I've been mostly off work for a week with back injury. Not fun at all, and I've not tolerated the drugs at all well either. Finally feeling like I'm back to something close to normal today though, so back to work tomorrow.
Have been setting up my first new phone in about 4 years. Only reason I changed is because the screen on the S10+ was completely past it. Have gone to a Pixel 7a. It's a phone I guess 😂
Good choice on the Pixel! Stock Android (= fast, no bloatware), timely and regular security updates (+ 5 years of updates), decent camera, and you've got the option of installing GrapheneOS if you some day decide to ditch Google and up your security/privacy game. :)
I'm still on my S9+! I want a new phone sometime but don't really know what to go for any more. My priorities have changed a little and I only really care about long battery life and maybe a half decent camera. Also maybe if the phone isn't so massive in size..
Remember when flagship phones were like $8-900 max? Now they're like $2k or more. It's crazy people really spend that much on a phone!
I got my S10+ for $700 second hand on trademe. Phone was like $1800 new? I got mine a year after release, so could only have been a year old. I got it just after the S20 was released so those people who buy a new phone every year were offloading them on trademe and so I picked up a great deal. Phone was the same price as a mid-range phone but much better specs.
This time I got a Pixel 7 Pro (the larger 256GB model), was $900 and probably a similar $1,800 or so when new (you can get new ones for about $1,400 these days, now the 8 has been released). Buying second hand is of course more risky, because you don't get a warranty, but I figure if 1 out of 3 is no good, then you still come out ahead of buying new.
I just went from an S10+ to a Pixel 7 Pro! I feel like we may have passed the point of huge advances in phones each year, though I do think the top end Samsungs are considered a higher level (and more expensive) than the top end Pixels, which are more a mid-range phone.
One thing I like about the Google phones is the lack of bloatware. The Samsung had all these apps you couldn't uninstall, it has Samsung accounts as well as google accounts, and so on. I had some of the earlier range of Google phones, having a Nexus 3 and a Nexus 5X, and they were great.
This time I installed GrapheneOS straight away so didn't really get the proper experience of the Google version.
Last year I swapped to a iPhone 14 Pro purely because I have a work MBP + an iPad for a few other apps I needed to use. The ecosystem is pretty good but still love the Pixel range. Also went through the whole range - Nexus 5 (I loved the small form factor!) > Nexus 5X > Pixel 3 > Pixel 4a > Pixel 6. Loved them and no doubt I'll be back eventually 😂
My goal to paddle every day of the long weekend is coming along nicely, today I completed the Makara to Owhiro Bay paddle, and saw dolphins along the way.
This is a tricky one to plan, because the tidal flows along that coastline can exceed 10kmh at times, and you absolutely must time the trip to coincide with the tidal flow, you can't paddle against it.
We had tides, wind, and waves all behind us, so it was a very fast trip, especially as both of us have sails on our boats.
I can't remember if I'm asked this before, but I recall you mentioning the sails on the boats. Are these sails similar to a yacht (held up by a mast), or some other form of sail?
There is a mast, yes. It's rigged up with a line at the front of the mast, and two stays, so the mast can be raised and lowered from the paddling position, and there is a hinge at the base of the mast. There is also a trim line to change the angle of the sail.
The sail area is one square metre.
Mine is custom made by a sailmaker, but many paddlers use Flat Earth kayak sails.