Categories
Mac Heads

First Week With My iPhone 6


It was a week ago today when I finally got my hands on the iPhone 6. I’ll be honest, I’ve been waiting on this phone for a long time. I thought the iPhone 5 was too small, but I got it anyway. I thought the iPhone 5S/5C was still too small, so I started using larger Androids and Windows Phone devices skipped buying either and crossed my fingers hoping the iPhone 6 was finally going to give Apple fans like me a larger design.

When the larger iPhone 6 and even larger iPhone 6 Plus was announced earlier this month, my eyes were on the smaller iPhone 6…I still wanted a front pants pocket-able phone even with a case on. So I got lucky during the preorders and my iPhone 6 was delivered early in the afternoon last Friday September 19th.

Now that I’ve had a week to play around with the smartphone, I think I’m ready to offer initial opinions of the iPhone 6.

Categories
Mac Heads Tips and Tricks

Where To Sell Your Old iPhone

So, you were one of the lucky ones that rose from the ashes of the awful iPhone 6 preorder effort with an email confirmation in your inbox. Consider yourself blessed. Many folks will minimize and shrug off your win simply because they won’t be able to share your victory.

For what it’s worth, the haters should be the least of your iPhone 6 worries. What you should be focusing on this week is shopping for cases and other accessories, hitting the ‘refresh’ button on your shipping company’s website, and figuring out the best way to sell your old iPhone.

Categories
Mac Heads Tips and Tricks

How To Complete An iPhone 6 Preorder With Your iPhone

The Apple Store app keeps getting better and better. So much so that you can save yourself some headache and quickly place an iPhone 6 preorder in a matter of minutes…Here’s how.

Note: Pre-orders start 12am Pacific time. For folks on the east side with me, you will have to wait until 3am to place your order. Also, you’re going to want this process to go as quickly as possible because the Apple servers will crash (Never forget…the Apple event live stream), so make sure your billing, shipping, and credit card information is correct, so you don’t fumble on the 1 yard line.

Categories
Mac Heads

My iPhone 6 Wish List

iPhone 6 Wish List via BrothaTech
iPhone 6 concept by Authur Reis

Tomorrow is the Apple event folks like me have been waiting to see for a long time. I did NOT believe Tim Cook or Johnny Ive when they stressed the “perfect size” of the iPhone. I wanted bigger. I wasn’t the only one because many Apple competitors heard the requests from people demanding a bigger device, and those competitors gave people what they asked for.

Let’s not trip, tho. Apple STILL dominates the smartphone game, but all of the buzz over the past couple of years have been around other brands willing to offer bigger smartphones to happy customers. I’m still an Apple enthusiasts, but I have an iPhone 5 and skipped on the iPhone 5S solely because of the size. I’ve even used other phones like the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the Nokia Lumia Icon because of their appealing size.

From the looks of all the iPhone 6 rumors and parts leaks, it seems as if Apple has finally decided to jump on the “phablet” bandwagon and will be announcing not just one, but two smartphones that will be considerably larger than their current device. If that is true, Apple will have already checked off one of the items on my iPhone 6 wish list. Here are the other items I want to see in the next iPhone 6 during the Apple announce tomorrow.

Better Battery Life

If both the 4.7 and 5.5 inch iPhone 6 are announced, that means there should be room for a larger battery for better battery life? Right now I’m getting about a half day on a full charge during normal usage. It would be nice if I could go a full day of normal usage before I’m looking for a wall outlet or praying that one of my many backup battery chargers is fully charged.

Mobile Wallet

Smartphones are “smart” enough to where they should be able to store my credit/debit/rewards cards so I can leave them at home and thin out my wallet. The problem is that major credit cards companies, banks, merchants, and phone platforms…users are NOT on the same page. Maybe Apple and the iPhone 6 can bring everybody to the table and come up with standards that makes using my smartphone as my primary method a payment a reality?

Wireless Charging

A mobile wallet standard and Wireless Charging could be achieved with NFC (Near Field Communication…GTS). Other platforms have been using NFC for a while, but again, none of them have used it to it’ capacity because the lack of standards. By Apple, the most popular mobile manufacturer, adopting NFC may push the technology to reach its potential. I would love to set my phone on a pad or an entire desk that is NFC-enabled without looking for a cord.

Deeper 3rd-Party Integration

This is more of an operating system request than a iPhone hardware request. I would like for Apple to open up its OS and allow 3rd-Party developers to integrate even deeper with iOS. A perfect example would be the ability to use other keyboards than the standard keyboard. Word on the street from the gems unearthed from the iOS 8 Beta is this will be the case. I just made sure to put it here because I would LOVE to use my favorite Android keyboard SwiftKey, on the iPhone 6.

DIY Repair

The iPhone 5/5C/5S is one of the easiest devices to open up and fix. As a smartphone repair guy and a general fan of “Do It Yourself” repairs, I would like Apple to continue the repairability (is that word?) trend with the iPhone 6. Apple is rumored to make the iPhone 6 thinner, and use a new Sapphire display. That could lead to a new manufacturing process, which could lead to making it harder to consumers and repair shops to crack open an iPhone 6. The new MacBook Pro Retina and MacBook Airs are a prime example of fly new devices…that are almost impossible to repair.

As you can see, I’m a pretty reasonable guy when it comes to building a “perfect” iPhone 6. All of these are pretty easy for a company like Apple to implement, and I’m sure most of these will make the list when the iPhone 6 is announced tomorrow.

Before the official unveiling on Tuesday Sept 9th (streaming live on Apple’s website and iOS device), drop a line in the comments section and tell me what items are on your iPhone 6 wish list?

Categories
Mac Heads

Apple Drops Maximum iPhone Trade-In Value

I’d like to think I’m the master at selling old smartphones on eBay, Craigslist, and other gadget buy-back sites. It doesn’t take me very long to research all the sites, list my items, haggle with riff-raff, pack-up and ship my devices in exchange for the maximum available.

For many, getting rid of an old smartphone to make way for the latest and greatest can be a hassle. For folks without any patience looking for a more convenient way to upgrade their old iPhone, Apple does offer a simple program where you can take your iPhone to the nearest Apple Store (or go online) and hand it over in exchange for credit towards the purchase of a new one.

Word on the street is that Apple has just cut the maximum iPhone trade-in value you can get by $45 bucks, bringing the total down to $225. I’m assuming there are a ton of people who are looking to use this method in anticipation for the upcoming ‘new hotness’ iPhone 6 that should drop between late-late summer and early fall. Just be aware that you are trading cash for convenience, for I’m sure you can get way more money for your ‘old and busted’ if you take the extra time and to sell your device on your own.

Here’s an ‘oldie but goodie’ post I wrote on Babble to jumpstart your research.

I know you have some tips & tricks on selling old gadgets. Be sure to drop a line in the comments section.

Categories
Mac Heads

[Video] Take A Look at iOS 7 On a 4.7 Inch iPhone 6

image courtesy of ciccarese

Word on the street is that Apple is working on a larger 4.7 inch iPhone 6 that should be announced sometime this fall. I have been spoiled for the past year or so by the larger Android and Windows Phone screens, so as an Apple enthusiast, my 4 inch iPhone 5 is collecting dust in my drawer. I only pull her out on special occasions, or when I’m testing/reviewing an app. But I still haven’t given up on Apple, and I will be one of the first in line if in fact Apple finally catches up and releases an iPhone with a larger screen.

The folks over at 9to5 Mac couldn’t even wait that long and decided to “hack” a 4.7 inch 960×1704 Motorola X screen onto an mock iPhone 6 design and created a demo walk through just to see what  iOS 7 as it stands now would look like running on larger screen. Nothing has changed OS wise, it’s just blown up to fit the larger screen.

Check out the video

The question remains if Apple will only make a larger screen and “blow up” iOS” to fit larger dimensions, or will it adjust/change/improve/tweak  iOS 7 to take advantage of a bigger, higher resolution display.

Either way, my eyes and fingers have been spoiled by the 4.7 inch and larger screens from other mobile platforms, so any screen size improvement will be good enough for me.

What say you? Will you upgrade your current iPhone OR switch back to Apple if the iPhone 6 has a larger screen?