Category: Shopping

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Should You Upgrade After Yesterday’s iPhone Launch?

Apple unveiled their latest lineup on September 9, 2025 — the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and a brand-new ultra-thin iPhone Air. Here’s what you need to know before deciding whether to upgrade.

1. How Old Is Your Current iPhone — and Will It Support iOS 26?

• Apple’s upcoming iOS 26 rolls out publicly on September 15, 2025, introducing the new Liquid Glass UI, smarter features, improved messages, Live Translation, and more.   

• Devices that will not be supported include the iPhone XR, XS, and XS Max. These models are from 2018 and will remain stuck on iOS 18, losing access to future updates and security fixes.   

• Currently supported iPhones (per Apple) include: iPhone 13 and newer, through to the new iPhone 17 series and iPhone Air.  

Recommendation:

If your iPhone is 7+ years old (e.g., XR/XS or earlier), consider upgrading for both security and compatibility. Stay on older iOS puts you at risk and can hinder access to newer apps or features.

2. Check Your Battery Health — When Should You Consider Upgrading?

Go to Settings → Battery → Battery Health. If your Maximum Capacity is below around 80%, you’re likely seeing:

• Noticeable battery drain

• Throttle-induced slowdown

• Degraded battery performance overall

In such cases, upgrading makes sense—or at least consider battery replacement if cost is the concern.

3. Are Photos a Priority?

• The iPhone 17 Pro / Pro Max introduce a new telephoto lens and selfie front-facing camera: 48 MP sensor for telephoto and 18 MP sensor for selfie. Both of these should produce noticeably better photos.

• The telephoto lens is particularly valuable if you photograph kids in action or sports—giving you significantly better reach and detail.

• The selfie lens of course is great for those family and friends shots when you can’t find someone else to take the picture.

4. Do You Value Thinness (and Style)?

• The iPhone Air is a design statement: the thinnest iPhone ever at just 5.6 mm, using a lightweight titanium frame with Ceramic Shield 2 for extra durability.   

• It includes one reliable 48 MP rear camera (many users use only the main lens anyway), and pairs pro performance with cutting-edge portability—making it arguably the most fashionable iPhone to date.

5. Should You Wait Another Year?

• Apple is widely expected to release a foldable iPhone in 2026. This would open up like a book to give you much more screen space. If having the equivalent of a small iPad and iPhone together in one unit appeals to you, try to wait till next year.

Final Thoughts

Don’t upgrade just for the sake of hype. Consider your current device’s age, battery health, and how you use it day-to-day. The iPhone 17 line delivers meaningful improvements, especially in camera tech. If those align with your needs, now is a sensible time to upgrade. If you’re still holding a newer iPhone in good shape and don’t crave the latest cameras, waiting another year could be the right choice.

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Should You Buy a “Real” Camera in 2025?

A Guide for the Smartphone Generation

In an era when the latest iPhones produce stunning images instantly, many people wonder if investing in a dedicated camera still makes sense. As someone who’s worked extensively with both smartphones and traditional cameras, I want to help you figure out when a dedicated camera is worth it—and when your smartphone might actually be the smarter tool.

What Makes a “Real” Camera Different?

The biggest difference between phones and dedicated cameras is sensor size. Think of a sensor like a solar panel: the bigger it is, the more light it captures.

While the iPhone 16 Pro’s sensor is about 0.4 x 0.3 inches (roughly the size of a pinky nail), full-frame cameras from companies like Sony, Canon, and Nikon use sensors around 1.4 x 0.9 inches. That size difference can have a dramatic impact on image quality.

Bokeh: Real vs. Artificial Blur

One of the most visible differences is in how background blur—or “bokeh” (bo-keh)—is created.

Phones simulate this effect using AI in Portrait mode, while dedicated cameras achieve it optically through wide-aperture lenses. The difference can be subtle but important: artificial bokeh often struggles with hair or complex shapes, creating unnatural edges or blurring the outer part of the hair.

Where Phones Win: Computational Photography

In many everyday situations, your phone might actually outperform a “real” camera—thanks to computational photography.

Modern phones use features like HDR (High Dynamic Range) and Night Mode to merge multiple exposures and enhance detail and color instantly. While powerful, this computational approach can also make images look overly sharp or unnatural. The classic aesthetic of a traditional photo can get lost in the process.

The computational nature of phones can also be a negative. The images are criticized for being too sharp, and illuminating everything with HDR can look unnatural. While you can gain detail with computational photography, you can lose the classic look of a “real” photo.

Workflows

Traditional cameras do require more complex workflows. When you take a photo with an iPhone, it goes into the Photos app automatically. On a big camera, you need to transfer the photos to your computer or phone, and you will typically want to do some editing of the photos. This takes significantly more time and effort than simply shooting and sharing with a phone.

When a Dedicated Camera Makes Sense

You should consider a dedicated camera if you:

  • You want manual control over focus, exposure, and lenses.
  • You shoot often in low light and dislike the “Night Mode” look.
  • You prefer the natural bokeh from optics over AI-generated blur.
  • You enjoy photography as a craft or professional pursuit.
  • You have time for editing and managing photos.

In-Between Option

Some cameras use an APS-C sensor—an in-between size that offers many of the benefits of full-frame without the bulk. Most Fujifilm models use this format. The Ricoh GRIII and GRIIIx are compact APS-C cameras ideal for street photography or situations where a larger camera feels intrusive.

So… Should You Buy One?

It depends on your goals.

If you primarily shoot for social media, your phone is a top-tier imaging device that fits in your pocket. But if you’re passionate about photography, want to grow your skills, or need capabilities phones can’t yet match, a dedicated camera can be a rewarding upgrade.

Test the Waters First

Before committing to a new camera system:

  1. Borrow or rent a camera for a weekend trip.
  2. Take a basic photo class to learn how manual shooting feels.
  3. Review your current photos—do you see limitations a new camera would fix?

Ultimately, the best camera is the one you’ll actually use.

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AI Chatbots

AI chatbots are big news. People ask me what they should be doing with them. Here are my ideas to get started:

  • Search: Instead of searching Google for websites, consider using an AI chatbot.
  • Proofreading: Chatbots can offer suggestions and make changes based on grammar and content.
  • Shopping: If you have a specific need, for example for an appliance that fits in a particular set of dimensions and has particular needs, Chatbots can shortcut your research.

Keep in mind that these chatbots do “hallucinate” so always verify important information.

The key is to interact with the AI Chatbots. Don’t just ask it to write you an email. Tell it what you are trying to do and ask it to ask you questions so that it can do a better job. Then provide it feedback and tell it what kind of changes you would like.

I think of these chatbots as smart and very literal minded assistants. The more information that you can provide, the better that the assistant will be able to do what you want.

I personally like using Claude, but I also use ChatGPT. Deepmind (the new chatbot from China) is also highly regarded. Give them a try and see how they fit into your life.

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Ordering New iPhones

For the crazy folks who order iPhones for Day 1 arrival, this most recent ordering process was a bit of a mess. Typically, you can pre-enter your order details in the Apple Store app and then submit it order time. This time, that system failed for 15-20 minutes for many folks, pushing back many people’s ordered by a couple of weeks. This might have been compounded by supply constraints.

So if you’re ordering at that crunch time at 8am when sales start every year, you should try to order thought the Apple Store app, but also through the Apple website. If you have an iPad, try that too at the same time.

For people who were delayed in ordering or forgot this year, you can try to get the iPhones in the Apple store. This is a site that will show you what nearby stores have availability:

https://iphonechecker.herokuapp.com/q/22201/i15ProMax/unlocked

And of course, for all the normal people, you can just wait untill November, when iPhones should just be available.

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VisualPing.io

Do you ever need to check if a website changes? I use an automated site checker for this such as visualping.io. What’s this useful for?:

  • If you’re watching a product’s availability on a site, for example to buy a hard-to-find item such as a popular game console.
  • If you need to see if data or text changes on sites for your job, for whatever information is contained on those pages; this could be for data analysis or competitive research.
  • If you have your own website and want to see if it goes down for any reason.

There are probably many more reasons to check websites. Visualping and other sites make money by having you pay if you need checks more frequently than every day. There used to be many PC-installed software tools for this purpose, but this has largely moved to the cloud, which I think makes sense for simplicity and ease of use.