While I’m the CTO of the Zatz household, my wife Melissa is also capable of making tech purchasing decisions… and living with the consequences.
After years with Blackberry, I’ve truly become an Apple fan girl. For the less tech savvy, such as myself, I find Apple products quite intuitive, making for a fun and effective user friendly experience. When I gave up an iPad and iPad Mini to try the more economical Kindle Fire HDX, I was ultimately frustrated with its quirky operating system and lack of software polish. From what I can tell, these issues continue and I’m betting Dave will imminently return his recently purchased Fire. (Dave disputes this but he hates it when I’m right!). Like many others, my motto is “why fix what isn’t broke”? Apple has figured out a way to make technology easy, enjoyable, and super sexy looking.
As soon as the 4.7″ iPhone 6 was released Dave encouraged me to upgrade from my 4″ 5s. I use my smartphone for the majority of my web surfing and Internet needs. I actually use it more than my laptop — thanks to apps like Scanner Pro and eFax, I can even handle many work-related tasks on my phone. Dave and I also travel frequently and I’d rather not tote multiple devices. I want one gadget that will serve as my phone, my Kindle, and my web browser. As such, Dave believed I would enjoy the larger screen from my “all in one” device. I wasn’t easily convinced that we needed to spend $750 on a new phone when my 5s, although lacking in storage space, was seemingly meeting all my needs. Dave prefers I sport the newest product because it usually means a better or more efficient experience. I eventually gave in to his encouragement and I’ve been using he iPhone 6 for a few days now. I cannot say I’m in love just yet but I’m definitely interested.
I will leave the more credible tech reviews to Dave and other experts, but here are a few of my initial thoughts.
Pros:
- I’m loving the screen size. I’m appreciating the “enhanced” readable space and I look forward to using the Kindle App for a longer period of time when we go on vacation in a few weeks.
- Although I have not tried Apple Pay yet, I do like the related notifications from our linked credit card.
Cons:
- I’m noticing an increase in typos/auto correct and wonder if my tiny fingers are confused by the larger keys. It has been frustrating and I’m finding myself spending too much time deleting/making corrections. I hope it’s just a matter of getting use to the slightly larger “keyboard”.
- Thankfully my car is Bluetooth equipped because I’m not enjoying holding the phone… as a phone. I hope to get used to this as well. Holding the phone during a telephone conversation has been awkward.
When we learned UPS had dropped off my new phone, Dave messaged me “wait until I get home and I can help you”. Geesh, he needs to have more faith, after all I’ve been his apprentice for twelve years! One of the things I love about Apple is how simple they make things including a very easy activation and migration process. But I must give some of that credit to Chairman Zatz as well. He has trained me well.
Some notes… while $750 for the 64GB model is extreme, Melissa really does use the phone all day as a computer. And T-Mobile offered a very generous $400 for her 16GB 5s – that hit her nearly every day with a low storage warning – it was getting real annoying to delete apps to install updates or otherwise free up space for more music and photos. Took T-Mobile a little over two weeks to find the inventory and get it shipped out.
She picked up a clear gel case from Best Buy under the Insignia brand, same as her 5s, and also a TechArmor screen protector from Amazon because she tosses the phone in her purse and doesn’t want a zipper or her keys to scratch the screen. Whereas I won’t bother with a screen protector but, after shattering a former iPhone, I do sport a case… even tho pains me.
Lastly, she’s right my new, refurb Kindle Fire HDX is going back. Not really for the reasons she suspect, but because something’s wrong with the touchscreen – it periodically just stops responding. I’ve found some forum threads on this and am guessing Amazon had a bad batch that was returned and recycled. I still want a cheapie tablet (since I’m keeping my 5s) for Netflix, Amazon Instant, Slingplayer around the home and at the gym tho… Hm.
I have “touch screen” issues with all my devices:
iPhones 1 thru 6
iPad 2
Amazon Fire
Nexus 7
I’m beginning to think there must be some strange about my body’s conductivity…. just like some people say they cannot were watches.
I’m generally OK with touchscreens… but my Nest proximity sensor doesn’t see me most of the time. Maybe I’m half vampire?
>>I’m noticing an increase in typos/auto correct and wonder if my tiny fingers are confused by the larger keys. It has been frustrating and I’m finding myself spending too much time deleting/making corrections. I hope it’s just a matter of getting use to the slightly larger “keyboard”.
You and me both, sistah!
I’m also inadvertently hitting the “globe” (change keyboard) instead of the number key more than I used to which is pretty funny as I add the Swedish keyboard (hubby/in-laws are Swedish). Once I accidentally tapped that, then tapped voice dictation and proceeded to speak in English. Much hilarity ensued as Siri dictated it all into (nonsensical) Swedish and I hit send before realizing it.
I’ve been using my bluetooth earpiece more too because holding that phone as phone just isn’t comfy, it’s just a *smidge* too wide.
However, I’ve upgraded from a iPhone 5 so I’m LOVING Touch ID and the upgraded camera (the latter was the tipping point over purchasing a 5s at a great price).
Dave, I’ve had my 7″ Fire HDX for at least 6 months now with nary a problem. I’m loving it. Also looking at buying an HTC One M8 running Windows 8.1 very soon.
Yah, and Melissa’s prior HDX didn’t have this problem. Just bad luck this time. Debating my next move…
I forgot to note that I am really struggling with taking screen shots now that the power button has shifted to the side. I can’t seem to figure out the best way to hold/grasp the phone while clicking the two buttons simultaneously.
dchdch, I had the exact same problem with the globe key and had to turn off my Hebrew keyboard. Very frustrating. And I’m still hitting the dictation key more often than not!
Melissa,
MrsGeekTonic has many of the same negatives about her new iPhone 6. She finds it just slightly too wide for her to hold comfortably and she doesn’t like the new power button location.
How did you get T-mobile to pay 400 for 16g 5s? They offered me 350 for 32g and 351 for 64g 5s. Both iPhones are mint.
It’s probably mostly about timing. I think she was originally offered $357 several weeks ago for a 16GB 5s. But while T-Mobile was backordered on the iPhone 6, they texted us a $50 off promo on any new phone purchase – so she called in and had that applied to the account. We’ll see how well it all actually works out as T-Mobile sent a only padded envelope with an uninsured USPS label – I imagine a large number of trade-ins will arrive damaged or won’t arrive at all. We did try to improve our odds by including the original iPhone box for protection and bringing directly to USPS.
Don’t forget the very best feature of the iPhone 6. It’s cleverly designed to bend just like a flexi-straw. Can make usage much more convenient.
Have you dared to test the unbreakable glass that the iPhone 6 has reportedly come with? :P
All iPhone screens can break. My cousins broke his day one and used apple care +deductable. They make so much money in replacements. I think I will keep my awesome 5S (fits in pocket) till it’s worthless and can’t do things I want an iPhone to do.
Hi Dave, if you still want the Kindle Fire for Amazon Instant (and now Tivo streaming too),
TODAY’s Gold Box is a great deal on last year’s Fire HDX 8.9…
$260 for 32g, a steal! Cheaper than I paid for my 16g original Fire HD 8.9.
And new OS lets you play Tivo Streaming… and lets you disable Skype keyboard, which annoyed me a lot on the HD 8.9.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BYHTK5Y/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00BYHTK5Y&linkCode=as2&tag=14-18-20&linkId=EC33FAPTQEED5QLL
I saw that – it is a good deal. But I wanted something a little more portable… even more than I want Instant Prime downloads. I picked up a 7″ 2014 Asus Memo Pad yesterday for $90 at Gamestop (after trading in a game) … since they no longer seem to sell Amazon tablets. Watched a little Netflix and BBC News at the gym this AM – so far so good other than you have to plug the headphones in before launching the app due to Asus needing to warn me about damaging my ears.
“you have to plug the headphones in before launching the app due to Asus needing to worn me about damaging my ears.”
Too late. Confusing the sounds in “worn” and “warn” is one of the earliest signs of ear damage due to excessive headphone usage. If only you’d had that Asus a few years ago, this all could’ve been avoided…
“Watched a little Netflix and BBC News at the gym”
Was this over a wifi connection or did you download a copy to the device.
My gym has only 2 shared tv’s and a pitiful excuse for wifi. I wish I could copy shows from my tivo’s to a tablet to watch in the gym.
I have 6 Tivo’s, Phone6, iPad2, Amazon Fire, Nexus 7, PLUS the Tivo streaming box (albout 18 months old). Is there another box out there which will allow this?
It was over WiFi. It’s not the greatest, but obviously works somewhat. Amazon downloads would have been nice… also hoping TiVo delivers direct Android downloads at some point – that’d be even bigger for me. I could catch up on shows like Arrow and Flash that my wife will never watch.
You can manually move content from TiVo onto other devices without waiting for the Stream/Roamio Android update. But it may be more work than you’d like to exert or your content may be locked down (depends on provider). Check out kmttg as one option:
http://sourceforge.net/p/kmttg/wiki/Home/
(If you have a Roamio Pro/Plus or TiVo Stream in the mix, you can currently move recorded shows directly to your iOS devices.)
Dave… thanks for the quick response and link. I’ll check it out.
I’m loving the 6 thus far. I’m surprised that I like the larger screen as much as I do. I had favored the usability over screen size, but I don’t think it’s been too much a compromise. Apple Pay has been very handy (maybe too handy) as NFC works at the office cafeteria and Coke machines. The camera is great and Touch ID with 1Password is excellent.
What sold me on Apple was the ease of the migration process. Backed up my 5 (my first iphone after a dozen years on a blackberry) to iTunes (checking the settings), head to apple store to get phone, bring it home and restore through iTunes. Couple of hours (I have 40gb of music), and a few reboots later all was back in as if my 5 just grew a bit.
Have loved my 6 so far. Power button is a bit of an issue (should be higher up so you aren’t hitting volume buttons on opposite side) and I’ve experienced the same keyboard issue. But all in all a worthwhile upgrade