opinion – 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?

Switching Back To iOS From Android - It Just Works via BrothaTech

Not sure if I just got bored and wanted to look at something new for a change, or I truly am a fanboy, but I’ve temporarily (or permanently) switched back to my iPhone 5 as my daily driver. I’ve been using my Samsung Galaxy S4 for quite some time and I must say the larger screen size was my main reason for getting one, and it came in handy numerous times ~~on the potty~~ when I had idle time to browse the web, watch a video, or draft an email.

Additionally, I use Google services all day long, so having that “Google juice” baked into my smartphone is an added bonus

Side note: I’m still trying to figure out a full-proof way to use my Google Apps email aliases in Apple Mail for iOS 7.

So after a while rocking Android, I’ve switched back to iOS. While my fat thumbs (Lawd, please force Apple to let us use SwiftKey) and bad eyes have to get used to a smaller screen again, going back to Apple has been a pretty pleasant experience.

The first obvious thing I noticed is that getting media (music, movies, podcasts, etc.) on my iPhone was simple because I use iTunes to download and mange my media. I use a doubleTwist to get iTunes content on my Android, but some content (old DRM stuff) just won’t carry over. Plugging up my iPhone and watching the magic happen is simply a better experience.

Another observation was that it appeared that my Android was getting more an more stuttery (word?) and not as smooth when doing basic tasks like detecting when I wanted to type and pulling up the virtual keyboard, switching between apps, and taking pictures. My GS4 had to literally “think about it” for a while before completing the task.

iOS on the other hand, is still a smooth and seamless experience. Now one could attribute my Android issues to the fact that by the time the manufacturer and the carrier are done with Android, the user experience is lessened. But like I said, as time went on, the stuttering got worse…And until any of you Android enthusiasts scoffing at my analysis (or PR folk looking for influential brands…’cause I’d like to consider myself influential in this tech game) want to send me a Google Nexus 5 to truly experience Android, you will have to make due with my iOS vs. Android experience.

Yeah, my phone is tiny, and I will have to figure out some workarounds to continue dependence on using Google services on an iPhone, but I will say my overall opinion of an iPhone is that with all of its developer and ecosystem restrictions…It just works.