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One interesting phenomenon I found over the past years among my friends who use iPhones is…people don’t change their ringtones anymore. Most of them use what Apple set as the default ringtone all the time.
I think it is maybe because DIY your ringtone seems to be…confusing? In fact, it is not that hard. Let me show you how you can make your customized ringtone within 2 minutes.
Hey guys, I hope the last post offered some useful recommendations and insightful thoughts about the new iPhones’ fast charging. Today I am going to finish what I have started last time, talking about a few explanations and my personal opinions regarding the wireless charging.
I had always charged my phone before going to bed. Thus, personally I don’t think the fast charging is essential: I would get a 100% fully charged iPhone every time I woke up no matter how fast a charger could achieve. However, the process of finding the cable and pinpoint the port to plug in was…somewhat bothersome.
If you believe the traditional way of charging was troublesome in some scenarios. The wireless charging may be a good/alternative solution.
Funny to share: I used to think the wireless charging could function just like the Wi-Fi. By entering into the area, devices will be automatically charged. Apparently, I overestimate how fast science can develop.
There are two standards of the wireless charging industry—Qi by Wireless Power Consortium and AFWP by AirFuel Alliance. Currently, most popular mobile devices (Android and iPhone) choose Qi as their wireless charging solution.
One more fun fact, the Qi should pronounce as CHEE. It originally comes from the Chinese word 气(氣), which means the flow of energy in the world. Pretty cool and appropriate naming, right?
Using the wireless charging function is simple: you just need to place your iPhone on the Qi charging device. There are plenty of Qi products and here are some of the most popular ones.
Again, because I didn’t have a latest iPhone, I was not able to test the result of the wireless charging. After reading a number of test results from others, I think you should know:
In addition, Apple launched the newest software operating system iOS 11.2 two days ago and announced iPhone 8 and X could support 7.5W (relatively) fast charging. However, people have found out that ONLY the two wireless chargers sold by Apple (Mophie and Belkin) can function the 7.5W wireless charging. Other products are still stuck at the 5W.
On the one hand, the wireless charging is not ideal because:
On the other hand, the wireless charging is good because:
Whether you should own a wireless charger or not? Again, it depends on you!
For more information:
iPhone X Charging Speeds Compared: The Fastest and Easiest Ways to Charge Your iPhone
Best Wireless Chargers for iPhone X, iPhone 8, and iPhone 8 Plus
When we talk about the newly-launched iPhones this year, what impresses you the most? The revolutionary Face ID? The entirely-screen front that expands the visual size? The return of glass back ever since iPhone 4s?
For me, it is the charging improvements to the iPhone 8 (and 8 Plus) and iPhone X. For the first time in forever, iPhones adapted to both the fast charging and wireless charging, two useful charging methods that have been utilized in Android devices for years.
I here present a novice-friendly introduction to unveiled this uncharted area. I think it may be helpful to explain these two charging methods and offer some recommendations if you indeed want to try them. Today we are mainly going to focus on the fast charging.
Use fast charge to recharge iPhone up to 50 percent battery in 30 minutes.
Above is the slogan from Apple’s official website to advertise the fast charging. In a world that smartphone’s short battery almost becomes its Achilles’ Heel, a fast charging method is beyond question a antidote.
Veteran iPhone users definitely know that they can charge their iPhone a little bit faster using iPad AC adapter than original iPhone AC adapter. That is because the iPad AC adapter’s DC output is 12W, which is higher than iPhone’s 5W DC output. However, 12W DC output is the max number for the past iPhone modules.
So what is the fast charging? Simply put, now you are able to use a “supercharger adapter” that has extremely high DC output (29W+) to charge iPhone 8 and iPhone X.
Sadly, our “stingy” Apple Inc. still just gives us the lamest 5V as the default AC adapter. Thus, in order to fulfill our dream of fast charging, we have to invest some more money. What we need is:
Anker PowerPort Speed 30W USB-C ($27.99)
Aukey 27W USB-C charger ($23.99)
Auskey USB-C Charger with 46W (39.99)
Since I don’t have an iPhone X or 8, I can’t tell how well the fast charging functions. Here are two articles revealing some statistical numbers and comparisons between the standard charging and fast charging.
Comparing iPhone 8 charging speeds with fast charge, wireless and more
How to charge your iPhone X twice as fast
If you don’t want to go through the above-mentioned articles, here are some highlights I concluded.
For iPhone 8 Plus:
For iPhone X:
By and large, if you ask me whether it is worth investing money to upgrade to the fast charger, the answer is, as what I have learned from my Crisis Management class, “it depends.”
Enjoy charging!
The new iPhone X has launched last Friday. For those people who have pre-ordered, are you guys having fun with the new face ID and infinity display screen?
Sadly, I was running into a financial crisis at the end of the year:(, therefore, I was not able to become the first adapter of the new iPhone X and write a review regarding it.
But I feel like there is still something I can do without reviewing the iPhone X: no matter you are upgrading to the newest device, or just simply changing your smartphone, it is extremely important to backup and sync your data from the old device to the new. And this post is going to teach you how to do so. They are really simple but it is especially helpful!
Back Up
1. iTunes
iTunes is probably the easiest and safest way to back up you iOS device. You simply just need to connect your device to your PC/MAC, and click “Back Up Now.”
2. iCloud
iCloud will atomically backup your data if you allow it to do so. To turn on this function, simply go to Setting–Your Name–Scroll down and find iCloud Backup. Afterwards, iCloud will backup your data once a day when your device is charging and connecting to Wi-Fi.
3. iMazing
If you think iTunes Backup is too complicated, and iCloud Backup is too slow. iMazing is a wonderful tool for you. It is a trusted software to transfer and save your music, messages, files and data between iOS devices. You can also customize what kinds of content you want to back up and what kinds of data you want to get rid of. It is a really convenient tool but definitely requires more DIY skills. I suggest only that you should use it only if you don’t like iTunes and iCloud’s back up system.
Sync
In fact, there is not too much to say about sync process.
For iTunes, just connect your new device to your Mac/PC and click “Restore Backup.” What is worthing mentioning is that your mobile device may reboot many times during the backup, and that is normal. It is pretty much the same process for iMazing but you have more customized options.
For iCloud, simply just turn on your brand new iOS device and select iCloud backup restore.
A number of third-party apps use point-to-point backup and restore data between different devices. It requires that you have both your old and new devices connecting to the same Wi-Fi network to finish the process. Let us take WeChat, a popular messaging app, as an example: go to Setting–General–Chat Log Migration.
All in all, I hope this tutorial helps. Enjoy using your new device!
— letting you see what website looks like in the past
If I were a character living in a science fiction world, I would want to have a time machine and go back to the past. I just felt like there were so many beautiful things in the past that I had ignored and I wanted to cherish them once more
– A causal poem that is written by myself
Sorry for the little poetic (and crappy) statement above as a conversation starter. Today I just want to quickly recommend a tool website I recently discovered and enjoyed. It is called Wayback Machine, which is basically a time machine for the Internet.
Wayback Machine is a website that has archived more than 306 billion Word Wide Web websites ever since 1996. It is really easy to navigate: input the URL, click “Browser History” and choose a date, then you will see what the website looks like in your selected date. Here are two examples:
Everyone can become the Three-eyed Raven in the digital world with the help of Wayback Machine
As a “singer” who likes to hold a “concert” while taking showers, one of the most problematic challenges I faced constantly is water damage. Therefore, last year when I knew iPhone 7 was going to be waterproof, I immediately ordered it and started to pitch different kinds of music lists for my “shower room concert.”
However, the iPhone 7 was not so water-repellent as I expected. By that I mean, yes, it did overall function pretty well in a water-rich atmosphere, but the speakers, including the upper speaker (where you receive calls) and the bottom speaker, got extremely muffled afterward.
I had tried so many ways I found on Google: using a hair dryer, soaking up the phone with rice, drying out with silica gel sachets. But none of these solved my speaker issue. I was so desperate that I was seriously considering letting Apple fix it for me, which was, without doubt, going to cost me a lot.
Then I just found out Sonic ⤵️
Sonic aims to let you control over the frequency. Users can generate tones from 0 Hz all the way up to Ultrasonic 25kHz frequency. More importantly, it is a FREE app that helps you eject water from speakers. Simply, adjust the frequency to around 160Hz (anything between 160 and 170 should be fine), and it should get the water out from speak.
Based on the comment section of App Store, a huge quantity of people, including me of course, has utilized this app to fix the water damage of iPhone speaker. I am not sure it is going be helpful for everyone, buy hey, if you are so desperate just like me, why don’t you give a shot for Sonic: there is nothing to lose to try a free app.
I posted a review about my personal experience of using iOS 11.
Although I hate the fact that disconnecting Wi-Fi and Bluetooth is impossible in the control center, I would say my overall feeling about iOS 11 was …pretty positive. It had many (minor but useful) upgrades. Check my previous blog for some awesome cool features I recommended, or click here for a detailed showcase of iOS 11 by Apple.
But what troubled me for the past week was that iOS 11 is DESTORYing my iPhone’s battery.
Ever since I upgraded to iOS 11, I had noticed that my cellphone battery dropped way much faster than before. There were nights that I left my iPhone 7 Plus 100% fully charged before going to bed, then I woke up with an 80% cellphone.
That is to say, my iPhone battery dropped 20% in 7 hours barely by “sleeping” with me!
Sooner I realized many people were starting to complain about the battery. An article on Wandera that compared battery decay rate between iOS 11 vs 10 among 50,000 moderate and heavy iPhone and iPad users. The result was overwhelming: the average time was 240 mins for iOS 10 from 100% to 0%, whereas 96 mins for iOS 11.
iOS 11 reminded me of my childhood dream: have a Pikachu, carry him wherever I go, and become a Pokémon Master let him charge my iPhone
Apple’s Annual Gimmick?
In fact, the topic of “iOS upgrade shortens battery endurance of old devices” occurred and was highly debated every single year when a new iOS was launched. 2017 is no exception.
Since Apple always launched new iPhones the same time it delivered new iOS, some conspiracy theorist claimed that it was Apple’s Annual Gimmick: driving sales to its brand new iPhone by making old devices crappy on purpose.
However, I think it has nothing to do with so-called Apple’s evil plan. Every iOS upgrade came with many new features, which would definitely drain battery harder.
On Oct. 4, Apple had released the first update within iOS 11—iOS 11.0.2 (给个链接呗). Although update log didn’t highlight whether it fixed the battery issue, I could apparently tell the battery performance get better. The following test has confirmed my guess.
Hence, for those i-users who was troubled by the battery of iOS 11, go ahead and upgrade even more seems to be a good (and the ONLY) solution.
Apple is extremely well-known for its hardware. These highly-crafted and beautifully-designed devices, from the old Macintosh to the thin MacBook, from the classic iPod to the revolutionary iPhone, built up Apple’s empire.
Due to the homogeneous competition in the design of the smartphone industry, Apple’s operating system, iOS, also becomes an important core competence. I know a number of my friends, who are loyal cult-to-be iPhone fans, chose and will carry on choosing iPhone as a result of their appreciation of iOS.
The official version of iOS 11 has launched on Sept.20, 2017. I have played it for a week, and my thoughts of iOS 11 is really…complex.
As a grown-up (based on the name, you can tell she is 11-year-old) operating system, you cannot expect iOS 11 to cause a stir, but there are some upgrades I believe you should know that forge a path to a better using experience.
1.Move multiple icons in the same time
You can finally move more than apps simultaneously. In order to do so:
2.Use Default Camera to scan QR code
The default camera will atomically detect QR code within the aperture. In other words, you don’t need to use third party app to scan QR code anymore.
3. Say “Hello” to your GIFs in Photos
You can also view your saved and moving GIFs in the photo browser, whereas in the past GIFs is static while displaying with iPhone
4. A Control Center with more controls
You are able to add more functions to the Control Center. To customize it, simply go to Settings-Control Center-Customize Controls
5. Quickly shared your Wi-Fi to others
If you ask friends to come to your party to have homework (or, you know, Party!) together and they want to get access to Internet, now sharing Wi-Fi is easy among iOS 11 devices.
Of course, there are more than five improvements, but these five mentioned above are what I considered the most useful for ordinary iPhone users.
iOS 11 has many major updates for iPad as the tool of productivity, check here for more infor
One of my Android friends made fun of me while I was writing about iOS 11, claiming these so-called “improvements” have been popularized among Android devices for a really long time. I don’t deny it. As an open-source operating system, in recent years Android always stepped steps ahead in UI optimization.
I don’t think Android fans should be cocky. I also don’t think Apple fans should be pissed off. The situation of iPhone vs. Android confrontation is a vital reason for the fast development of smart personal devices.
(Benign) competition makes progress in every industry!
I know these updates of iOS 11 is promising, but (we all know there is always a “but”) there is a change of iOS 11 that is really STRANGE, strange enough that I think it is degeneration.
In the pre-iOS 11 version, you are able to smoothly turn off your Wi-Fi and Bluetooth by: opening the Control Center from the bottom of the screen and click the icons. And you know what, after this major update of iOS 11, congratulations, you cannot deactivate your Wi-Fi and Bluetooth by doing so anymore. Yeah!?
In iOS 11, you can disconnect from current connected wireless networks and Bluetooth devices by toggling off those two buttons from within the Control Center. However, those two buttons do not deactivate the actual radios in your Apple device.
That is to say, even if you turn off these two within the Control Center, your device is still scannable via Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. In order to completely shut them down, you have to go to Setting–Bluetooth/Wi-Fi to turn them off.
Is it a careless bug? No, Apple does it on purpose! Check this document.
What is the logic behind it? Apple hasn’t responded yet!
What can we do about it? Endure it!
Turning on and off the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are two most common operations. I know Apple is famous for innovation and breaking the status quo, but why does Apple want to confuse their users without any reasons? In fact, it leads to some potential security risks since viruses utilize Wireless/Bluetooth connection to attack personal device.
Above all is my personal experience of using the iOS 11 for one week. I will keep you guys posted if I found more interesting things to talk about
Tech-Keeper 