Any Tips For A Brand New iPhone Owner?

šŸ’¬ Lounge
21

But their hardware is ridiculously well-built and remains functional for a very long time. For example, I still use a Mac-mini that was purchased in 2011. It is an Intel i5 with 16 GB of RAM and a 256 GB SSD.

Currently (15 years later), it runs Ubuntu and runs as a server for a whole slew of ancillary applications that I use for automation, including node-red, home assistant, zigbee2mqtt, ZWaveJS UI, Channels DVR, and a couple other things.

One of my colleagues uses an Intel MacBook Air that I purchased in 2014 - works well for the word processing she does, and the battery still lasts for 6 hours.

I haven't had a Dell or HP notebook that has remained useful after a decade.

4 Likes
22

The cases on the cheap Lenovos don't take much abuse, or even much use. Gorilla tape is being used on my most recent.

1 Like
23

Funny, I was referring to Apple owning the entire ecosystem and thus able to control things to a much greater extent.

But yes going all in with Apple does involve a price premium, that may or be not be worth it depending on how you use your devices and how long you keep them, etc.

24

I have some old Dell and Vaio laptops in the same general vintage that I installed Ubuntu on to play around with at one point. Worked great, but I haven't messed with them for a while as I've had other things distracting me. Your comment made me think I need to pull one or two of them out and boot them up and see if they explode. :crazy_face::wink:

1 Like
25

One thing that a lot of new users don't understand about iCloud is that it's not a backup. It's a method of syncing between devices. If you delete a photo from your phone, it's also deleted from iCloud. Things that are deleted hang around for a while and can be restored. But I know someone who lost a lot of important pics because they didn't realize they were gone everywhere. I have a Synology NAS and I use their Photos Mobile app to backup all of my photos to the NAS. On the other hand, iCloud makes transitioning to a new phone absolutely seamless and fast. And if you have more than one Apple device, everything in iCloud is available everywhere, which is very handy.

3 Likes
26

Any opinions on an iCloud email address?
I'm using Yahoo now, and have been for years.

I was at the mall yesterday and dropped into a class at the Apple Store. Learned a few interesting things.

It does satellite for emergency calls when other services aren't available. A demo mode was shown. I haven't tried it on my phone yet.

The SIM is not removable. HOWEVER, they have dual eSIMs, so that if you jet off to Europe, you can get a local carrier to install its service on the second SIM 'slot'.

SIRI doesn't need to constantly listen to your voice. You can do a gesture or long press a button. I can see that being convenient. I've never used the Android version, so it's new to me.

Translate is quite cool. It can actually speak the translation. Again, haven't used the Android version, and probably not going to travel, lol.

Dictation is local. I asked the instructor if it was, he put it on airplane mode, and it still worked. Quite nice.

I'm liking the Weather widget-no ads!

He showed how to restart an app, something I'm used to doing in Android. It seems that just swiping it off the screen does it.

He felt the single camera on the 16e is no slouch. I'm no big photog. Just for practical purposes.

I guess I'll read up on Hubitat integration possibilities, in general, for the iPhone. Not sure if I'll dip my toe in that water though.

I'm trying to keep recurring costs, i.e., subscriptions, down, but I went for the $.99/mo for 50GB of storage.

I sent an AirTag to myself, lol. It shows it being in a post office, as of several minutes ago. I guess there are plenty of Apple devices that can relay its status. Interesting, and fun.

Amusement. Thank goodness I never got into gaming, gambling, etc.

3 Likes
27

Now you need a Homepod. :wink:

2 Likes
28

Got my 16 a month ago.
-First thing is turn off apple intelligence so its not using you as an AI learning tool. Its a new feature for iphone 16.
-Getting apple car play to work again is tough, the settings are buried deep.
-As usual go through all your app locations services and re-disable or change to "while Using" Lots got re-enabled to "aways"
-it essentially the same size ads my iphone 11 it replaced. Maybe a little lighter.

Other then that all good and battery life seem great..

1 Like
29

That is likely overkill. Our whole family is on the ~$12 plan (shared between the 4 of us). You can start small and upgrade as needed. Would be cheaper that way!

30

That's 99 cents, lol.

1 Like
31

Browser Preference: Brave Over Safari

For a couple of years, I bounced between Safari and Brave as my browser. I was never a fan of Safariā€™s interfaceā€”it felt glitchy on some websites and didnā€™t always play nicely. Recently, I decided to stick with Brave, and I havenā€™t had any issues since. Safariā€™s okay, but Brave just works better for me.

Standout iPhone Features

  • Dictation: The dictation on iPhone is a clear winner. After being forced off Windows Phone years ago, I used Galaxy Notes for a long time. Samsungā€™s dictation doesnā€™t come closeā€”iPhoneā€™s is hands-down superior.
  • Swipe: The swipe functionality is much more responsive. It feels smooth and intuitive compared to what Iā€™ve used before.
  • Phone Link: Phone Link (connecting iPhone to Windows) is still a weak spot, but itā€™s getting better. I started using it a few months after its initial release, and Iā€™ve noticed steady improvementsā€”similar to how it evolved for Android. Iā€™m optimistic this trend will continue.
  • Gestures: iPhone has a few basic gestures, but not a ton. On Android, I could never remember my custom gestures anyway, so the simplicity here hasnā€™t bothered me.
  • Facial Recognition: For me, facial recognition has been nearly flawless. My wife struggles with it, thoughā€”she tends to overcomplicate things, which is funny since she used to do iPhone support for T-Mobile and Sprint.

Final Thoughts

I resisted switching to iPhone for years, but after making the leap, Iā€™m glad I did. Iā€™d recommend playing around with shortcuts and automationsā€”theyā€™re worth exploring. If youā€™re open to adding a HomePod Mini or Apple TV, consider looking into Apple Home too. Itā€™s been a solid addition for me.

2 Likes
32

You know, I think the haptic experience may be better as well on the iPhone, compared to my Samsung A53.

33

If you use the "motion picture" thing (not sure what it's actually called) and take a lot of pictures and back them up you will fill that 50gb. My bride filled hers in a year. Her pictures take up an incredible amount of space.

1 Like
34

Is this a real downside? Are there privacy concerns? My current feeling is that if you carry a smartphone, forget about it: nothing's private. It's difficult nowadays to go the Luddite route-I've tried.

It comes enabled, and I haven't seen any performance hit, far as I can tell. Supposedly there are benefits to the user. If it becomes annoying, I could turn it off. It's still called "beta", so there's that.

2 Likes
35

It's finally on the move after being in a post office, 20 miles away, for 2 days. I'm amazed that it's this good. Are there that many iPhone users, or could the PO be using Apple stuff?

On another note, I wonder if there is an app out there that could trace the AirTag's location on a map as it moved? I'll have to look.

Fun.

36

Can you link to the source that describes in more detail how weā€™re being used to train Appleā€™s AI models by opting into Apple intelligence?

1 Like
37

Lol. I need to learn how to decipher the position of dots apparently!

Yea, thatā€™s a good plan to start with!

2 Likes
38

Just tried the satellite demo.
It disables cellular connection and connects to satellite, but does not contact emergency services.
Shows you where to point your phone at satellite.
Quite awesome.

2 Likes
39

Apparently not; haven't found anything.
Doesn't store location history because of privacy concerns.

40

Apparently there are no iPhone users at my local post office.

2 Likes