A 3 in 1 review: My thoughts on my iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch.

soldier_ph · March 7, 2021

Introduction:

My Switch to Apple on the Mobile side of things has been very interesting and eye opening. I got into the Apple eco system in the first place because I wanted a way better Smartwatch than I had thus far so I started to look into the Apple Watch and after Apple announced the Series 6 and SE I knew that the brand new SE was the right one for me. But I first bought the iPad 8 alongside the Apple Pencil first generation and later the Apple Magic Keyboard for the iPad for school. After the iPhone event and the new iOS 14 rollout I knew I wanted to get the iPhone 12 mini alongside the Apple Watch SE and boom a couple weeks later I have both. I’m keeping my Oppo Reno 2Z as my experiment phone to try out different Android launchers such as Lineage OS.

Apple iPhone 12 mini 64GB in Black

Really like the built in QR Code Reader in iOS 14, the Notch is better than those pinhole or punch through Notches but I want the front facing Tech to be either integrated into a smaller Notch or them to be put under the Screen. Battery life is OK but could be better, on long days I end the day with 8 to 10 %. Screen is amazing and feels smooth thanks to the Software being so tightly integrated with the Hardware but I want to see a High Refresh rate Display on the 13 Series. As with every new iPhone Cameras are top Notch and the pictures look great, I shoot in 16:9 with everything else on auto. iOS to my surprise was an easy OS to learn and understand it is much easier designed than Android so I had to get used to to the more simplistic design of the whole experience. I hate Lightning and the fact that I first bought a Wireless charging pad that turned out didn’t even work with the mini phone of the 12 Series but apparently works fine with the other 3. At least Magsafe works as intended and even works through my dbrand grip case. Oh well at least I now also own an Aukey Wireless Charging pad that I’ll for sure will be able to use with another Device in the future. Haven’t been able to try out the 5G Radio on it due to the Pandemic and the 5G only being rolled out to the big Cities. Really like it that it is Water Resistant. Good mic and speakers and excellent Call Quality. Performance is great, I don’t play games on it. I bought the iPhone on 12.11.2020 and have switched to it full time on 13.1.2021 since my dbrand skin + Tempered glass + grip case arrived for it. To my surprise the mini isn't doing so well afterall, people only seem interested in the other 3. Hope Apple doesn't kill it off in the 13 Series since I gotta say that I quite like it.

iPad 8th Gen 2020 128GB in Space Gray

Big Screen, good Battery life, solid Selfie cam, good speakers and mic. Again not a fan of the Lightning port. Back Camera is only really useful for AR Applications and nothing more, wouldn’t take pictures on it. The Microsoft Office Suite works extremely well on it, first time it works on a device where Teams does not take literal minutes to start up. It’s lightweight and easy to handle. Home Button works as expected but sometimes can’t recognise my Fingerprint due to sweaty fingers. It’s definitely due for a Design Overall like on the Pro and Air iPads and for USB C to get added to it as well. But for the time being the Xtorm USB C to Lightning Cable is doing a good job in not breaking like all of Apple’s other first party cables. Performance is more than enough for what I have to do on it/ what I’m using it for, which is mostly MS Office Suite and Chrome. I bought the iPad with the Logitech Keyboard folio for it on 14.10.2020 and have been using it since then mostly for school, but also watch Netflix and Floatplane on it now. I later also bought the Apple Magic Keyboard folio since the Logitech one was just too chunky for me and the Keyboard didn’t feel great to type on. I really like the iPad but would prefer a 2 in 1 or MacBook with a Touchscreen to be honest. But since we all know Apple will most likely never do it to now capatalise on iPad sales I'll just stay in this Product categroy of theirs.

Apple Watch SE 4G LTE in Space Gray with the Solo Loop Band in Coal gray in Size 6

Setup was easy and adding it to my digitec connect mobile subscription under MultiSim was even easier. Light weight, amazing call quality considering the size of it, really good feeling watch band and at first the bracelet was a bit too big but with time stretching it helped make it fit perfectly, nice Vibrations, cool design of both the Hardware and Software, super easy to navigate, Notifications from the likes of Gmail, WhatsApp and Discord show up natively without any corresponding app on the Watch itself. What I found out this past week is that when you have spotty to no cell connection the watch tries to look for one and thus burns through the Battery really fast leaving me with a dead Battery at 3pm in the afternoon, fixed this by just turning Bluetooth and Cellular off in the morning. I wanted a Smartwatch that's actually smart and works with your every day apps so natively you don't even notice it and I gotta say it besides the Series 6 if you've got the cash is the best Smartwatch on the Market right now.

soldier_ph · April 18, 2022

I don't stand by this review anymore: Sold off the iPad because of weird Software Bugs and apps being updated to newer Versions which made them unusable, The Watch is half broken with a damaged Screen and a basically dead Battery which can only hold a Charge for two hours and I've RMA'd the iPhone because of a weird Display Issue where it's keeping itself at the lowest Brightness.

FIXXX · April 24, 2022

On 4/18/2022 at 11:08 PM, soldier_ph said:

I don't stand by this review anymore: Sold off the iPad because of weird Software Bugs and apps being updated to newer Versions which made them unusable, The Watch is half broken with a damaged Screen and a basically dead Battery which can only hold a Charge for two hours and I've RMA'd the iPhone because of a weird Display Issue where it's keeping itself at the lowest Brightness.

huh. how common do you feel this is? just from people - not necessarily your own experience online (since that can color your current opinion too much).

Since a huge number of people in the US are using these devices one would expect a flood.