7 minutes
Stuff I use - 2020
Devices
Phone : iPhone 11 Pro Max
After switching to the Pixel 3 XL last year I was very happy with the camera, but I was having to do top up charges throughout the day, it was enough of an irritation for me to prioritise battery life, I also had a number of bluetooth issues with the Pixel and having been through a number of Android phones over the past year, I decided to make the switch back to iPhone.
Having seen some decent reviews of the iPhone 11 battery, I was expecting it to be good, but it far exceeded my expecttations, throughout a normal workday I was getting to bed with just under 50% left, so this beat the Pixel hands down.
Since working through lockdown, I’ve been using the phone more for work and additionally reading some books on kindle for an hour each evening, the battery life is rarely below 30% before I put it on charge at bedtime.
I’d say the camera isn’t as good as the Pixel 4, but it is more than suitable for most situations, so my recommendation, if you’re in the market for a good reliable, long lasting phone, this is the one I’d choose every time!
Also, if you’re considering one of the new iPhone SE’s (2020 model), the battery isn’t as good as any of the iPhone 11 models, but does match up to the Pixels.
Tablet : iPad Pro 12.9” (2019 model)”
So after travelling with the Huawei Mediapad M5, I was generally happy with the device, but the Operating System annoyed me, there also seemed to be some performance issues with the SD card hosting downloaded Netflix content, so I wanted a device that had increased storage built in.
After switching back to iPhone, I decided I wanted an iPad to simplify things, I opted for the iPad Pro 12.9” as it had longer battery life, larger built in storage capacity, a better OS and it didn’t weigh much more than the Huawei device I had before despite having a much bigger screen.
Since lockdown, I’ve been using it for Teams and Zoom meetings, light admin work, I have also set it up for remote access to my work machine, but even with the keyboard and mouse support, I still prefer a normal laptop for the more demanding tasks, I’ve not actually used this device for Netflix yet, so I’m not sure how many hours of use I’d get, but generally I easily get a full days work out of it.
Fitness Tracker: Apple Watch (Series 5)
So, after setting myself a goal of losing 2 stone this year, I started to look back at how I’d managed to successfully lose 4 stone a few years back, one of the keys seemed to be the Apple Watch, I can’t quite put my finger on it but theres something more competitive for me about closing the rings on the Apple Watch than there is about meeting the 10,000 steps targets on other devices.
Anyways, I got this at the end of January and am literally only 2lbs away from my 2 stone loss target, so yet again, the Apple device does help me to lose weight, I’ve not been able to run until this past week and i’ve not cut any foods out of my diet, I have the specified portions, which surprisingly (for me), is normally sufficient to satisfy hunger.
I switch off the majority of notifications, so generally I get 2 full days usage on a single charge.
The only thing I’d like to change about it, is the battery life, I think a week would be great, if they could sort a model with that, then that would be the perfect fitness tracker for me
Desktop: Mac Pro (2013)
So after lockdown kicked in, I decided to sort out a proper workspace in my study, and for that I got a second hand 2013 Mac Pro, thankfully it was decent spec and has so far been able to do everything I’ve needed, my only grumble is that it should’ve had some more standard USB ports, 4 for a pro machine isn’t enough.
Running macOS 10.15, I’ve not had many issues at all, I guess waiting for 10.15.4 was a sensible thing to do with Catalina, but overall I imagine I’ll be happy with this machine until Apple decides to no longer support it
Laptop: Lenovo X1 Carbon (5th Gen)
My Carbon X1 has recently gone out of warranty, having used it for over 3 years now, it’s been reliable, problem free, light, a fantastic laptop.
This has been my daily machine for the bulk of the, time I’ve had it and does absolutely everything I need, running Ubuntu, the battery life is decent, it’s light at 1.2kg, as with the majority of my other devices, it uses a USB-C charger, has 2 x USB-A ports and an HDMI port.
My only gripe, having switched from Macs is that no other manufacturer can come close to the Mac trackpad, so I use a small Logitech mouse with this I’m used to that and it almost feels odd using a trackpad now.
I think I would likely replace this with a new model X1 when the time comes that its no longer functional, although I do like the recent Macs, so maybe a 2020 MacBook Air could be a good investment.
Console: PS4/Xbox One
I don’t really get much time for gaming now that I’m old, but when I do, I like to spend a bit of time on Halo MCC on Xbox One and have been going through Final Fantasy 7 Remake on Playstation
I am keen on a Nintendo Switch, but given the lack of time for gaming, I think I’ll wait for the price to come down a bit first.
Car: BMW i3S 120ah
So as my deal with my Nissan Leaf was coming to an end, I thought I would enquire about a 24 hour test drive of the new Leaf, given that I had the previous one for a full weeks test drive I didn’t think this would be a problem, but Nissan said no, so that concerned me, what were they hiding, I’d read about some issues with rapid charging them, so I decided to see what else the market offered.
BMW has just released an updated model for 2019, the 120ah was essentially the same as the 40kwh versions other manufacturers were releasing, I asked the local dealer about a 24 hour test drive, yep, no problem, although they didn’t have a new model, they only had the previous generation (94ah) model available
I mentioned my concerns about range, given that the Leaf struggled in the cold, but the dealer reckoned I would be able to get to work and back with no issues, so I tested this claim and he was right, I was able to get to work and back in 0 degrees C with 20% battery remaining, the BMW was more efficient than the Leaf.
That was enough, the 120ah would be more than sufficient, only problem was the long delay, from order to delivery it was 4 months, a long wait, but I’m very happy with the vehicle, so it was worth it, we have this for 4 years and we should never need to stop off on our work route for a top up charge.
Headphones: Sony MDR-XB650BT
Having done a few trips by train last year, it was frustrating to have the Apple Airpods run out of battery before we’d reached our destination, so I looked at some alternatives, these were the best value and had a claimed 30 hour battery, more than enough to cover a return train journey, sound quality is good, so no issue with these.
However, I’m more of a fan of some airpod sized headphones, so I’m considering a pair of these by Anker - Anker Life P2
1345 Words
2020-05-20 23:37 +0000