PHONE
Since I've been teasing on and off about the phone, let's start there. Back in June of 2023 I bought my Google Pixel Fold. After experimenting with a lot of different phones it was the first in a long while that truly made me happy. It was high quality, high tech, had a great operating system (Pixel OS running over Android), and for its size had decent battery life. Make no mistake, the iPhone 11 Pro Max that I had is the battery king of my lineup, but the Pixel Fold could last a day and that's better than a lot of recent phones.
I slapped a leather skin on the back that made it easy to hold and it ran fine. It ran well enough that when new phones came out, I wasn't tempted. New iPhone? Well, I'd already had an iPhone and knew that I didn't like the ecosystem. New Samsung? I'd already had a Samsung and knew I didn't like their One UI software. New Google Pixel 8 Pro? No folding screen like mine. Not only did I keep the phone for a year, when the upgraded version came out in October of 2024, the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold, it wasn't a big enough of an upgrade to warrant paying for, so I kept mine.
But like all good things, this too came to an end. Battery life is what killed it. If I just let the phone sit next to me and do NOTHING all day, I'd still need to top the battery off or it would die overnight.
Quick aside, I try to use good phone battery management systems. I want the battery to go down to around 20% before I charge it and then I only charge it up to 80%. Unless I'm traveling, I don't charge the phone overnight, that way it can dip down to 20%, charge up to 80% and then come right off the charger. It helps that the new Pixel battery feature (it might be an Android feature) where it will not only stop charging when it gets to 80%, it will 'run' the phone form the charger and let the battery sit idle. That way if I don't get the phone off the charger in time, it will stay on but not drain the battery then charge it again then drain it again then charge it again.... it just charges then stops charging.
Anyway, the Fold wasn't lasting a full day with minimal use. I had to go up to charging to 100% and even then it was still tight. And when I was traveling, using GPS, playing music and podcasts and books, taking a bunch of photos, doom scrolling, using maps and directions, I'd need to top the phone up just hours after taking it off the charger. So, while there wasn't anything new that I wanted, I needed to replace the phone and made the decision to do so in June of this year, two years after I bought the Fold.
I could get a 'new' refurbed Pixel Fold for about $700. I could get the current Pixel 9 Pro Fold for about $1,500. Or I could hold out until the Pixel event in October and get what would be a slightly updated Fold for around $2,000. As battery technology keeps improving, I decided to wait for the new phone. That would also get me the new chip and any other new features they threw at it.
When the Pixel event came in August, I learned that there weren't many updates between the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold and the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold. By the way, from here on out, I'm calling them the 9 Fold and the 10 Fold. The 10 Fold got some updated cameras, a slightly upgraded battery, and it's big show stopping moment; ip68 rating. It was water resistant and dust resistant. That's big for a folding phone, but I'd kept mine tip top for over two years so no biggie for me. But then the shoe dropped... while they'd put out the Google Pixel 10, the Google Pixel 10 Pro, and the Google Pixel 10 Pro XL a few days after the event, the 10 Fold wouldn't come out for another couple months.
I've probably mentioned how bad I am at waiting. This was no exception. I gave serious consideration at buying a Pixel 10 Pro XL or buying a 9 Fold, but some amount of reason won out and in October I got my new Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold.
It's fine.
I'd love to say that its so much better than my old phone, but while it's processor is two generations better, and it's cameras are improved, and it's screen is brighter... it really doesn't affect me. The battery is obviously fresh and new but its still lasting about a day and nothing like the iPhone 11 Pro Max. I think that's why I held off on writing up about the phone even though I'd been hinting at it before I got it for weeks/months. It just isn't a big change or a big deal. It's a new phone. Meh.
E-READER
I read. I wouldn't say I read a LOT but I read every day. For the longest time, that's meant using an e-reader. My first e-reader was a Christmas gift from my brother B. It was a small color e-reader that was more or less a tablet with bad software. It was... fine. Even then though, it was clear why other e-readers were black and white. Battery. This one needed to be charged every other day or so while the Amazon Kindles would last for over a month. So, several months after that I got my first Amazon Kindle. It was the Amazon Kindle Keyboard
Technically this was the third generation Amazon Kindle, but Amazon is really bad about naming things. I mean, 'Kindle' is a great name but all the Kindles before the Kindle Keyboard had keyboards. I think the 'Kindle Keyboard' was actually the LAST Kindle to have a keyboard as they got touch screens after that. Regardless, I had that Kindle for years and years.
But all good things do have to come to an end. In 2022 Kindles had gotten better across the board. The standard Kindle now had a better screen than my Kindle Voyage. The 'premium' Kindle at that time was the Kindle Oasis. It was in its third iteration and had been out since shortly after I bought my Voyage. Yes, it was nicer, but it wasn't really special after that long on the market. They did have the Kindle Paperwhite Special Edition which I found fascinating. As good of a screen as the Oasis, nice body, wireless charging, and 32 gigs of memory. It was pure overkill for what I wanted and I should have just got the regular 'paperwhite' edition, but I got the special edition.
That lasted me a couple years until I decided to get the 'upgrade' I'd been wanting for years. For one, I wanted a bigger reader. I'd also seen some readers that had color. Now, Amazon didn't make any of these. For Amazon I was limited to the Kindle, the Kindle Paperwhite, or.... well that's about it as they were even canceling the Oasis when I started looking. I thought about going to some other book reader like Kobo or Pocketbook. But then you get into trouble of reading books purchased for Amazon Kindle as they're DRM protected and only available on Kindle readers.
It took me a bit to get there, but I thought I found the perfect compromise. A 10 inch android tablet with a color e-ink display. Being e-ink, it should still last weeks between charges. Being 10 inches and color would satisfy the itch for 'upgrade' that I wanted. And being Android, even a version or two behind the current release, I could use the Kindle app and read all my Kindle books there. Plus I could do other Android things on it like check my email and do spreadsheets and other things. So I got the Boox Note Air3C.
Two problems came up with the Boox tablet. 1st, I never used it as a tablet. It was just a Kindle. It was a good Kindle with a good screen and wonderful in color... but it was still just a Kindle. 2nd, it didn't tell me when the battery got low. The Kindle app runs full screen, so there is no battery indicator showing and it DOES go weeks between charges. But I'd like to be warned when it drops below 20% so that I have plenty of time to take it to a charger and plug it in. This wouldn't tell me that unless it hit 20% when I was using it. And as it had a slight battery drain, I think I got the 'low battery warning' once in two years. Every other time I knew it was time to charge when I picked it up to read and found it dead. NOT good. I mean, that just Pissed Me Off over and over and over.
Regardless, I finally got my greedy little hands on it. It's... fine.
Much like the phone, I wish I could say more about it, but it's just something fulfilling a need. I have it set up, my current book downloaded to it, and am reading on it. In several weeks it should ding me when it goes past 20% battery and then I'll charge it, avoiding the whole dead battery thing. It's screen isn't better than the Boox, it's not higher res, it's not higher quality. It's nice and I do like it... but it's just fine.
KEYBOARD
They new keyboard setup is working fine. If you remember I now have a Logitech G915X TKL along with a Keychron K0 Max Keypad. Both have some replacement keycaps including blue, grey, a metal escape key, and a metal volume dialer. The best thing is that I'm able to put the keypad just slightly further away than the G915 and can therefore use the space for my mouse better.
The Keychron keypad works fine. I don't really use the volume knob on it all that much but that's just because I'm used to using the volume knob on my mouse. I like how it looks with the blue keys and the only improvement would be getting keycaps that shine through. But as I hardly ever have to look at the keypad when I'm using it and instead just center my finger with the bump on the 5 key, I don't need to see it in order to use it.
The Logitech G915 TKL is just as good as I'd want. It's as easy and good to type on as I remember and without the macro keys on the left that the full size keyboard has, I'm not making nearly as many typing errors as I used to. Just like the keypad, I don't use the volume knob all that much but it's only because I use the one on the mouse. I also don't use the media keys. Between my old Razer keyboard that had its one media key above the number pad and the Keychron setup where I programed the upper row of keys on the keypad to be true media keys (back, play/pause, next...) I'm more used to using those keys that aren't even labeled (they're technically labeled with a circle, a triangle, and a square) due to muscle memory.
They blue keycaps on the Logitech are... fine. I love them when they're fully lit as they contrast with the black keycaps nicely. BUT, my room is mostly dark. I made it that way when I was in the migraine crisis and just haven't changed it back yet. If I make all the keys with the same backlight color, there is a distinct difference between the third party blue keycaps and the Logitech black ones. Enough that I find it unacceptable for them to be the same color. For now, it's Michigan Football season so I have the black keys with a blue light and the blue keys with a yellow one. Problem solved. I'd love to get a full set of matching keycaps (I could get two sets in different colors to mix and match) but Logitech doesn't make anything other than direct white/black replacements and no one else makes direct replacements specifically for Logitech. And without it being specifically for Logitech there is little chance all the larger keys lik tab, shift, caps lock, return, slash, control, alt, windows, function, and backspace will work. I MIGHT be able to get a set with the function keys, the arrow keys, and even the print screen, insert, delete keyrows... but then I'd just have three sets of keycaps instead of two.
So, I know talking about the setup and colors and lighting is one thing, but seeing it all is another. So, I took three quick photos. The first one is with my desk light illuminating the area. Honestly, unless I'm opening mail or reading something, my desk is never that well lit. The second is closer to reality as it's with the light off and the illumination is coming from the screen in front of the keyboard, but the camera makes that look a lot brighter than it is. At that 2nd photo illumination level I actually have to have the keyboard lights on in order to read. Finally, the 3rd photo is with the monitor off, just so you can see the lighting effects. It's not much, but you can see how the keypad doesn't shine through, and how the yellow/blue lights are different intensities on the Logitech.
And hey, before anyone mentions it, yes I know that I probably should have cleaned up a bit before snapping the photos. In my defense though, this area is dark all the time so I don't see the dust that builds up on the mouse, let alone the keyboard or deskpad.
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