I have an iPhone and I love it so I absolutely hate to be THAT guy.

I hate to be the guy who’s going against the grain, who seems to be contrarian where others celebrate but unfortunately, this is one of those articles.

Apple released their new iPhones today.

They released three new models – the iPhone XR, iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max.

The new iPhone XS and XS Max are priced at $999 and $1,099 and start shipping out at the end of this month. The iPhone XR starts at $749 and begins shipping out in October.

Apple iPhone XS (Image Credit – The Verge)

The iPhone XS has a 5.8-inch OLED display with a 2436 x 1125 resolution. Meanwhile, the iPhone XS Max has a 6.5-inch OLED display with a 2688 x 1242 resolution. The iPhone XR, which you can basically think of as this year’s lower-end offering, has a 6.1-inch LCD display with a 1792 x 828 resolution.

At the end of the day, the screen size is the main difference between these three new models.

• The XS is smaller than the iPhone 8 Plus but the screen is as big as the screen on the 8 Plus.
• The iPhone XS Max is as big as the iPhone 8 Plus, and its screen is larger.
• The iPhone XR has a larger display than the iPhone 8 Plus, while its overall size is just slightly smaller.

The iPhone XS and XS Max have dual rear 12-megapixel cameras and improved True Tone flash, and a front 7-megapixel camera. The iPhone XR, as the more budget option, has one 12-megapixel camera on the back, with True Tone flash.

All the new phones are powered by a new seven-nanometer A12 Bionic chip which can handle 512GB of storage. The iPhone XS and XS Max also have faster Face ID, True Tone display, and 3D Touch. They have support for Dolby Vision and HDR10 video.

The iPhone XS and XS Plus come in gold, silver, or space gray. The iPhone XS starts at $999 for the 64GB option, and has 256GB and 512GB options as well. The iPhone XS Max starts at $1,099, with the same storage options. The 512GB option goes for $1,449.

The Apple iPhone XS Promo Video

My opinion

Unfortunately, this is just more of the same.

Apple have made a larger phone, added more storage and made the camera better. The phone OS will be improved as well but that is really all that happened.

As someone who has an iPhone 7 Plus, I will upgrade at some point but the truth is there is STILL no rush.

I have been waiting for a compelling upgrade from Apple that would force me to head to the store and/or pre-order a new phone and the truth is, this isn’t the one.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 seems way more exciting from a consumer point of view because of the screen, the pen and the TONS of innovative new features they bring to the table.

When Steve Jobs died, there was a fervent argument among the faithful that innovation at the worlds most valuable company would start to slow.

Unfortunately I fear this is the case.

The most exciting features of the iPhone (IMHO) are FaceID and the upcoming multi-user FaceTime. Beyond those two features, it seems like Apple is just keeping up with the competition.

Let’s be really clear, these are REALLY GOOD PHONES.

But unfortunately, Apple is in a Michael Jackson type situation where they seem to be unable to do anything better than their greatest hit.

Apple continues to live in Steve Job’s shadow and unfortunately, his genius is really the anchor against which the company’s level of innovation will be measured. Using that yardstick, the company fails to measure up.

Preorders for both phones begin on September 14 and ship on September 21st in select countries, with rollout in other countries to follow.

What do you think? Will you buy an iPhone XS?

This is my Review of the Sling TV App.

TV has changed. It is an activity that I only enjoy sparingly these days. My busy schedule means that I while I can make time for appointment television for content that I absolutely have to see, mindless channel surfing is out of the equation.

This makes me a perfect candidate for a service like Sling TV. It is a godsend for individuals like me that are either occupied throughout the day, or are on the move.

A subscription based, contract free, Netflix for live TV kind of a deal, that allows users to sign up for a selection of live, HD streams of cable channels like ESPN, Comedy Central, AMC, CNN, and more.

What’s not to like?

Sling TV launched in 2015. Developed by DISH Network, this service finally offers cord cutters a viable alternative that starts at $20 per month.

A selection of channel packages is available that you can tack on, ranging from $5 to $10. A DVR option costs you $5 a month. This is where Sling TV excels, in how it sells you the content.

Rather than forcing you to sign up for an expensive package with a bunch of channels that you do not want, the service offers you two basic options. You then get granular control over the offerings, and can easily add in the channels that you want.

The best part is that Sling TV can be accessed from a wide variety of platforms — Windows, macOS, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Xbox One, along with several smart TVs and streaming boxes.

In fact, the only notable exception here are the Sony consoles. PlayStation Vue being a Sling TV competitor means that Sling TV is not available on PlayStation 3 or PlayStation 4 systems. But other than that, you are well covered and can carry your virtual television whenever and wherever you want.

Take your pick

And this is its biggest strength. Live TV streaming whenever and wherever, without the hassle of contracts, equipment, and costly subscriptions. The interface does take some getting used to, but on the flipside, it is neither complicated, nor overly busy. You will make sense of it all in minutes.

Sling TV is not without its minor quibbles, though.

The company offers two packages, Orange and Blue. And while these are enough to get you started, you will have to tack on additional channels if you are a heavy watcher.

I personally spend a fair amount of time watching sports, and this is where Sling TV really shines, offering me access to live sporting events right on my phone. All the added stuff is an icing on the cake.

The company has rolled out a host of updates and cosmetic changes to the service, since the early days of its launch. But some issues still remain that result in this being a great option for some people, instead of being an excellent option for everyone.

Most prominent of these is that streaming tends to struggle a bit on streaming sticks. While the app is very reliable and stable, as long as you have a decent internet connection, the same can sadly not be said when using it on streaming devices like Chromecast and Amazon Fire TV.

HD programming regularly slips into low-resolution, and occasionally crashes.

As for the experience itself, Sling TV may be live, but it is not fast. Channels take up to 5 seconds to load, and you should also expect a brief buggering for a couple of seconds — no mindless flipping through an endless ream of channels here.

Mac users beware

Upgrading your Mac Operating System to High Sierra seems to cripple the Sling TV app and based on my queries to Sling customer support, it really seems like they are trying to phase out their desktop apps. They are pushing Mac users to the Chrome browser instead.

As a long time Sling customer, I have to say that even though they offer a lot of value, the inability of this company to simply support an app for a MAJOR OS upgrade is very unprofessional and disappointing.

Thumbs down for that.

Verdict

With a slick app design, mostly lag free experience, and straightforward subscriptions, Sling TV is the best cable replacement options available right now.

The content is varied, and even though the base package may be small, to keep things affordable, you do get a selection of over 100 channels to add on. Its value comes down to what you like, and for me, there’s a lot.

You can check out Sling TV here

This is my review of the Sip color picker.

A color picker, you ask? Sip is one of the dozens of color pickers that are available for you to download. Seeing that I am pretty picky when it comes to selecting a development tool, software like this has to offer something really special for me to make it a regular.

Luckily, Sip does.

So much so, that now that I have incorporated Sip into my workflow, I can’t imagine designing and developing for the web without it.

Colors, colors everywhere

Any good design software worth its salt lets you select and take note of the color that are displayed onscreen. A color picker tool is easily available on programs like GIMP, Photoshop, and Pixelmator.

The thing about having a dedicated color picker is you practically have a little helper with you always. A helper that lets you create, organize, manage, edit and share colors — no matter your workflow.

All color pickers give you RGB or Hex colors, but Sip goes way beyond, providing you with several more options than the standard ones. Android, .NET, OpenGL, and Java focused flavors are available, to go with the generic RGB and CMYK options.

When I want to capture a color value, the last thing I want is to click my way through a series of menus to grab what I need.

Sip allows me to simply hone in on the color I need, click it, and have the color value automatically copied to the clipboard for me.
Ready to be pasted into my design or CSS.

Sip also keeps a history of the colors that I have chosen in the past, and this comes in awfully handy when I want to revisit older colors and don’t remember what the value was, or don’t want to repeat the color picking process.

The preferences menu offers a bevy of options to customize the program to my liking, including tweaks for the code and color formats, and keyboard shortcuts. It even comes with support for the Touch Bar on the latest MacBook Pros.

Go Pro?

Sip provides me with a remarkably intuitive way to collect colors from anywhere I want, organize them into palettes, edit them to perfection, and share them via email. The fact that this app is available both on my iPhone and MacBook is simply icing on the proverbial cake.

Now, while the iPhone version of the app leverages the camera of your smartphone to dynamically capture full color palettes, Sip for Mac also offers its own set of useful features, including the ability to sync palettes via a cloud service from your phone to the Mac.

An in-app purchase of $9.99 gives you access to these features, also allowing you to pick more than one color at a time. This is something that streamlines the process by a fair bit — particularly when you see a palette developing in front of your screen.

Ultimately, while the Pro account is very appealing for someone like me that does heavy design and development work, it is not a must for anyone else. Sip offers a bunch of features in its basic offering and they should be more than enough for casual users.

Verdict

A joy to use, easy to understand, and brimming with features, Sip is the most powerful color picking software around. It makes the process of selecting and building a color palette incredibly simple, saving me both time and effort as I develop for the web.

You can download Sip here.