My first few weeks with the iPhone 6 Plus

My first few weeks with the iPhone 6 Plus

I had been holding on to my iPhone 5, waiting eagerly for the goodies that are announced each September by the doyens of product secrecy and marketing.

Hearing the rumours of a larger iPhone really wetted my appetite. I was weighing up getting one of the larger Samsung Note 4s and immediately wipe any remnants of Samsung's gimmick filled bloatware. Thankfully the iPhone 6 plus was the answer I am looking for.

I conceit that the name of the new device is pretty crappy, most people just call it 'the big one'.

While the size is defiantly the draw point, after working with and using closely, there are other features that have really come to the forefront for me - the battery and the camera being amounts them.

The Camera

I have to admit, I am not a great photographer, Frankie is far more the photographer than I am. Most of the fantastic images we took in Mynamar were taken by Frankie.

The manual or dynamic stabilisation is comparable to my mirror-less Samsung NX1000.

The Battery

Any one who knows me knows that I am very far from my phone - to the point of even having my previous iPhone 5 in its Lifeproof case in the shower with me for music.

This often leads to having a dead phone by noon. Not with the iPhone 6 plus. With a fair among of usage, including streaming musics, push notifications, location services, background activity and constant use I easily have over 70% left at 2:30 in the afternoon. Most days achieving 11-12 hours battery life between charges.

I am now really hanging out for the life proof case for this phone

Honourable mention - the external speaker

It is not a make or break feature of a phone for me. I say phone but I am getting more and more annoyed with actually having to talk to people by telephone. I use this device like many others for the consumption of news, media, sound, podcasts along with communicating with you - the lovely people of the inter webs.

The external speaker located on the base of this phone if big, and LOUD. I can hear the sound better and clearer sitting on my sink in my bathroom, than from a bluetooth speaker in the shower.

The bending thing

I know a lot of hoohar has been made about the 'bending' of the iPhone 6 plus in people's pockets - personally I don't have those issues, mainly because I am not stupid enough to put something that cost over $1000 in my back pocket and sit on it - but hey if you did and it bent. I am sorry to hear that.

Why would @fitbit take away a product I loved with no replacement?

Over the past week I have discovered some cracks on the back of my Fitbit Force. As you remember I purchased this device in the US as I am still as yet to see it available I Australia. I contacted Fitbit support first via twitter as then by their support page as they requested. I provided photos. After a follow up request to find out what was going on as I had not heard from Support.

What I received, I thought was sent in error. Basically due to a small number of people (mainly in the US) suffering skin irritations, the Fitbit force was recalled. While I knew about the recall, the issue didn't effect me and I carried on.

As there was a recall in place Fitbit support stated they would not replace my damaged force but would refund me. I don't want to go back to using the Fitbit flex, for one, I had issues with the band breaking after 8 months - the same time I have been using the force, not to mention the shocking battery life of the flex compared to the force.

I am now left with either rigging up some repair or take the refund and look for another product after I have already invested in the Fitbit ecosystem including the matching scale.

Working on my Fitness!!

Working on my Fitness!

I know it may come as a shock to some of you, but I am no athlete…

I have just entered week 7 of the couch to 5km running program.

[youtube http://youtu.be/5T0utQ-XWGY]

If this fitness thing all sounds a little familiar, well yes.

I have been using the fitbit ecosystem for over 12months now. First the fitbit Flex which the band died after 9 months and there were little to no replacements available at the the time, so I imported the fitbit force which still does not seem to be available in Australia widely.

Throughout this whole time I have also been using the Fitbit Aria Scale. Because I love data I can see how many steps, how much I weighed or what my body fat as a percentage was for every day of the last year.

For those of you about to smash me saying fitness and weightless are different, just like climate change deniers thinking weather and climate are the same… I was getting to that.

If you look purely at the numbers, I am barely meeting my daily 10000 step count, and I have never had a higher weight or body fat percentage… however, 4 weeks ago I could not complete 2 x 3 min jogs with a walk in between, last saturday I ran more than most of a 5km fun run, and today ran 4.2km non stop.

For any one saying, I can't run - try the program, it slowly steps you up. It is not about speed - I am sure there are snails overtaking me when I get my little grandpa shuffle happening, but I am constantly moving.

For the uber nerds out there, I use my Lifeproof Arm band with my Lifeproof phone case, with Runkeeper and my Pebble smart watch ) to keep track of my runs.

Although twice now, my iPhone 5 has died during a simple 30-35min run. Before you ask, it is not one of the iPhone 5 models that are eligible for battery replacements.

Go on.. try it.. I dare you, better yet… take a friend or friends, other people really help with pace.

Try it Here

There are also many many apps available for your phone for free.

#projectsailboat boat features / boat shopping list

I guess to truly explain what I am looking for in a boat I need to further explain why the dream is there. That the dream is split in two parts.

1) This may sound strange to some seafaring folk but the idea of even tinkering and working onboard a boat at mooring all weekend I find incredibly appealing. Even when the weather is crappy, just being aboard a vessel that by definition is part of the sea. Every movement, every wave, ever breeze effects what you do.

2) The actual sailing – clearly this is linked to part one. A safe and comfortable boat that you know well only further enhances the time you have underway – that feeling when you cut the engine and nothing but the unseen force of the wind filling the sails – just like solar power – it’s magic.

I have divided the kit for the purpose of this post into: Tools, Writing, Charging & Cables, Medical & Boo Boo, Wifi and Apple connectors.

In the past I have written before about the kit that I use for overseas travel, such as my iPad Mini in a waterproof LifeProof case along my iPhone 5 also in a LifeProof case.

I know looking at the picture above, it looks like a lot. I assure you, I use almost everything inside this case at least weekly.

So I will run through my different sub groups so you can see what I have:

Tools:

So what I have in this section is:

• A tiny Gerber Multitool. I use the straight blade to open boxes and I really like the spring opening pliers

• Stanley pocket screwdriver set – I like the former factor giving me 4 different heads (2 different sized phillips head, and 2 blade) all in a hard plastic pen body

• Streamlight Stylus Pro torch

• Small water tight container that contains some spare cash and a pair of needle nose tweezers

Writing:

Nothing is worse than needing to take a note, or leave a note such as in the recent case of our trip to Horse Gully Hut - I left an emergency note on our car’s dashboard so people knew were to look for us.

In my daily kit is the following writing items:

• Rite in the Rain spiral bound pad

• Space pen -Mate Black

• Maxpedition Trekker all weather pen

• The last item is a just a generic metal body black ink pen – looks less tactical.

Medical / Boo Boo kit

Firstly, I am sorry for this blurry picture, in this kit is enough things to just make me feel better, rather than cure the ills of the world.

It contains:

Tissues

Panadol x 2 tabs

An alcohol wipe

Gastro stop type pills or mouth dissolvable buttons

The only thing missing from this group is a bandaid that is normally folded inside the container

Now for the most used group of my kit

Charging & Connections

I am an apple boy, not a fanboy but an apple boy – The OS  does what I need.

By gosh does the iPhone and iPad mini chew the juice! Hungry little things.

The above includes:

A YellowStone short iPhone 5 lightning charger

Pebble Smart watch magnetic charger

Fitbit force usb charger

Small “BlueLounge Kii’ that I have shaved down to fit through the charging port of the LifeProof Fre case.

Griffin short usb connection cables – Mini, Micro and large apple connector

Plox 6000mAh usb external battery with inbuilt micro us charger

Belkin extension usb cable

USB power adapter from the iPhone 5s it’s small and easy to carry.

LifeProof Fre 3.5mm audio adapter so I can use headphones with the waterproof case on (the apple EarPods work without using any adapter)

Apple and Wifi converters plus USB and EarPods

Now this group is one that is not used as often, but when it does – it’s a real saver.

The first is the white USB stick - this is a Huawei E355s-2 - one of the most versatile HSPA+ modems I have ever seen. I picked this one up outright from Celcom in Malaysia.  I pop a sim in, plug it into anything with a  USB port - the battery above, the wall charger above etc and it creates a mini wifi network.

I am a massive Amaysim fan here in Australia, in essence they are a 4G reseller of the Optus network. I have 2 accounts with them - my phone is on the 49 unlimited plan - unlimited calls and sms (in AU) with 9gig oData.  The USB stick uses their $99 for 10gig (lasts 365 days or until 10 gig used).

I can not rate them highly enough.

Also above you can see the following

Apple micro USB to Lightning converter

30pin to lightning converter

30pin SD card reader

With three items above I can easily convert any USB micro cable to a lightning charger, I know people will be saying ‘but there is a lightning SD card reader’ yes - but it is longer - on a short cable. I like the compact nature of these 2 items.

EarPods - these fit inside the LifeProof Fre case without a converter

Sandisk 4gig USB stick with tiny micro light - cheap and nasty - about $5.

EDIT: Update March 2015

I have removed some items, either because they no longer work, or are no longer needed.

1. I have upgraded my phone to the iPhone 6 plus, with the Lifeproof Nuud case. Every Lightning cable other than the Apple provided one no longer fits inside the charging port so I have ordered a short genuine Apple cable (30cm)
2. The BlueLounge Kii is gone - see above
3. Fitbit Force replaced with the Fitbit Charge HR and matching cable
4. Plain metal black pen stopped working so was binned and not replaced

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Amazing customer service from @thekitbag

I wanted to publicly acknowledge the amazing customer service I recently received from The Kit Bag, an online kit store from Western Australia. While I was in Darwin last year for work, I needed a new every day pack, I settle on the 36l Bravo Recon from The Kit Bag.  

What I didn't realise until only this week was that the bag was missing some items when it arrived last year. Namely the Y compression strap, the hip belt and the water bladder.  I contacted them by phone this week, emailed some pictures and by COB that day a BRAND NEW ONE was already on its way. It has arrived and the old one returned (at their cost!!!)

These guys know how to look after people!!

Using @pactapp to keep my EXERCISE promises

I know this may not be new or even news to other people, but I am lazy. Bone idle. However nothing makes me move my slightly jiggly butt more than good old fashioned $$$$. Whether saving it or spending it.  Long ago when I previously had a Personal Trainer, my sole motivation for going to the gym and seeing him was the knowledge that if I was there or not he would be charging me $60 a session. So off I went.  Sadly as I could only afford to see my PT two times a week (dude, thats $240 a fortnight) I simply didn't go to the gym on the days I didn't have to see him. 

Fast forward to 2013/2014. I have started to lose KGs through a combo of light exercise and my tech companions ( the Fitbit Flex tracker, Fitbit Aria Scale and my trusty iPhone 5). I am hovering at around 76-77Kgs. Unlike in Darwin, where I was running and walking every day, hitting my Fitbit Target of 10,000 steps a day - I am lucky to hit 5000 here without additional exercise. 

This week I am trying a new app that combines my NEED to move my butt with the nagging and motivation of lose $$$ if I do not. It is PACT

Essentially I promise to go to the gym or use their activity tracker for more than 30mins on a set number of times in a week after ‘betting’ my self I can do it. In my case I said I would go to the gym OR get 10,000 steps on my Fitbit 2 times between Monday - Sunday or it will cost me $5, however if I do what I say I will EARN $1. These are all small sums as I am testing it out. I would be looking to move this to the $50 mark and 3 times a week if I see it working.

Do you use a Fitbit? How about the PactApp? Experiences?

Horse Gully & Naas Valley, Namadgi National Park - ACT ( Day 1, plus gear reviews)

Well we are home now, after out overnight camping adventure in the Naas Valley and walking up to the Horse Gully Hut. Overall it was roughly 20kms round trip.

I weighted my pack when we got home and it came in at 10.7kgs with 900g still in my water bladder.. I can assure you that is rather a load when you are climbing up hill and down dale.

Have a watch and tell me what you think.

http://youtu.be/6Jc6J-_kI7I

Pebble Watch 3 months on + SDK2.0

Well following on from my previous post on the pebble watch I thought I would give a bit of an update. http://wade85.com/pebble-watch-first-impressions-the-first-72-hours/

When I watched the kick started videos during the hype of the pebble watch launch I knew I wanted it straight away. What I failed to appreciate was how the kickstarter + pebble business model is different from the normal technology retail space. You don't see a product, order it and then use it.  You become part of the process. The concept is done but you are buying a product that has not been made yet. Almost like buying a house off the plan.  

The pebble did end up coming on the big Burma trip with us.  Sadly under SDK 1.0 the watch could not use storage on the phone to back up my dual time zone settings. But what I found interesting is after landing in either Myanmar or Malaysia as soon as my phone locked onto the new network time so did my pebble so it was up to date where ever we were.  Due to having no data connection thus redendering 90% of my phones functions useless and in turn the watches it was left in flight mode. 

With SDK 2.0 being out for a few days now I can say I have not lost caller ID once ( a turn around from before). I don't need to constantly open or kill and reopen the pebble http app to get the weather on my watch face. I am also getting a lot more notifications than before. 

It is getting better..

DIY Charging Station

No doubt you have guessed I love my gadgets. The downside is they seem to breed, taking up more and more power points along with migrating to new habitat - beside the bed, beside the TV and the kitchen bench. While in a local home wares store on the weekend I noticed a faux leather desk organiser. With a power drill and some wood-boring drill bit, the pics show the result.

Now my Pebble watch, my Fitbit Flex, my iPhone, my iPad mini, iPod Nano, Bluetooth headphones, and battery packs along with their cables have a home. nice and tidy. I can even fit my 11in Macbook Air in the rear 2 spots.

So for around 20 bucks it is all neat and tidy.

LifeProof-ed my life

Today I completed my Lifeproof collection. I have been using my LIfeProof Fre on my iPhone 5 with the sports band as well as the bike mount. The case makes my phone virtually indestructible - NB I have not used in the pool, merely the shower / bath.  It  has been great - the standard iPhone headphones go straight into the phone without the screwed / waterproof headphone adapter. The only down side is that aftermarket cables will not fit through the hole used for the charger. No worries just have to use the Apple one.

Today I got the Lifeproof for my iPad Mini! - I have already tested it tonight in the shower and works great.  Here is a review by someone else but catches my thoughts

http://youtu.be/8p8N0jOs2KU

Telecommunications + internet in Myanmar October 2013

Just like just about every other facet of life in Myanmar, telecommunications and the internet in all its forms have experienced a massive and rapid evolution in the recent years and months.

Frankie tells me that as little as 5 years ago a single sim card could cost as much as $25,000 US. Yes that is correct. Not a typo. Today a prepaid sim is only $100-150. Whilst Myanmar is experiencing rapid growth it currently has only one mobile provider - MPT Myanmar Post and Telegraph. Just like their name - they are stuck in the past. The government has recently entered negotiations with a number of international mobile service providers with a view to granting new operating licences. It has been reported that 4G could be coming to Myanmar.

Funnily -The fastest internet we discovered all over Myanmar was in a Massage Parlour- nothing suspicious I assure you. For a sum of just 12 AUD we both received a 2 hour massage along with being able to download podcasts and update Facebook - highly important I assure you.

http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/04/eric-schmidt-north-korea-myanmar/

iPhone not accessing gps in flight mode - instantly connects when when deactivated

I just wanted to provide some feedback regarding my experiences while traveling recently using the iPhone as a GPS mapping tracking device.

Throughout the whole trip I was using my iPhone on flight mode and keeping wifi and bluetooth active to allow connections. I sadly discovered that the GPS is either extremely slow or will not connect at all. This particularly annoying and or disasterious to the use of  http://www.inreachdelorme.com/product-info/inreach-smartphone.php or  https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/motionx-gps/id299949744.

A phone that is self upgrade-able. Phonebloks

Phonebloks - Made by Dave Hakkens.

How cool is this? DSLR attachment for almost any Smart Phone - Sony QX100 / QX10

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TWh3EvSZ_0']