Let me start by saying this isn't really a "vs" kind of situation. There are some things that the Sony camera does that an iPhone just physically cannot, like having an optical 200mm equivalent zoom or full manual control over photo and video settings. I do however, feel like they will be used in much the same way most of the time. Most people that buy a point and shoot camera are going to shoot video in auto mode. Most people that buy an iPhone are going to launch the stock camera app, tap video, and start recording. 

As such, that's how I tested them. No manual mode on the Sony, no Filmic Pro or anything like that on the iPhone. I have to say, I didn't think the iPhone was going to look this good in comparison. If you're shooting mostly close up stuff, the iPhone is seriously as good or better in most situations, at least to my eye. It has me strongly considering selling my RX100 and buying something like the Sony A6400. 

This is by no means a definitive test, and I will definitely continue comparing them, but I am very impressed with the 11 Pro. 

As an amazon affiliate I may earn money from product links. 

In a word, pretty preeeetty good. I will have a lot more word thoughts about this after a couple of weeks, but there’s a video up there and here are some photos.

Now I just need to find something fun to do next weekend to test out this camera. Anything in particular you want to see?

Yesterday, Apple announced three new iPhones. The iPhone XS in regular and "Max" size, and the iPhone XR that comes in at a few hundred cheaper and gets by with an LCD instead of OLED and a single camera instead of the dual cameras. Naturally, I must upgrade my perfectly good iPhone X to one of these new models because reasons. 

Actually, I bought an iPhone 8+ on the iPhone upgrade program last year when they came out because I foolishly told myself I wouldn't get the X until the second year of the design. I naturally also immediately bought the iPhone X. Basically this left me with an 8+ I really might as well trade in (My girlfriend has been using it since I got the iPhone X) and an iPhone X I bought outright last year that I could upgrade my girlfriend to. 

So back to the new phones. The iPhone XS and XS Max (yeah, that's actually what a team of highly paid marketing people decided to call it. For real.) are the only ones I'm considering since the XR is kind of a downgrade from the X in a lot of ways. Now to decide between the 5.8" XS and the 6.5" XS Max (jesus that's a bad name)

My first instinct was to try the new form factor, it's all new and shiny and look how huge that screen is! So I go to do the pre-approval for the upgrade program. Except it won't work. Turns out, you have to do the pre-approval on the phone you're currently making payments on. In this case, my girlfriend's iPhone 8+. Fine, we'll go ahead and switch phones. 

So I make it home, we both do new icloud backups, I unpair my watch, wipe both phones and I hand her my iPhone X and pop my sim card in the iPhone 8+

I. Fucking. Hate it.

The 8+ form factor is WAY too big after carrying an iPhone X for a year. It's unwieldy as hell. How the hell did I ever hold this massive ass thing and make phone calls on it? It hurts my hands to grip it's so damn wide. It barely fits in the big pockets of my work clothes and has no chance of fitting, much less staying in, the pockets of the clothes I wear when not at work. I can't reach the top of the screen even WITH the huge bezels of the iPhone 8+. I keep pressing the side of the phone where my finger naturally lands only to find that the sleep/wake button I'm looking for is over an inch higher. Also, though this isn't really the phone's fault, I keep staring at it expecting to unlock and I keep swiping up from the bottom expecting it to go home and it's making me feel retarded. 

I had a 6S+ and a 7+ before and loved them at the time, but the form factor of the 5.8" edge to edge iPhone X has totally ruined the larger phones for me. They just don't fit my hand and I guess I'm not willing to compromise for the larger screen anymore because I've never felt the iPhone X screen was too small. 

In all fairness, I DO carry a 10.5" iPad Pro with me everywhere, so basically everything other than short text conversations, phone calls, and photography gets done on the iPad anyway. If I didn't have or didn't use my iPad and I sat on the couch and read reddit or something on my phone, I might feel differently, but for my use case, I decided to go with the iPhone XS 5.8" and I don't think I'll be disappointed. I'll report back in a week or so. 

When pictures of the iPhone X first came out, I really didn’t understand why apple was “embracing the notch”, I thought it would look much cleaner to just have a black status bar across the top making the notch indistinguisable from the screen. Turns out I was wrong. Verizon just updated their app and it includes optimization for iPhone X. It looks like they went with the “Hide the Notch” method:

While it does look “cleaner” I guess, it also just looks kinda boring. Compare that to Waze’s “embrace the notch” app:

It doesn’t feel like the notch is in the way of the content, it just feels like you’re getting extra screen on the sides of the notch. It feels like a bonus more than it does a compromise.

I wanted to try out a built in wireless charger, but I didn’t particularly want to cut a hole in my desk or anything, so I started looking online at IKEA for a cheap little table to mess around with. To my surprise, they actually sell wireless charging units made to go into a surface. I ended up buying a RALLEN wireless charging pad and the cheapest table they had, which ended up being a LACK side table. I also picked up a FIXA hole saw kit, and already had a Milwaukee drill. Total cost including the saw set was about $28 after tax.

I threw the table together, it basically just amounts to screwing the legs in, and took it all out on my front porch because I didn’t want a living room full of saw dust.

The RALLEN charger allows you to mount it a few different ways. It comes with a trim ring but using it is optional. I opted to use it because this is a super cheap table and I thought there might be a little of bit of roughness around the hole. I would leave it out in good solid wood for a smaller overall footprint. If you’re using the trim ring, use the biggest hole saw in the kit. I believe mounting it without uses the next size down.

I went with what I felt was the most natural placement. The side with the hole will be close to the end of the couch, so if you drop your arm down you land about where the charging pad is. Cutting the hole was super easy, this table is made of thin particle board. Yes, that paper is the filler inside of it, lol.

From there, you separate the charger from the trim ring, drop the trim ring in, route the cord through it, then push the charging pad down into the trim ring. There’s pretty much no way to screw this up. Just push the thing down until it’s fully seated.

I have some pretty serious cable management to do over there, but now there’s a table by my couch that will charge both mine and Daisy’s phone just by setting it on the table. I might start looking at doing this to a nicer table soon, but for now, and for the money, I’m pretty damn happy with it.

Super minimalist. Offers basically no drop protection, but will keep it from getting scratched. Also makes the phone much easier to hold on to.

So, I posted last week that I ordered an iPhone X. I got an estimated delivery date of 12/12 to 12/17. A few days later that got bumped up to 12/1. Well, I woke up at around 6am Saturday morning (Thank you 11 month old Ava) and checked the Apple Store app. I had read the previous night that stores were going to have stock available for in store pickup starting at 6am, so I gave it a shot. To my surprise, the Apple Store at Saddle Creek had the model I wanted (Verizon, White, 256gb) in stock for pickup that day. I cancelled my online preorder and placed a new order for in store pickup Saturday. By a few minutes after noon I was walking out with my new phone. So how is it? Overall, very good.

The phone feels really solidly built, which isn’t really all that much of a surprise, most Apple products are. The size is about perfect for me. I was a long time member of #plusclub, but I’ve actually been kinda thinking about going with something smaller ever since I bought an LTE IPad Pro this summer to replace my 12” macbook. The iPad is basically with me everywhere I go, so I no longer feel the need to have a super large battery and screen in my phone. If I’m stuck somewhere and I’m going to break out Netflix or something, I’m going to do it on the iPad no matter how big my phone’s screen is.

The X seems like the perfect companion to something like the iPad Pro. Like the 4.7” iPhones it’s small and easy to pocket, but thanks to the edge to edge display you get a screen more in line with a plus model. Everyone is already talking about the possibility of an “X Plus” next year, and while I generally like larger phones, or at least thought I did, using the X for just one day so far is enough to make me seriously reconsider wanting a larger phone. I really do feel like it’s the perfect size, and I’ve never said that about an IPhone before.

FaceID seems to be the thing that everyone was most worried about. So far for me, it’s been effectively flawless. It’s actually less intrusive than TouchID in that one day in, I’ve already started to forget it’s even a thing most of the time. Effectively, I just pick up my phone and it’s unlocked. It’s only failed a handful of times, like when my face was half on a pillow.

The screen so far has been awesome too, I’ve used OLED screens before so I had a pretty good idea of what to expect, but this looks to me to be a really good OLED display. Color shift at off angles is minimal and colors seem accurate and bright. I haven’t used it in the sun much because I’ve had the cold that will never end, but it seems very bright even in direct sunlight in my admittedly very limited usage.

Animoji is a lot of fun, I don’t care what anyone says.

Battery life seems to be good, and should be good based on the battery size and processor. I haven’t used it enough to really test, but it feels on par with my 7+.

Like I said before, the size is really, really nice, at least to my smallish hands. Between the grippier glass back and the more easily gripped (read: reduced) width, I’m actually considering not using a case. Also I bought AppleCare+, so I’m a little braver.

​ Camera seems very good, I took this picture today:

I obviously haven’t had this phone long enough to do a comprehensive review, but so far I am super pleased with it. I’ll post updates as I find new things or run into any issues, but so far it’s been a very positive experience and definitely feels like a truly new iPhone for the first time in quite a few years.

Edit: I realized after posting this that I didn't mention "The Notch" at all, I had completely forgotten it was supposed to be a huge issue. I guess that pretty much says all that needs to be said about The Notch. One day in and I forgot it was a thing. I will say it would probably be annoying if you're a big video consumer on your phone. As I mentioned above I tend to use my iPad for that. In normal phone use for texting, twitter, facebook, weather, camera, etc it's 100% not an issue. 

Yeah I suck at not buying shiny new tech things. The reviews so far are pretty damn good, so I ordered monday morning. Now the long wait, hopefully my delivery time gets bumped up a bit, but if not it's my own fault for pretending I wasn't going to order one and skipping the 3am preorder. I guess Daisy gets upgraded to an 8+ now. 

With the iPhone 8 and 8+, Apple has added fast charging, just like they recently did to the 10.5 and 12.9 iPad Pros. Fast charging requires a USB-C wall charger that provides USB PD (Power Delivery) and a USB to lightning cable that does as well. I have the USB C to lightning that Apple sells for way too much money, because it’s one that I know will work, and a 29w power brick that I bought on EBay.

We start at 9:30pm CST with 28% battery. I took this literally the second I plugged it in.

Half an hour later, we are at 75% for a gain of 47% in 30 minutes. Since fast charging works best from zero, tapers off a bit as the battery gets closer to full, and then basically drops to 10-12w over 80%, I would say this is right in line with Apple’s claim of “50% in 30 minutes”

The cost of entry is pretty steep, but can be mitigated a bit by buying the power brick on eBay or finding one on amazon that supports USB-C PD, but for me it’s totally worth it since BOTH of my daily carry devices (IPhone 8+ and IPad Pro 10.5) support fast charging with this setup. I wouldn’t bother having one at home, but I’m going to carry this around in my messenger bag, so when I really need to top off one of my devices I can do it very quickly.

So yesterday I took a few pics at my shop, then after work I stopped by the Saddle Creek apple store last night to pick up a sport loop watch band. Decided I might as well take a few pictures there too. 

I have to say, I'm super impressed with the camera on this phone. On the first picture it managed to expose the side of the car pretty damn well, even though it's in the shadow of the building, while still also exposing the stuff further away in direct sunlight and the sky. The apple store pictures look really good too, especially when you consider I'm taking pictures of bright displays and then stuff in the shadows behind them. 

I picked up the sport loop, super comfy. Kind of a hybrid of the Nylon band and one of the loop bands. I liked the adjustability of my Milanese Loop but wanted something more comfortable for work. I've only had it a day, but so far I like it a lot. 

Since yesterday was clearly accessory day, my Caudabe Lucid Clear case showed up in the mail. I've used Caudabe cases before so I had a pretty good idea of what to expect. It's a well made, transparent, minimal case. Pretty much exactly what I wanted. I think I'm going to use this most of the time. I wish it were a little grippier but I also understand that making a grippy case transparent is probably a rather difficult proposition. 

Overall, if I can resist the urge the BUY ALL THE THINGS when the iPhone X comes out, it looks like I'm set as far as my technology, at least for now. That can only mean one thing, time to buy car parts!

So yeah, yesterday I was reading a bunch of random reviews of the iPhone 8/8 Plus. Everyone seems super impressed by the performance gains in terms of image quality from the camera, and I already know I definitely want the True Tone screen, since I have it on my iPad Pro. 

I'm also kinda scared of all the talk of supply constraints on the iPhone X. I have a 9 month old, and I don't know if I'm going to be able to get up at 2am to preorder the X. 

The 8+ seems to have basically all of the things that make the X cool, minus the edge to edge screen, but when you look at overall, the Plus still has the biggest screen and the best battery life while getting almost all of the features of the X, minus FaceID. 

I also wanted to get on the iPhone Upgrade Program, since I buy a new iPhone every year, pay in full up front, then have to sell it at the end of the year, usually for around $500 less after taxes and AppleCare. It seems way easier to just do the upgrade program, not drop the $1k all at once, and end up spending almost exactly the same amount of money, minus the hassle of selling one or more used iPhones every year. 

All these factors culminated in me ordering the 8 Plus pictured above. It seems to be the best fit for my uses. 

• Taking pictures 

Like I mentioned above, the 8 Plus has everything the X camera has, with the exception of OIS on the "zoom" lens. I very rarely use zoom, and primarily take pics of my daughter at close range in low light, pictures of car stuff, pictures of technology. For all of these the 8+ camera is going to be functionally the same. 

• Podcasts

Honestly, this is one of the things I use my phone for the most and also one of the least demanding things a phone can do. I could use a 5S for this and it wouldn't really make much difference. 

• Navigation 

To me, the Plus seems to win out over the X here. The wider screen and lack of The Notch™ seems like it would be better overall, though honestly I doubt it makes much difference. 

So on paper, I've totally made the right decision...BUT LOOK HOW NEW AND COOL THE X LOOKS!

It just looks so neat and shiny, even though I kinda halfway get the impression that it's kinda "Beta hardware", my gut tells me to just stick with the 8+ and wait for the reviews to roll in, but my nerdy little heart is saying "PREORDER THAT SHINY MOTHERFUCKER! THEY'RE GONNA BE SOLD OUT UNTIL NEXT YEAR!"

I legitimately couldn't sleep last night because I couldn't decide what the hell I wanted to do about a damn phone. I guess I'll wait until the 8+ shows up early next week, see exactly how much I like it, and then decide from there. I will update when it shows up. 

I'm a case flip flopper. When I get a new phone, I immediately start looking at cases. I buy roughly 11ty of them, and then usually end up either using the thinnest one or saying "Fuck this" and just going without a case, maybe with a screen protector. 

I think maybe, possibly, the Caudabe cases might be the end of that vicious cycle.. 

I have gotten into the habit of getting insurance on my cell phones. They've gotten super expensive for high end cell phones and I'm now at the point in my life where I don't need any interruptions in communication. In short, I need a minimalistic case. If you're looking for something like an Otterbox, this is likely not the case for you. If, like me, you just want something to keep your phone from getting scratched up, read on. 

As illustrated in the above pictures, the difference between the standard Veil and the XT is bottom coverage (feel free to make your own joke). The standard veil covers just the corners while the XT goes all the way around the phone. I have both and prefer the XT. I don't really care about the coverage, and the standard veil might actually be ideal for some (more on that later), but I dislike the tiny little ridges on the standard model where the coverage stops. It's where my pinky sits to hold the phone, and makes it a little uncomfortable for me. 

I haven't had this issue, but my buddy Merk says the XT makes one of his third party lightning cables not work. My amazon basics cable works fine, but it's something to keep in mind. If you have an especially full figured charging cable, you might not want to opt for the XT. 

That difference aside, the cases are identical in thickness and coverage on all other areas, so I'm just gonna throw up a gallery here. 

This is by far the best minimalist case I've found, not just for the iPhone, but for any phone ever. The material is smooth but much grippier than the naked iPhone. The coverage, especially on the XT, will prevent any minor scratches that would negatively impact resale value without making your phone a brick. 

I originally ordered a clear 6S Plus Veil. I was sent a smoked 6S Plus Veil. I emailed support and they replied quickly, had me send a pic to illustrate the problem, then immediately shipped me the correct case. They even let me keep the wrong one that they sent! I know it's just a $20 case, but I was so impressed by their customer service it pushed me over the edge to buy the blue XT you see pictured. I just noticed they have a Mother's Day special going on as I went to the site to get links for this article (LOVEMOM for 20% off through Sunday 5/8), so I ordered a clear XT. Now I have 4 6S Plus cases, which brings me to...

I figure I might as well share the love. Look for where I originally post this article on Google Plus and Facebook and share the post. I'll pick two random people who shared to receive one of the Veil cases I have. One is clear and one is smoked. Both are in 100% new condition, used only long enough to try them on. Whomever I randomly pick first can choose which color they want. This is for a Caudabe Veil (not Veil XT) in Smoke or Frost for an iPhone 6S Plus. It won't fit any other model. I'll pick a winner at 12:01am CST on Sunday, May 15, 2016 (So saturday night).