really close to buying myself one, but due to circumstances I had to take my Nexus 5 into use as my daily driver until the 6P arrives. Having been using exclusively Nexus 5 over a week now, I just realized that I haven't actually missed using an iPhone to any meaningful extent. Sure I've missed a good camera every now and then since the Nexus 5 shooter isn't that great, but that's something the 6P should handle with flying colors. Sure there are also a couple of apps I'd still like to use, but those have also good Android alternatives.

In addition, with Android I no longer have to wait for Apple Pay or even Android Pay to become available over here as I got a pilot invitation to Pivo's mobile payments, so now I have a virtual debit card that's linked to my debit account and usable straight via my Nexus 5's NFC. Neat.

Going Android also means that I can skip a costly watch upgrade for now as my LG G Watch is still chugging along even though charging is occasionally a little picky. When it's eventually time to replace it, I have a nicer price range of devices available instead of everything starting from rather expensive.

But so far it looks like I'm rather happy with the current Android offering and even more so when my Nexus 6P arrives. At least my wallet is happy with the saner pricing compared to Apple's current European offering. So it looks like I'm an Android user now, let's see if this lasts. For iOS I still have my old iPad 3 and the broken iPhone 5 is currently being repaired, so that will be a backup phone once it gets back. I will be needing the iOS devices at least for watching hockey, although I'm yet to check whether today's update to Ruutu.fi's Android app finally solved the playback issues they had previously. But for now it's mainly the green bot for me.

Going Phablet - We have a winner!

My phablet ponderings are now over and I have a new phone waiting to be delivered. That phone is the Nexus 6P. It was a really close call as I was really close to buying the iPhone 6s Plus. In fact, I went to a local carrier store to buy myself a 6s+ of my own as my loan period was running out, I was impressed by the camera and the battery life and I just wanted to restore my backup to a new phone and be done with it. However, the store didn't have the 64GB version in stock and the 16GB version is a useless and a shameful joke in 2015, so I actually had to bite the bullet and disable iMessage and all that and move all my stuff to my Nexus 5.

I thought it would be a temporary transition and the next day (it was Sunday when I made my store visit) I would just call the carrier and ask whether any nearby stores have 64GB version in stock. Well, it turned out 64GB wasn't that readily available in stores but by ordering one I could get it within a couple of days. However, the 6P launch was close so I wanted to give it a little more thought before just placing an order for the 6s Plus especially when the Nexus 5 is still a usable phone even though its camera and battery leave lots of room for improvement.

So I hadn't ordered a new phone yet and I was listening to podcasts while going through some routine tasks at work when it dawned on me: My headset control button works consistently now. It was either play or pause depending on the current playback state. Every. Single. Time. I had gotten all too used to my iPhone interpreting 30-40% of the control button clicks as me wanting to activate Siri or voice control when in reality I just wanted to pause playback or resume it.

Now that I realised I wouldn't have to suffer with that unintentional Siri / voice control BS if I used Android, those almost 300€ savings if I chose the 6P started to be really enticing. However, some of the potential savings would have to be spent on additional USB C cables, but it would still leave me with over 200€ more money compared to getting the 6s Plus. As I had also tested the 6s Plus and knew what it was capable of, I thought it would be only fair to give also the 6P a try. If I prefer the 6P, then I've made an excellent choice, but if I don't I can just sell it and throw in the extra money for the 6s Plus and use it without that nagging "what if the 6P is actually better for me" feeling I'd have if I had bought the 6s Plus outright.

But now I'm just waiting for my Nexus 6P to ship. I hope it happens on the next Monday when the phones become available in Finland. A case and some Anker USB C cables (yes, I've read that Google engineer piece so I decided to buy my cables from a manufacturer with a good track record) are also on their way from Amazon. More stuff to come when the phone arrives.