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Apple iPhone X Leather Case Review with WhiteStone Dome Glass Screen Protector

Last updated April 12, 2018

Apple iPhone X Leather Case Review with WhiteStone Dome Glass Screen Protector.

It’s compatible with the WhiteStone Dome Glass Screen Protector, which was a big buying factor for me.

The case feels premium and has a great fit and finish; it is worth $49 if you value the way it looks.

Just like any other “leather product”, you’re just paying more for the “looks”.

You can get the iPhone X Leather case here: http://amzn.to/2CghfFH

You can get the Whitestone Dome Glass Screen protector for the iPhone X here: http://amzn.to/2jURcfx

Apple Slows Down Old Phones and Devices (My iPhone 6s Plus was affected)

Last updated April 12, 2018

Apple’s latest iOS updates caused my iPhone 6s Plus to run slower!

With these latest iOS updates, any apple device showing degraded battery conditions will experienced lower performance. This is done in favor of extending the run time of the device.

However, Apple didn’t get the customer’s consent to do this, they are getting sued! Since customers are not aware of what’s happening, some may think that buying a new phone is the solution; is this Apple’s intension?

Is Apple intentionally slowing down your old iPhone to get you to upgrade? is Apple deliberately doing this? Sources for the original articles came from Reddit and Geekbench.

What happens if you are affected?!

>> If you are using iOS 10.2.1 or newer, than you will be seeing performance throttling. Especially, if you have a degraded battery. You can check the status of your battery by using a software called Battery Life by RBT Digital LLC. If you’re below 80%, you can replace your battery for better performance. If you don’t replace your degraded battery, your phone will still work, just know that apple is helping your battery run longer by slowing your phone down.

Apple Responds To Slowing Down iPhones and Old Apple Devices

Last updated April 12, 2018

Apple apologizes for not being up front about this whole situation.

WOW, apple has responded!  Apple, for a year will replace your battery for only $29. Originally, this replacement cost $79. A savings of $50. Devices eligible include iPhone 6 and newer (which includes the iPhone SE). Deal begins in late January 2018.

Response: https://www.apple.com/iphone-battery-and-performance/

They said: First and foremost, we have never — and would never — do anything to intentionally shorten the life of any Apple product, or degrade the user experience to drive customer upgrades. Our goal has always been to create products that our customers love, and making iPhones last as long as possible is an important part of that.

And this is what they are offering to win our trust back:

1) Apple is reducing the price of an out-of-warranty iPhone battery replacement by $50 — from $79 to $29 — for anyone with an iPhone 6 or later whose battery needs to be replaced, starting in late January and available worldwide through December 2018. Details will be provided soon on apple.com.

2) Early in 2018, we will issue an iOS software update with new features that give users more visibility into the health of their iPhone’s battery, so they can see for themselves if its condition is affecting performance.

3) As always, our team is working on ways to make the user experience even better, including improving how we manage performance and avoid unexpected shutdowns as batteries age.

Apple iPhone X Silicone Case Review | NOT compatible with Whitestone Dome Glass Screen Protector

Last updated April 12, 2018

Is the Apple iPhone X Silicone Case worth $39?

You can get yours here: http://amzn.to/2mFCdqx

If you are looking for a great deal; this is not the option for you.

However, it is a nice case with well rounded features for the price of $39.

Cons:

  • NOT Compatible with the Whitestone Dome Glass Screen Protector.

  • $39 is expensive for a basic case like this.

Pros:

  • Comes in many colors Nice feel, has a slight grippy texture Apple Logo on back of case is flushed printed (you can’t feel it)

  • Nice Micro Fiber lining

  • Easy access to Mute switch

  • Buttons are nice and clicky

  • Cutout for camera; allowing the camera to sit recessed.

  • Case has a raised lip for basic drop protection Open button which allows for better audio and easy access to the lightening port.

  • Wireless charging works while the phone is in the case.

Conclusion:

  • It’s a well rounded case that’s light weight and offers decent drop protection.

MacBook Retina 12″ – Perfect for YouTube, Facebook, & Blogging!

Last updated April 12, 2018

I purchased this MacBook Retina 12″ over 2 years ago (April 10, 2015), and it’s still my favorite laptop.  Since then Apple has updated it with the second generation (April 19, 2016) and the third generation (June 6, 2017).  But the features and the performance of the original one that I have still works perfectly for all my laptop needs.  As you are aware, I LOVE the greatest gadgets and technologies, and of course that includes computers.  So to be fully content with a 2 year old laptop, and have absolutely no desires to upgrade, is a HUGE testament to how amazing this laptop is!

You can get it on Amazon for around $1100-$1500 based on the specs.

My Needs:

Everyone has different needs/wants so it’s important that I clarify what my needs/wants are and why this laptop is perfect for me.

  1. I wanted a laptop that was light weight so that I could carry it around wherever I go.
  2. I wanted a laptop that I could use on my lap for hours without it getting too hot.
  3. I wanted a laptop that did NOT have a physical fan.  Most laptop fans are very loud because they are small and need to move a lot of hot air.
  4. I wanted a laptop that had a high resolution screen. Reason #1 is to be more productive and fit more things on the screen at once, Reason #2 is because I am used to high resolution displays on everything else I own, so seeing big large pixels got annoying to me.
  5. I wanted a laptop that had CPU power to do light video editing (such as YouTube videos @ 1080P), edit photos in Adobe Lightroom, light photoshop editing, run web browser with multiple tabs opened at once, watch YouTube and enjoy Social Media.
  6. I wanted at least 8GB of RAM to facilitate the software needs in the item above.
  7. I wanted good battery life that would last at least 8 hours.
  8. I wanted to be enjoy videos on YouTube and Netflix.  So the screen needs to be good and the speakers need to be decent.
  9. I wanted it to have fast start up/shutdown and launch my apps quickly.

PROS of the MacBook Retina 12″:

 

  • Performance is great for web browsing, watching YouTube Videos, Watching Netflix, Word Processing, Lightroom photo editing, light photoshop work, and slight video editing.  If you’re doing high resolution photo editing or lots of video editing, I would recommend the MacBook Pro instead.
  • The Speakers are AMAZING, they sound really REALLY good.  Actually the best sounding speakers on a laptop I’ve ever heard.  They sound better than the previous generation MacBook Pro laptops!
  • 1080P content is beautifully smooth on this machine.  Even when connected to an external Monitor
  • It is lightweight: 2.03 pounds (0.92 kg).  (all 3 generations of the laptop).
  • It is compact: 11.04 inches (28.04 cm) wide × 7.74 inches (19.66 cm) deep × 0.14 inches (0.36 cm) to 0.52 inches (1.32 cm) high
  • The has a physical larger screen than the MacBook Air 11″, but high resolution than even the BackBook Air 13″, PERFECT!  The Retina screen resolution on this laptop is nothing short of amazing.  The screen is 2304 × 1440 (16:10), 226 ppi, with millions of colors (supported scaled resolutions: 1440 × 900, 1280 × 800, 1024 × 640).
  • The newest version of the MacBook Retain can support up to 16GB of RAM.  Which is plenty.
  • Although it doesn’t have a very fast processor it has an Solid State Drive (SSD) that launches applications quickly and boots the machine up super fast!
  • The battery life is great on the 2015 model I have, and has been improved even more in the 2016 and 2017 models.
  • The laptop does stay comfortable, temperature wise.  NOTE: It does start to get a little hot when doing intense tasks such as rendering a video, but using when I’m rendering a video, I take a break from using the laptop, I just let it do its thing.
  • The MacBook Retina is completely fan-less which means there is no moving parts and no loud fans!  I’m a big fan of this fact 😉
  • I actually like the shallow travel keyboard (the 2017 model has the updated 2nd generation butterfly keyboard that’s even better).  NOTE: this is a personal preference and you should test out the keyboard before you buy.
  • BONUS feature I didn’t expect, but if you buy a USB-A to USB-C cable.  Then you can actually use a battery pack (like the one people use to charge phones and tablets on the go), and charge this laptop!  It takes awhile, but I was surprised that it actually worked!

CONS of the MacBook Retina 12″:

Here are the CONS of this laptop: (and for this reason, I have a super powerful Apple iMac 27″ Retina that can handle all my other computing needs).

  • This laptop runs on a Intel Core-M “mobile” processor, so it’s slower than the slowest desktop you can buy.  But this was a sacrifice I was wiling to make.
  • I was able to run a simple Virtual Machine (VM) using VM fusion, but with the limited CPU and RAM, it was not able to really function as a VM house.
  • I was trying to do some iOS app development, and found it was very slow to startup and run the emulators/simulators.
  • If you’re looking to play 4K video content, it will work fine with the built in screen, but when connected to an external monitor, 4K video was laggy.  NOTE: I believe with the 2016 and 2017 generation, the 4K should be perfectly fine.
  • NOT a gaming laptop, I wouldn’t consider paying modern games on this machine.
  • If you plan on doing a lot of video editing, this is NOT the machine for that task.  It’ll struggle.  It’s about twice as slow as a MacBook Pro for 5 years ago!
  • It only has 1 port.  Yep, a single USB-C port…. and that’s also used to Charge the laptop too!  So technically speaking when you’re charing your laptop, there is not room to plug in any other USB device.  There is a headphone jack, but that’s it, just the one USB-C port and a 3.5mm Headphone jack.  Solution: Apple USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter.  This product works great, it adds regular USB-A port, passes through a USB-C port so you can charge it or plug in a USB-C device, and it has a HDMI output!  Here are other cheaper alternatives that work great too, like this one: Verbatim Slim Aluminum USB-C Hub Adapter Dongle 
  • Although the battery life is good for simple web browsing, if I use more CPU intensive things such as edit videos or photos, then the battery life is dramatically reduced.

Conclusion:

I highly recommend this if your needs align with mines, and you have a faster computer at home to do heavy tasks.  If you want one portable machine that can do everything, then the MacBook Pro line up is better choice for you.  Later this year, I may purchase a MacBook Pro to test out to compare.