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Thoughts on the iPhone SE (2020)

By James Ormiston (@MacJim)

For some years now, I’ve become ever more critical of Apple with each iPhone launch, where the entry level pricing rose higher and higher. We’ve seen those who are on a limited budget left with the choice either to pay more than they had planned, or choose an alternative mobile from the Android marketplace. Personally, I finally had enough when Apple launched the iPhone X which took the price into the stratospheric region of over £1,000.

Continue reading → Thoughts on the iPhone SE (2020)

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Some Thoughts on iPadOS

A personal view
by James “MacJim” Ormiston

Back then:

Ten years ago, Steve Jobs cast his spell over an enthralled audience when he announced the iPad on stage, a device that previously had been the work of science fiction in shows such as Star Trek, The Next Generation; where tablet devices abound. Granted, Apple wasn’t the first to attempt bringing tablet devices to market but they were the first to make a success of it killing off almost all of the competition over time. 

Back then, there was no iPadOS, just plain old iOS developed for the iPhone and its small screen. Back then; it was all we needed as the iPad was in its infancy; being a simple consumer device aimed more at dealing with email, web browsing and rudimentary photo editing. Remember, the internet was nothing like what we have now. The ‘future’ iPad in the form of the Pro versions was still far away in the future; the future we are now living in, and that is where today’s problems lie. 

Now:

With multitasking, more than one window open at any time, copy and paste, drag and drop and access to external storage that Apple is now trying to add to emulate the way a computer works, iOS is starting to show limitations due to its early beginnings. With each iteration of iOS more and more features and complexities are added in. Ever more powerful processors have helped, but it really hasn’t taken into count the way the interface would ultimately get ‘bogged down’ due to the awkward way these new features have to work in a restricted OS, which in the end slows the user down. 

Continue reading → Some Thoughts on iPadOS

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Burnout…

An opinion piece by @MacJim

Lately, I’ve been finding myself feeling a little burned out with technology. It’s not that I hate it, far from it as I’m a real nerd, but I’ve been finding myself drifting away from it too.

I’ve previously tried to move away from the Apple iPhone having bought the Punkt MP02 earlier this year (see here) but that proved to be an utter failure, not because it was a bad idea but simply due to the product being half baked, software-wise.

That was a product launched far too early as it was nowhere near ready for public use… the software being an early Beta rather than a Gold master release; that mobile phone was returned the day after it arrived. So I sold my iPhone 7 Plus and bought the Xr; not because the Xr was a great phone but simply due to the deal on offer at the time made it a no brainer choice.

Fast forward to September and I found myself looking at the Light Phone as a possible replacement for the iPhone: a minimalist mobile phone from thelightphone.com. It is a mobile phone that only allows you to text and make calls, (and listen to music too) but I decided not to buy partly because it wasn’t that long ago that I’d bought the iPhone and I felt I couldn’t justify paying the price (the iPhone Xr would have become a very expensive iPod Touch), but also due to the last experience with the MP02.

Continue reading → Burnout…

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A personal take on Apple’s September event

By Slacker @MacJim (James Ormiston)

The following is a personal take on what was announced during the Apple iPhone keynote, one that is not a full microscopic rundown of all that was covered as there was simply too much to do full justice to…

I watched the latest keynote from Apple where they were constantly ’thrilled’, ’excited’, or both at every item announced. We soon discovered what the iPhone 11, 11 Pro and Pro Max will be like: not that we didn’t know already. Due to leaked images on the internet, I was left feeling a little underwhelmed by it all!

Read on to see what I made of the event’s major announcements.

Continue reading → A personal take on Apple’s September event

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Bye bye Jony

A personal opinion by @MacJim

The following words are my own and do not represent the opinion of Essential Apple; these are my own thoughts on the announcement of Jony Ive’s departure from Apple. In saying that, he isn’t fully away from Apple as he will still be creating products for them, not as the chief designer but as an independent one at this own design studio, LoveFrom. Also I want to put to bed the suggestion that Apple is doomed, we had all that when Steve Jobs died in 2011. Apple is clearly still here and financially very sound, but… 

Yes, the but… Apple has always been an expensive world to enter and stay with and its more so now where you are paying around £1,000 over the odds for a MacBook Pro. From the early days, starting with the $666.66 Apple I, it set a high price of entry into this world, and this continues even today (I’ll skip the history lesson as most will know about the highs and lows) now there is the even higher cost ecosphere that is Apple. Suffice to say they are still firing with all cylinders. So, why has Jony decided to leave a company he help to save from bankruptcy, one that let him do his best work making him a very wealthy man? 

Continue reading → Bye bye Jony

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Dumbing down – the finale

“What happened was…”  by James Ormiston (@MacJim)

If you’ve been following my journey from smartphones to dumb phones, you will have read that all wasn’t smooth in that process: here’s the final instalment to the story.
For those that haven’t read the previous two parts to this report, I will just say I had been wanting to move away from smartphones to something much simpler, quieter, and less demanding, but finding a mobile phone that would suit my needs was difficult; but not totally impossible. I ended up buying a Punkt MP02 mobile phone, a simple and small basic phone that had the ability to be used as a mobile router for my iPad and MacBook via tethering but I ended up returning it.

Why? It was due to the fact that I couldn’t get onto the web etc via the tethering feature of this mobile phone. Although I linked my iPad to the MP02, I just couldn’t get online…

As I write this final part, I’m awaiting a refund from the supplier as it was returned to Germany from whence it came.

Continue reading → Dumbing down – the finale

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How my Punkt MP02 experiment panned out

Another commentary by James Ormiston (@MacJim)

The order was placed for the Punkt MP02 mobile phone, and the UPS app installed on my iPad Pro to follow the progress of the package as it travelled from Umkirch, Germany. It moved onwards to Frankfurt where it sat over the New Year holidays before continuing the journey to Tamworth, Preston and Glasgow before it finally was shipped to a local collection point from where I collected it from. The unopened box then sat wantonly willing me to open her up but I held my resolve to do the phone justice – and to have a photo opportunity too – when the weekend arrived.

MP02 Experiment e1546944284698 How my Punkt MP02 experiment panned out

Continue reading → How my Punkt MP02 experiment panned out

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Deciding to downgrade from a smartphone life.

A commentary by James Ormiston (@MacJim)

For some time now, I have noticed that I spend far too much time looking at my iPhone and not enough time looking outside of that small patch of glass that is the iPhone display… The real world was passing me by as I browsed a website, read an email or answer a text message on the ‘smartphone’ whether on a bus or train, or walking down the high street… the exception being when using it as a camera… you too are the same. Other things have brought me to this decision too, as far too many people have been hurt while reading that display in front of them, resulting in injury or death… yes, death, because they were too busy reading a social media app rather than looking out for that bus bearing down upon them. Fortunately the worst that happened to me was stupidly walking into a lamppost; I kid you not.

So that got me thinking about whether I could do without a smartphone and go down the route to simplify my lifestyle by getting a ‘dumb’ mobile phone like I had when these devices became affordable too all. So, after much searching, either through article found on the web, and video searches on YouTube, I decided upon the idea of getting a mobile from the manufacturer, Punkt, a Swiss company.

Continue reading → Deciding to downgrade from a smartphone life.

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Dumbing down… A possibility?

 

An opinion piece by James Ormiston

This is an idea of what could be… I’ve still to decide.

Dumbing down, or more to the point, moving away from the smartphone and all its distractions.

  • Have you found yourself at some point, lost when you looked up from your mobile phone due to having your head buried in what’s on the screen?
  • Have you walked into a lamppost while walking, reading something on the screen?
  • Have you almost ended up under a bus or lorry due to the above?

If you answered yes to any of those questions then you’re not alone and, fortunately, you have lived to be here today, some have not.

Everywhere you go, most folk have their heads in a world that’s in front of them on a 6” screen and do not see what’s around them, which can, in certain circumstances, be very unsafe as they are not truly aware; but that’s taking it to the extreme in most cases.
But we do spend too much time looking at a screen rather looking up and out at the world around us.
Moments in time pass us bye that will never repeat ever again, things like the beautiful sunrise that we saw last week ( I write this in a cafe on the 20th October), yes similar sunrises will happen again and again: but not that one.

Continue reading → Dumbing down… A possibility?

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Thoughts and concerns about Apple: An opinion by James Ormiston (@MacJim)

I’d like to begin by saying the following are purely my personal thoughts (and worries) about Apple and where we are heading with them. I have no insider knowledge, or any other connections to Apple. Since Steve Jobs died, there’s been a lot of speculation and rumour, with many saying Apple is doomed and will not survive without him at the helm, but so far, these have proven untrue. That doesn’t mean there’s no reason for us fanboys/fangirls to be worried about the future of Apple.

For some time now, I’ve been saying that macOS and iOS will become one and will be the  only Apple provided OS for their computing devices. But, I hear you saying, Apple has categorically said they will not do this and have even made this clear with a big “NO.” being shown at the last keynote. However, I have to say look back at the things Apple have said they wouldn’t do, but did anyway. And now we see iOS apps will be coming to Mojave.

Continue reading → Thoughts and concerns about Apple: An opinion by James Ormiston (@MacJim)