|
Hiiiii! I hope you had a great week—or at least better than Metaverse Mark Zuckerberg, who the internet is roasting for looking like a 1995 videogame character. My week was pretty good: I published my annual column telling you all not to buy an iPhone right now. It got me thinking about the secret to timing tech upgrades. I share some of that in this week’s Big Thing, but stick around for the iPhone 14’s expected launch date, Snap’s “camera company” struggles, and life before gigabytes.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CREDIT: CHAYA HOWELL/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sometimes gadget timing is not on your side. Proof: My big move to suburbia this summer. (Yes, this is the third newsletter that mentions my move. Get used to it or pay my mortgage.)
The HomeKit-compatible Schlage smart lock I really want? Out of stock everywhere. (More on the way, the company tells me.) A Ring doorbell? Better ones are likely coming soon. An Apple TV? Upgrade expected this fall. And yet I needed that stuff ASAP.
My column this week was all about how summer is a horrible time to buy a new iPhone—and nearly every other Apple gadget. This advice used to be mainly about holding out for the latest thing. Now that phones don’t really change much year to year, saving 💰 is a bigger part of the equation. Wait for the inevitable price drops on gear you’re already eyeing.
My writing led me to the age-old issue: When should we buy the new tech thing to replace the old tech thing? Here’s how I think about it all:
|
|
Hold off on upgrading as long as YOU can.
|
|
There’s no standard scale of how long you can hold on to something; it changes for every person and every product. I upgrade my phone every two years. My dad does it when his phone runs slower than the DMV line. Before moving, I hadn’t bought a new TV in seven years—and I still have that TV. I just put it in a different room than the new one.
|
|
|
Balance product and price.
|
|
I tend to go for the latest, high-end version of whatever I buy because it should keep me content longer. I buy the latest iPhones or Macs, because Apple will serve them software updates for longer. But I do that within reason. When I bought a Netgear Orbi mesh router system, I skipped the $1,500 option and paid $450. But that set still has top specs (Wi-Fi 6, tri-band, etc.)—and I got it on a Prime Day deal.
|
|
|
Don’t wait for the dream.
|
|
There will always be another new product—something better, something closer to what you want. Decide on what you’re willing to wait for by weighing your situation, future product reports and what’s known about the product’s refresh cycle. (Lots of new gear comes out right before the holiday season, but even some Apple products take years for meaningful upgrades.)
I say this all thinking of my beloved 27-inch iMac lovers, who want Apple to bring back the biggest all-in-one desktop. There are no signs of such a resurrection. Maybe it’s time to stop pining for a fantasy desktop.
|
|
|
|
I don’t have all the answers but this is what I try to do myself. Let me know if you have some of your own tech-upgrade wisdom by responding to this email.
|
|
|
|
iPhone 14 Launch Date 🚀
|
|
Good news: We’ll likely be able to get this year’s new iPhone earlier than usual. Bad news: Apple’s expected launch event, where I’ll probably be on the ground in Cupertino, Calif., is right after Labor Day weekend—and on my son’s first day of kindergarten. Apple’s planning to hold its iPhone launch event on Sept. 7, a week earlier than usual, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. It’s OK. I’ve grown accustomed to juggling tech events and life events. Ask me about the time I was writing an iPhone review while getting ready for my wedding! (Pro tip: Find an amazingly supportive partner! 😘)
|
|
|
Amazon-Tok? 🤳🏻
|
|
The TikTok-ization of everything continues. My colleague Sebastian Herrera reports that Amazon is testing out a portal in its app called “Inspire,” which shows shoppers a stream of images and videos of products they can like, share and ultimately purchase. This makes Amazon the latest tech giant to tear a page from TikTok’s book. (See also: Meta’s Reels and YouTube Shorts.) We’ll keep an eye out for this feature, although it might not even make it to the public.
|
|
|
Snap’s Poor Pixy
|
|
Ah, Snap Pixy. When we met in April, you had your whole life ahead of you, autonomously flying out of hands, sometimes directly into trees. But sadly, Snap is scrapping development of the $230 selfie drone. Chief Executive Evan Spiegel told staff that it was because the company is reprioritizing its resources during the economic downturn, my colleague Meghan Bobrowsky reports. It makes sense. Snap posted its weakest-ever quarterly sales growth last month.
|
|
|
|
📰 Catch up on the headlines, understand the news and make better decisions. Sign up for What’s News, free in your inbox on weekday evenings and Sunday afternoons.
|
|
|
|
A Thing to Try: Text Tones
|
|
|
|
Text from an immediate family member > text from my local salon telling me my appointment is confirmed. Not all text messages are equal, which is why I love this trick of changing a contact’s text tone. It’s a great way to quickly know if someone important is texting you, and you can do it on an iPhone or Android phone.
On iOS, go to Contacts and tap the name of the person whose text tone you’d like to change. Tap Edit, then tap Text Tone to select the sound that’s most fitting for that person. The Suspense tone is a perfect choice for anyone you dread hearing from (i.e. landlord, boss, annoying aunt Edna).
|
|
|
|
CREDIT: ELENA SCOTTI/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
|
|
|
|
The steps can vary across Android devices, but the following worked on a Google Pixel 6 running Android 12: Open a chat with a contact of your choice, and tap the three dots at the top right corner of your screen. Tap Details > Notifications > Sound, then select the sound you want, and hit OK to save it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
PHOTO: KARL KUFFERMANN
|
|
|
|
Karl Kuffermann from Piscataway, N.J.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The future in my pocket! Hey, it replaced like nine to 10 floppies.
|
|
|
I got a free one at a booth that was selling “the future of storage” at my first PC Expo. No more floppy disks! I called my job to tell them about the new USB I just got, went back and offered them $20 for another one. After multiple calls from fellow co-workers, I must have bought at least five more!
|
|
|
Still works, of course! The orange dot popped off the cover, though.
|
|
|
Joanna Note: Just for context, on how 🍌🍌🍌 this is: You can now buy a 128GB USB stick—8,000 times the storage—for $20.
|
|
|
📷 Got an idea for a throwback? Reply to this email with a photo of your old tech and tell us why you loved—or hated—it. 📷
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply to this email and share your feedback and suggestions.
User-submitted content has been edited for clarity and length. This week’s newsletter was curated and written by Joanna Stern and Cordilia James.
|
|
