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Our company provides IT services to SMBs. Cell phones have become a normal part of daily IT. I believe in technological diversity and therefore I’m using a phone stack. While phone vendors are thinking their phone is the only one we will ever need, my stack is a unique collection of phones with only a tiny overlap in functionality. This is what my stack looks like (listed small to big):
- BlackBerry Q10. In October 2014 I got fed up with my BlackBerry. Software updates were release less frequently and BlackBerry’s unlimited international flat fee data deal was over. The operating system contained some nasty bugs, which they seemed unable to fix. I put my BlackBerry aside, until I started missing my QWERTY keyboard six months later. Today, the Q10 supports Android apps and is now back in the stack. It will never be an iPhone, but for a quick email or Telegram, its physical keyboard is still the best around!Did I already mention it’s been a long time since BlackBerry passed their Kodak moment?
- Google Nexus 5X “bullhead”. This is a wonderful small device that fits in the palm of your hand. Nice, fast and not expensive. Its running and official Developer Preview of Android 8.1.0
- Google Nexus 5 “hammerhead”. This Android is running LineageOS 14.1, based on Android 7.1.2. It supports wireless Qi charging by default and I’m using it for navigation in my car.
- Apple iPhone XR. This is my primary phone for calls, although the other phones can also receive Facetime, Facetime Audio, iMessage, Telegram, Google Hangouts, Facebook Video and Skype. What good is an old fashioned phone call in 2019? It’s running the latest beta version of iOS 13, which will be released to the public later.
Does your company manufacture phones and would you like me to test one for you? Be aware you won’t be getting it back in case I like it. In my opinion nobody can test a phone in a week’s time. My way of testing phones is by using them every day, to see how hardware, software and apps develop themselves over time. This way I found out that the Twitter app for Android was the first to feature a nice option called “Show Tweet activity” (for your own tweets), while Twitter for iOS has only recently started to support this feature!
Do you have a question about a specific phone, app, or are you interested in the differences? Are you looking for a cheap Android that doesn’t suffer Insufficient Memory Syndrome after one week? Contact me.