iCreep

09 Sep 2022 | ~4 minute read

Back in 2018 I decided I was ditching Android for an iPhone. Since then my Apple devices have continued to grow. Have I become a fanboy?

I recently bought my seventh Apple device to add to my ever growing collection of iStuff. Here’s what I currently own:

• 2020 iPhone SE
• iPhone 11 (for work)
• iPad Air 3
• Apple Pencil
• Apple Watch Series 5
• M1 Macbook Air
• Apple TV

At this point, pretty much all of my computing is done on an Apple device, but I never intended for it to be this way.

Back when I ditched Android my plan was to only ditch Android because I feel that Apple is the lesser of the two evils.

What happened?

Back in 2018 I had my iPhone, an Android tablet, a Garmin smartwatch, a ThinkPad and a desktop, both of which were running Linux (and later, Windows).

Then my Android tablet bit the dust. I decided I liked iOS, so I bought an iPad Mini. And I loved it!

Setting it up was as simple as putting my phone near my iPad and tapping a few buttons. Literally everything was setup and ready to go within minutes.

Colour me impressed.

I then decided I wanted to use my iPad for taking notes, so I upgraded my iPad Mini to an iPad Air with a the V1 Pencil. Again, setup was a cinch and everything worked beautifully.

I didn’t have high hopes for the pencil, but it works great. I do think the way the V1 Pencil has to stick out from the iPad to charge just plain ridiculous though. Jobs would have never let that see the light day if he was around.

A while later my trusty Garmin smartwatch had seen better days and it was time for an upgrade. I decided to try the Apple Watch to see if I liked it. It’s pretty good, but I’m not as impressed by the watch as I am by Apple’s other hardware.

I got my watch for free through a rewards scheme in work, so I was happy to take the punt. I don’t think I’ll be buying another one though. Having to charge it every day is a pain, and despite what all the manuals and guides say, I cannot get the the always-on screen to work. So I find myself flicking my wrist, or tapping the screen, to get the screen to come on.

Then there’s the auto-pause of exercises that is impossible to turn off. I have tattoos on my arms, and apparently the Apple Watch struggles to detect a heartbeat through tattoos sometimes, and if that happens, it assumes the exercise if over and pauses the workout.

I can’t count the amount of times I’ve finished a run, only to find my watch stuck on a few seconds because it had a brain fart when I first set off. The watch is meh. Had I paid for it, I’d be pretty pissed off. So I’ll likely go back to Garmin next.

Anyway, I digress…

The M1 Macbook Air

I’d heard about the M1 Macs from a number of sources. Everyone was touting 20ish hours of battery life and amazing performance.

My wife’s laptop died, so I decided I’d give one a try and give her my ThinkPad. To say that this M1 Air is a game changer isn’t an over-statement. The thing is spectacularly good.

So much so that I decided to sell my desktop and use the M1 Air exclusively. I’m now over a year into ownership and this plucky little laptop is still doing fantastically good.

When my M1 gets long on the tooth I will definitely buy another M-series Macbook.

TV land

I’ve always used Roku sticks for my TV. We don’t really watch live TV, instead we stream 99.9% of the time. The Roku in my living was like 5 years old and we were having constant issues with it crashing or buffering.

Using the same reward scheme as I got my Watch from, I decided to nab an Apple TV last week. So far, it’s been BAU Apple – works really well, performs brilliantly and just allows me to get on with what I want to do with very few barriers.

Am I fanboy?

I don’t think I am. To me a fanboy is someone who is fanatical about a product/service to the point where they cannot (or will not) see past any shortcomings.

Apple’s hardware is really good, and they have nailed the ubiquity between devices. However, as it shows with my opinions on the Apple Watch, I’m not oblivious to Apple’s shortcomings.

The hardware, generally speaking, is really expensive. But it lasts, and integrates so well together, I think it’s worth the premium price tag.

So yes, I really like Apple stuff. But I’m not a fanatical fanboy. It’s funny how this iCreep has happened over the last few years though. I suppose that’s how Apple gets you and how they’ve become the most valuable company on the planet. 🤷‍♂️

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• Technology title: iCreep