DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Everything Else... Devices

Let's talk about devices. By that I mean electronic devices of course-- computers, phones, etc. How do you use them (work vs entertainment) what operating system, form factor, and so on.

As far as I can tell, and I may be missing something with how fast technology is evolving, but we can generally break this down into five categories:

- desktops
- laptops
- tablets
- phones
- watches and other wearables

What do you use these for and how do you manage the interplay between them? I know some use Apple stuff (great integration), but others may be turned off by the price and closed nature of that ecosystem.

Most probably don't have a desktop anymore, but I personally like having one. I ditched one for many years, instead using a laptop, but I found that 95% of the time when I wanted to get real work done, it was docked in my office with standalone mouse and extra monitor, sometimes more. So why not just get the more powerful desktop in the first place and then maybe get a cheaper laptop or tablet for mobile work (or with the way phones are going, sometimes that alone might be acceptable though I do prefer a physical keyboard with full-size keys.)

I've don't have much experience with smart watches. If there were one that could actually replace a smart phone, meaning cellular calls done in a practical way without an accompanying phone, I might try to work one in. As is, I kind of just look at them as a gadgets.

Windows 10 and Android integrate very well. Many fully powered Microsoft business apps are available on Android now. You can now sync the devices with the Your Phone app.

It might not be Apple level of integration but it's getting darn close. On the other hand, iPhones are easier to learn and more enjoyable to use than Android phones though this is probably up for debate.

This isn't even getting into the newer home devices/Internet of Things and how that factors in.

Any comments? If you were buying a new line of devices right now to cover everything you have to do/want to do on a regular basis, what would you get?

so, admittedly i'm an apple fanboy. but, my parents had their own photography business back in the day, and have been using apple products since the mid 90's, so i pretty much got indoctrinated into the apple lifestyle. my dad taught me a lot about graphic design and video production. while i dont use it nearly as much as my parents use to do, i still do things as hobbies and such.

right now i have:

Apple 8 max (already pre-ordered the 11 pro max)
15 inch macbook pro (2017)
Apple Watch series 3 (cellular)
Ipad pro

i use those devices in conjunction with:

and the DJI phantom 4 pro Drone (4k res)
2x GoPro Hero 5 black

my homeboys and i love doing music and video production. i've also love shooting my ride and everything like that. also, big on gaming (World of Warcraft, EVE online, league of legends).

software i use on my macbook pro:

Final Cut Pro
Logic Pro X
Fruity loops

The macbook pro i have has all the power i need and then some. there's been times where i'll have projects on Final Cut rendering in the background while gaming at the same time, and my FPS (frames per second) never dropped dramatically.

i have the ipad, i phone, drone, and two gopro's to make sure i have all the angles covered (obviously didnt buy them all at once), and its important that they all had 4k res, just to make sure all the video looked the same once i get into editing and splicing, etc.

as far as the watch....honestly, if you're not going to the gym, or atleast wanting to monitor your steps and heartrate, there's no point of smart watches. however, i do (actively still trying to lose weight), and have done a lot of swimming with the watch on due to it being basically waterproof. because of that, there's the extra benefit of being able to use apple music playlist on the watch, so any runs, swimming, or other activities im involved in, i wont have to bring my phone along with me.

the cellular is just a bonus feature. ya know, being on my james bond tip lol. but its a useful tool in emergency cases. even though technically it has its own number/line, everything that comes through on the phone also goes through on the watch as well.

however, whats a REALLY cool feature on the watch is that if you're taking a photo or something with your friends or family, and your camera is on a stand, instead of setting the timer and trying to run into the frame, your watch acts as a display, so not only can you see on the watch if everyone is in frame, but you can set the timer on your watch as well to take the photo on the phone. its been super useful.

Desktop for photo editing, guitar stuff and listening to music.

Laptop for web surfing, photo editing, managing diet and workouts

Garmin Vivoactive HR watch to monitor calories burned, heart rate, time, etc. during workouts, gps tracking and uploading workouts to computer via wifi.

Garmin Edge 520 gps cycling computer to map and track rides, monitor heart rate, elevation, cadence, mileage, etc. Automatically uploads to phone and computer via wifi.

Galaxy S7 phone keeps all of these devices talking to each other. All of these seem to play well together....which is why I haven't upgraded the phone even though it's quite old.

Apple MacBook Pro
Samsung Phone

I use Photoshop a lot for photo editing and digital art & sometimes Illustrator.

My 12 year old Classic 160GB iPod (for music on the move) recently drowned due to a leaking hydro and instead of replacing it I set up a Spotify Premium Family account for music on the go and at work via my computer & external speakers. For music when sitting out on our deck during the summer etc. I have a small Bose bluetooth that my phone speaks to and I can play my Playlists/albums off Spotify through it.

Inside our house ALL our music is played via records or cds. I have an early 70s Thorens & early 70s Pioneer turntable, a vintage 70s tuner, a cd player, a tape deck and vintage Sansui floor speakers.

That's all the tech I need.

I’m not a technology chaser. I’m a mix of late adapter meets frugal.

I still carry my iPhone 5se. I don’t use or need half the features so why upgrade? I hate the ridiculous size of the newer phones. How am I supposed to carry these things?

I have a 10+ year old iPod nano 16 gig that I use daily in my car for listening to podcasts. Podcasts I load onto it using a hand-me-down iMac pro 17” that has to be at least 6+ years old. A co worker gave it to me when he upgraded.

At work I carry an iPhone7 (I think). It fricken huge. I hate it. I do my documentation on an iPad of some sort.

I didn’t get my first personal cellphone of any kind until the iPhone 4 came out. Up until then I managed with a desktop computer for internet and such, and a work provided flip phone.

Every one has their thing. My buddy is chomping at the bit to upgrade to the newest iPhone. Me? I’d rather take the $1100 and fly to Thailand with my iPhone 5se in my pocket. Experiences over objects.

Windows Desktop - work and surfing/streaming
Linux Desktop - work
Windows Laptop - rarely use it
Chromebooks - surfing on the go or outside home office.
Samsung S9 - phone, driving google maps, streaming on the road, surfing some

Windows PC for work. Its a Dell all in one and is an absolute pile of crap. Usually I like Dells, but this isnt suitable to be a developmemt workstation.

Samgsung Galaxy Tab for surfing, streaming, etc. I use it while I watch TV.

Samsung Phone, I mostly only use it for calls, texting, and staring at when I'm at the bar. Its quite old and I need to get a new one.

I have never owned a laptop or an apple product.

I'm not much of a technology nerd, weirdly.

Commodore 64 hidden in the basement.
AOL dialup.

Desktop for everything.

Phone for making *hold on sit down get ready for a shock* Phone calls and occasional texts.

Laptop.... i wouldn't take it if somebody gave it to me for free.
Tablet see above
Watches.... I wear one to *don't go having a heart attack now* One hand with hour, minute, and second hands that I use to tell time.

We have an iMac 24 for our desktop
A Lonovo laptop for work
4 iPads
2 iPhones
1 Android (work)
1 (soon to be 2) Apple Watch

Everyone always forgets the network. These devices are only as good as the network they're on.

Network technology has gone from the dialup (AOL put out unlimited service in 97) at the whopping speed of 56k to gig service to your house in 20 years.

Now the big thing in networks is security. Newer firewalls are able to check each packet, and remediate if there is a virus or malware. They do this at faster speeds than ever, making your browsing experience seemless.

I'm probably somewhere inbetween 'technology chaser' and 'late adapter meets frugal'. If I'm using a computer to do any real work, or using a phone to pretend to work, I want something that's fast and snappy, with current security updates etc. Older devices are often too slow and/or lacking critical security updates (often by design to 'encourage' people to buy new devices.)

On the other hand, spending over $1k for a phone is kind of nuts. That goes for the new iPhones as well as top of the line Samsung Androids, and probably others. People ditch perfectly good phones to get cutting edge technology which most don't really have any use for.

Which Windows version do you use? A lot of tech guys don't like Windows 10 for a number of reasons, and use Windows 7 instead.

On the other hand, the most recent Windows 10 update makes it very easy to use Linux (Ubuntu specifically). This can be done directly in the Microsoft Store.

There's also a different feature called Windows Subsystem for Linux.
It's pretty new though and I haven't tried it: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/faq

Desktop - for most computer related things.

Laptop - connected to Behringer Digital board for control and live recording.

Android Tablet - Used for most misc web surfing, goofing off etc (when I don't feel like being restricted to my office to use the PC)

Android Gear Watch - Main reason I got the watch was for when I am working outside or in the attic or something, but still in Bluetooth range. Kind of an emergency device in case something happens, I can use the watch to contact someone, and not worry about unknowingly dropping it somewhere.

I was working in attic one day running some camera lines, and apparently got overheated and dizzy, muscles cramping. I called the wife in the house with my watch and explained what was happening as I slowly crawled across the trusses to get out, just in case I passed out, wanted someone to be aware.

1 Custom built watercooled Gaming rig for home
1 High end precision workstation for work
Macbook pro 15 2015
macbook pro 13 2017 with touchbar
apple watch 4
12.9 Ipad pro
2 apple Tv's

able to use them all interchangeably thanks to awesome apple architecture. Nothing else comes close to the seamless integration. Use my iphone as apple tv remote..yes please

I just upgraded to a Samsung S9 phone. It has a lot of nifty features and is easy to use. Only its so dang narrow. Its a tiny little phone with tiny little text. I'm going to go blind. Surfing on any kind of website sucks major. Its going to drive me crazy until I get used to it.

That's why I also have a data plan on my tablet.

As far as devices:

Windows desktop
Windows tablet (Rarely used)
2 Android tablets (one has a broken card reader for data, but it works fine around the house)
Android phone
Windows laptop (rarely used)

We've gone without a desktop for a while now. Now that we're in an actual home vs tiny apartment (thank you Ohio for affordable housing prices), we have an office with a desk that got a monitor plopped on it. I'm looking forward to having a basic desktop to do not complicated (word processing, internet search... not graphics design or solid modeling or anything heavy like that). It'll also have a bonifide printer so we can print at home in a pinch.
Once I get that going I'll start to expand... I'm in uncharted territory. I want to see how useful and/or possible it'll be to netowrk TVs with computer (maintain a movie library on the computer, watch on the TV downstairs, etc).
Then there's smart home devices... I'll get a smart lock for the 2 main entrances and a smart doorbell. I also want to 'smart-ify' my garage door. My wife and I have some sort of a mental block on closing the garage door when we should. Smart thermostat would be nice. From there, we'll see how I feel (outdoor security cameras with lights, hub to coordinate IFTT, etc).
For me, I go back on forth on devices I carry on my person. I rock a Google Pixel... less is more, and I don't like Apple's restrictiveness. I go back and forth on smart watches. I like my 4'ish year old Sony smartwatch (onboard GPS and music is good for running and working out), but I'm struggling to justify upgrading now that the OS is showing its age, and the hardware is kinda crapping out on me. I simply cannot justify dropping $1k on a phone, and so dropping as much as 3-4 hundred on a smart watch is a no-go. One device that is intriguing is a rumored Microsoft device that could be coming out (hopefully) in the next year. It's a phone/notebook/phablet that will feature 2-screens and a foldable form factor. Having a device that can function as a laptop in a pinch and a notebook all the time (I'm a big OneNote guy) would be pretty sweet for me. I think I could justify carrying 2 devices around if one was as versatile as that.

I have a Accer Chromebook for surfing the web/watching movies when I travel (I very rarely use it when I am home)

iPhone XR
Iwatch series 3

Xbox One S if you count that as a device (had a PS4 w/ PSVR but I just sold that). - Yes I agree PS4 is better than One, but I was able to get a nice chunk out of my bundle, and with the PS5 coming out next year, I will be getting that. My PS4 was a system launch machine, so it was quite old.

Macbook pro (wife's)
Alienware laptop - work PC
HP Elitebook - work PC
2 iPads
Galaxy S10 (wife's)
Galaxy S8 (wife's)
6 Amazon Alexa dot's throughout the house
7 Sonos speakers, 4 are for TV (Playbar, Sub, and 2 Play 1's for surround)
Smarthings hub with about 100 devices on it.

I've really gotten into home automation, which you mentioned oober. I absolutely love it, it is a lot of fun to play around with, though I would never recommend it for those that are not somewhat technology savy.

On my smartthings hub:
4 door locks
Driveway sensor - my house sits back 3 acres so it was always a surprise when someone came to the door. Now I get a notification right at the street when someone pulls in/out.
Garage door (with reminder set up when open for too long and one at 11pm at night if it is open). Don't like to close automatically, but that can be done.
2 Rheem water heaters
ADT security system, all sensors integrated. Can do things like show a window is open when AC is turned on or lock doors when all users are out of the geofence.
Cat water dish low - made this one myself with a float sensor and window open/close sensor
Litter robot - if anyone has cats, get this, it's awesome (but expensive). Have notifications for when it's full and when it is used.
about 40 light and fan switches.
Landscape lights controlled by sunset/sunrise
Arlo cameras integrated, can be used as motion sensors too.
2 Honeywell thermostats
5 outlets that let me restart devices remotely if necessary
All Sonos speakers are integrated

Most of this does not use IFTTT, but can. The Litter Robot uses it, but most automations can be setup within Smartthings itself. I had a Vera prior to the Smartthings and really liked it, but the community for Smartthings is MUCH larger and therefore it is easier to find examples of how to do things.

All of the automations can be done via Alexa as well. It integrates into Smartthings very nicely. I can say things like "Alexa turn on kitchen lights" and all 5 lights in the kitchen turn on. Can do individual as well.

That kind of stuff is so cool. (Though I’m not big on having an always listening Alexa type device in my home. To each their own.) My brother in law, that’s really tech savvy, is doing much of the same around his house. Me? It’d be the type of thing that he’d set up... it’d work while he was there... then the moment he left none of it would work. I’d drive him crazy with never ending phone calls in need of help. Within a couple of weeks I’d rip it all out and lock my doors myself again. Lol.
I keep thinking of getting a Nest thermostat (living dangerously, I know. ) but I know in my hands it’ll end up not working right. I’d freeze at night and come home to a sauna after work. Tech and I don’t see eye to eye.

I agree, it is all cool. But I don't see how its worth the money, IMO. I don't know anyone too busy to turn on a light switch and at the prices for those bulbs - no thanks. 30 for a lightbulb....no thanks. But that's just me.

The Nest is stupid easy (see what I did there?)

Set one up in my restaurant, old thermostats with a bunch of extra wires. Nest pointed out a possible wiring mistake at the point of attack and led me through the fix.

The savings are off the charts, being able to control from an app is priceless.

My hang up is this. I have a small house, 1174 sq’. Single story, open floor plan. Between me and my girlfriend’s slightly staggered schedule, we’re typically only out of the house for about 7 hours a day. My girlfriend works four ten hour days. The house is only empty those 7 hours from Tuesday to Friday. Living in the PacNW I don’t have a need for AC. So 6 or so months of the year the thermostat is quiet. In the winter we keep the house cool. 68 degrees. I grew up in a ‘when it’s cold you put a sweater/fleece’ on family. No need to heat the house to shorts and T-shirt weather in the winter. I can’t really imagine that keeping the house much cooler, 66?, during the few hours that the house is empty is going to make that big a difference. Last year my heating bill only topped $100 once.
So that’s my hesitation. Is dropping a few hundred on a Nest really going to save me much?
I can turn my thermostat down by hand. It’s only a few steps from the couch/bed/front door/entire rest of the house. Lol.

I'd say it would take quite a while for the Nest to pay for itself then. Probably be a pretty silly investment for you.

Thanks. That’s what I figured. I have friends that swear by them. But they also live in bigger houses. Multiple zones and such.

It certainly isn't worth the money! But, as most all hobbies, they cost money.

For anyone thinking of doing this, do not go the lightbulb route (Like the Phillips Hue), replace your actual switches. The cost is about the same and the flexibility is so much greater. The problem with the bulbs is that you need to keep your switches on at all times for them to work. It is guaranteed that you will use the switch at some point to shut the light off and then the bulb won't work. I like having the option of manually turning on/off the lights as well as controlling through the Smarthings app or Alexa.

I've installed several motion detectors in rooms so if no movement is detected it shuts the lights off, so I guess it helps a little with energy-saving.

As far as devices listening, I've kind of resigned myself to the fact that it happens everywhere. Alexa, phones, TV's, tablets. If someone wants to listen to me yelling at the TV during football games, so be it.

I have the Phillips Hue bulbs... two in the living room lamps and one over the sink in the kitchen. The were never meant to provide intense light - more of a mood thing, so generally no one shuts them off before they're scheduled. I like being able to adjust the colors with the seasons and having them on a schedule.

Once in a while someone will be up early and hit the wall switch in the kitchen, forgetting that it shuts off at 8am... Then it won't come on as scheduled. I find it humorous how lazy we've become. So now you have to get up and turn it on... you mean, like you did the first 40 years of your life?

I bought a pair of the Alexa enabled switch adapters last year, they look just like the three-pronged adapters we've used all our lives. Ten bucks apiece, great for Christmas lights.

"Alexa, turn on the tree"
"Alexa, turn on the Christmas lights"

Pretty convenient (nobody likes crawling under the tree to turn on lights) and you can name them whatever you want.

This is the game changer, once our breaker-boxes are a series of smart switches, there won't even be a need for wall switches... We'll soon just yell at our house to turn on each light.

https://www.cnet.com/news/leviton-load-center-smart-circuit-breaker-box/

Very cool, hopefully it will have Smarthings integration out of the box. Problem with the breaker is that it will turn off everything on the circuit, which typically has many outlets/lights on it. It would be cool to not have to keep running up and down the stairs to turn breakers on/off when doing electrical work. The energy monitoring is the nicest feature - I've got a monitor on my 2 electric boxes, but it can't get down to the circuit level - it would be great to know what circuits are using the most energy.

I can already turn almost all of my lights on/off via Alexa. I've got about 15 or 20 more switches to go to have the whole house done, just can't justify the price for rooms I am rarely in.

I do really like that about the Hue lights.

I've thought about that - everything being on one circuit. There would definitely need to be some kind of identifier for individual outlets on lighting circuits. Another layer of "smartness" lol.

Haha cbus... at least you're honest.
Willie is where I'm at. All that stuff sounds cool, but not really worth it (to me). Also, my wife is NOT so much technically inclined, and even less inclined to put in the effort to learn to use this stuff, so we keep things simple. I'll dip my toes into some light home automation at some point, but that's a project for another day....

but since I have you here right now... what hub/ecosystem would be best? Sounds like you're into smartthings... you like it? I have an Alexa, but I'm not a fan. I used to like Nest, but now I'm not sure. My preference is for a non-voice-controlled hub that's being listened to by a large, evil corporation (I'm particularly not a fan of Amazon, but that's starting to get dangerously close to Political Forum material), and can integrate with a number of devices, or at least can use IFTTT. I'm also not looking to turn my house into Skynet, but inject some brains into a couple things (did we leave the garage door open? I'll check and close from my phone... who just showed up at the door... who's lurking in the backyard... let's see how much I can save on heating/cooling, etc.)

The thermostat might come first. I grew up in a family that put on a sweater when it was cold... my wife, however, did not.

I'd recommend SmartThings - it can do everything that you mentioned. The garage door can be a bit of a tricky project, but there are ones out there on SmartThings that you can use. They make all in one bundles now for garage doors, but I made my own with an extra opener controller, a z-wave relay, and a z-wave tilt sensor and a little bit of soldering. If you're not familiar with it, z-wave is used for most home automation devices (Zigbee is another one). All of my switches, locks, and thermostats are z-wave and integrate into the SmartThings hub. Smarthings also supports wi-fi and Zigbee.

There is an app on your phone for SmartThings - if you've got an Samsung Android device it actually comes installed from the factory. No need for Alexa - it just integrates into if you want it to. You can control the opening/closing of garage, get notifications by setting up automations/scenes, control your thermostat, etc. The notifications are displayed on the phone - I've got one setup to check if the garage is closed at 11:30pm and also have one to send a message if all phones leave the geofence around the house and the garage is left open.

Incidentally, my wife hates all of the automation. She thinks it is stupid and calls it Skynet all of the time. Funny thing is, she uses it all the time to turn on lights via Alexa.

There's a specific smart garage motor/add-on that pops up regularly on a website I check regularly, and the thread is always gets bogged down with people's takes on the "required" subscription you have to buy to take advantage of many of the features.

Thank you for the suggestion.

I have the Hue bulbs. Originally they were because the lamp we put them in in the living room was a touch lamp, and the sensor started to go, so it wouldn't always work, but we love the lamp itself.

So I got the Phillips Hue on a special through amazon, 4 color bulb kit for like $80 (4 bulbs and the hub).

The wife was skeptical, but once she saw that I had them set to come on at dusk, so we never came home to dark house, she got more interested. now she loves them.

Even more, she has really taken to Alexa. It started with Tune-In and Pandora, since we don't have a "stereo" anymore, then she got into asking Alexa for cooking things like measurement adjustments or conversions, recipe variations, and timers.

She even says thath Alexa gives her better more accurate answers than Siri does, so she pretty much quit asking Siri on her phone, in addition to Alexa being hands free.

I also have routines set for vacation mode, so lights turn on and off randomly during times we would normally be wandering the house, while we are out of town.

Actually freaked out our Daughter-in-law out while we were in Alaska. She stopped by to feed the turtle, and said while she was there the TV came on as did the living room light, then the den light turned on for only a couple minutes, then figured I must have programmed some routine.

Has anyone bought and installed a "smart faucet"?

- desktops - not anymore
- laptops -- everyone in our family has one, and I use one at work. I use Irfanview photo editing software at home, looking into getting Photoshop elements. Also use Microsoft Office products.
- tablets -- my kids have them, I don't
- phones -- I have the least expensive Samsung smart phone, it's enough for me. Have only installed a few free apps.
- watches and other wearables --none

I have a couple of appliance timers that I use for automated lighting in the house. On at dusk, off at dawn stuff. Haven’t turned on a lamp in my house for years. Great for using while on vacation too. Keeps the house looking lived in.

No, IMO they are way too expensive for what little they add in function. I still have to be AT the faucet, and still have to make a motion or gesture, which is the same effort as just reaching over and turning it on.