At Home with Tech

August 20, 2023

You Can’t Save your iPhone’s Soul if You don’t Activate this Setting

If you ever need to clone your iPhone should your device meet an untimely end, a simple setting buried in your old device is the key to success.

You may not realize it, but across the years, you’ve been building and nurturing a look and feel for your iPhone. It comes in the form of all the apps you’ve downloaded and how they’re organized on your screen. It creates an experience that’s unique to you and feels perfect, because it is. You’ve made it that way.

When you want to upgrade to a new iPhone or need to because of less-than-optimal circumstances, Apple has a process to perfectly restore all your settings and apps in your new device (passwords too). That is if you follow all of the iCloud rules.

But if you miss a step and disaster strikes, you can never transfer your iPhone’s unique personality that you’ve lovingly crafted into a new phone model. You’ll effectively lose its ‘soul.’ Sure, you can manually put all the pieces back together into a new iPhone, but the clone will never be exactly the same.

That’s what happened to me.

R.I.P. My Dear iPhone
Last time, I shared how I effectively killed my iPhone after a little kayaking mishap that submerged it in ocean water.

Thankfully, I had backed up all my Apple apps in iCloud, and when I activated my replacement iPhone at The Apple Store, those apps were already in place, loading in my important data.

But when I searched for all my other apps, they were nowhere to be found.

I was still grieving the loss of my former iPhone. (It had been less than an hour.)

Now, the pain started to pile on.

iCloud 101
Yes, I’d previously been following good iCloud back-up protocols and had properly saved everything of importance to iCloud:

Photos
iCloud Mail
Notes
Messages
Contacts
Calendars
Music

It was all safely stored for me.

So, restoring all of that in my new iPhone was easy. (Plus, I pay for 2 TB of Apple cloud storage to cover all my family’s devices and related files.)

I thought I had it all covered. But I didn’t.

My non-Apple apps had vanished. Here’s why…

We Can (Mostly) Rebuild It
Apparently, my old iPhone didn’t have the little iCloud backup switch in ‘Settings’ activated to its green state. I had somehow missed that.

And without that critical piece of back up flicked on, I had forever lost the snapshot of my old iPhone’s set up. All the settings, the home screen layout and all my non-Apple apps.

Now, I needed to download all my non-native Apple apps again (they were readily available in my ‘Purchased’ section in the App Store app), reorganize them and then (the worst part) re-sign into every one of them again.

That was a big project and a massive pain.

It took me the better part of a week to get my apps back in order and running properly. (You don’t realize how heavily you’ve become reliant on your phone for your day-to-day needs until you don’t have access.)

And then when I was done, I still didn’t have my old iPhone’s exact layout back. It was inevitably a bit different. (You’d otherwise need a photographic memory to restructure it perfectly.)

How to Turn On iCloud Backup to Save your iPhone’s Settings
So, if you want to avoid my Humpty-Dumpty fate, be sure to have the specific iCloud Backup switch turned on in ‘Settings.’ It’s embarrassingly simple. Go to:

Settings
Your Name (on the very top)
Your Name’s iPhone (in the third section from the top)
iCloud Backup
Flick the virtual switch to green
That’s it

Silver Lining?
The only upside to my rookie iPhone mistake is I had the chance to slim down the apps on my new phone to the apps that I actually use today. (I didn’t download the ones that I haven’t opened in years.) So, I was able to create a better-organized layout for myself.

No, it’s not my old iPhone. That’s gone. I’ve permanently lost that comfy layout.

However familiar, that’s not necessarily the best layout for me today. It was created organically across many years and through previous iPhone models.

Creating a fresh app structure from the ground up has its advantages. It certainly better represents my current needs. It’s more efficient. It makes sense.

Now I just need to train myself to remember where everything is!

Everyone Risks a Kayaking Kerplunk
Sure, we can all regularly update and reorganize the app structure on our phones. But who really takes the time to do that?

I should be thankful that I was given the opportunity to properly refresh and optimize my own iPhone experience. Right?

On the other hand, just flicking the green iCloud switch is a whole lot easier.

And better yet, think twice about bringing your iPhone on your next kayaking trip without a waterproof bag.

But as careful as you may be with your tech, there’s always some kind of kayaking kerplunk just around the corner for everyone.

So, plan ahead and make sure that the iCloud Backup switch is on!

August 13, 2023

R.I.P. My Dear iPhone

There are any number of ways that an iPhone can die. It’s particularly painful when it’s due to human error. Here’s how I killed mine.

The opening scene fades up on a beautiful shot of my wife and me enjoying an afternoon kayaking excursion while our son is away at sleepaway camp.

It was a sunny, summer Saturday, and we were soaking in our experience. Our kayaking route took us a mile and a half out to a little island near Norwalk, CT.

It was all perfect. But there was turbulence for me ahead.

A Three-Hour Tour
I had taken precautions to protect my iPhone and wallet by stashing them in a water-resistant belly bag.

When we approached the shoreline of the island, we had to, of course, pop out of our kayaks and take a few steps through a foot of water to complete the first half of our journey.

Those fateful steps turned out to be a doozy for me…

The Sinking of the Barrett
I immediately began to lose my footing as I struggled to stand upright. And with each step, I moved into deeper water, continuing to slip on the slick stones beneath. There was also a bit of current that further pulled me off my balance.

I know I can continue to make excuses, but as I’m sure you’ve surmised by now, I simply fell in.

And yes, my belly bag fully submerged in the salty water.

I pulled myself out of the drink as fast as possible, unzipped the bag and peered inside. Both my wallet and iPhone were drenched, although they were not resting in a pool of water. My belly bag had at least prevented that.

I emptied my precious contents and placed them on a flat piece of wood in the sun that was conveniently positioned on the sand in front of me.

My iPhone was blinking the Apple logo, trying to reboot itself.

Uh oh. That wasn’t good.

So, I powered it down, hoping that my iPhone would dry out over the next 24 hours and return to its normal state.

But it didn’t. The next day when I turned it on, my iPhone struggled to boot up and then promptly crashed, regressing back to the Apple logo.

My next step was a desperate visit to Apple’s Genius Bar.

My Experience at Apple’s ER
It felt like I was in an emergency room watching a failed attempt to preserve life. My iPhone lay on a table, plugged in to a diagnostic monitor. Its life was draining away.

The Genius Bar technician grimly evaluated the diagnostic scan. The store manager and a sales specialist watched with me. I signed a waiver allowing my phone to be wiped in a last-ditch effort to bring it back to life.

And then it was over. My iPhone had flatlined.

There was no hope. The Apple Genius called it at 12:33pm.

DOA. Repair not possible.

How to Move On
At 12:34pm on an August Sunday, I had officially lost my beloved iPhone Xs Max, my constant companion for the past five years.

Yes. If you were wondering, I had not just drowned a newer iPhone model. Still, I had paid a whopping $1,249 for it. But time marches on, and my phone was clearly past due for replacement by the ‘Lester Operating Standards.’ And I was looking forward to upgrading to an iPhone 15 model this fall.

Soon. But not soon enough. That window wouldn’t open for another six weeks or so.

Of course, I immediately needed another phone.

But I didn’t want to pull the trigger on an iPhone 14, because that will shortly be last year’s model.

Then, the solution hit me.

I wasn’t the only Lester who required an iPhone. There was another.

The Lester Family Plan
My thirteen-year-old son needed an iPhone, and I was planning on getting him an iPhone SE during my planned Apple Store visit for my iPhone 15. It was to be a father/son trip. We’d get our iPhones together.

But that well-planned moment evaporated the moment my old iPhone died.

Of course, I’d need to buy the iPhone SE now and use it as a bridge for the next two months before handing it over to the next generation.

Yes, that meant a variety of compromises, but I knew I could handle going old school for the next two months.

Everyone at The Apple Store following my predicament approved of my strategic choice and within minutes, I had a new iPhone in my hand.

Error in the Cloning Process
The iPhone SE began sucking in my iCloud data. But I quickly realized something was wrong as it tried to fully replicate its former self.

I had missed a simple step in my iCloud back-up planning. And now, that would cost me.

Next time, I’ll explain what I did wrong, and how you can avoid my fate…

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August 6, 2023

Best Travel Compact Camera with a Big Zoom

If you want to buy a premium compact camera with a longer zoom for your next trip, there aren’t many choices. Here’s my recommendation.

I’m planning for a vacation where my family and I will be spending most of our time in the great outdoors (rain or shine). We’ll be biking, hiking and kayaking! Based on our active itinerary, I know that besides my GoPro, I’ll only be able to pack a compact camera that’s easy to carry and won’t weigh me down.

A larger-form camera with separate lenses just wouldn’t cut it on this kind of trip. So, I’ll have to leave my Panasonic Lumix GH5 II mirrorless camera at home. (An all-in-one ‘bridge camera’ would also be too large.)

And for this trip, I’ll need a small camera with a bigger zoom than I currently own. (I don’t require a crazy reach to capture the beak of a bird, but I do want to be able to get more than wide vista shots. My old Panasonic Lumix LX10 (which is still on the market) only provides a 3x optical zoom. I want to at least double that…

That kind of camera shouldn’t be so hard to find, right?

Nobody Really Buys that Camera Anymore
Well, the bad news, if you hadn’t heard, is smartphones killed off compact cameras years ago. People simply stopped buying them.

Sure, I get it that today’s smartphones take great pictures. But they don’t yet have powerful zoom capabilities.

That’s where small premium compact cameras with 1” sensors and longer zooms should have thrived. But they didn’t. And camera manufactures stopped updating them four to five years back.

But that doesn’t mean they’re not still being sold. They certainly are.

What’s Old is New Again
But all these cameras represent older technology had the models continued to get upgraded into newer versions (which they weren’t).

So, my first hurdle when researching my options was feeling comfortable buying a new piece of gear that’s a few years old. (Was I a tech neophyte that would make this kind of rookie mistake?)

But when I realized there isn’t a newer compact camera with a longer zoom out there, I found some peace with my situation and stopped feeling like I was living in the wrong universe that had killed off this obviously necessary camera format.

To find my new compact camera with a long optical zoom, I would simply have to go back to the future.

Sony RX100 VII
Sony’s DSC-RX100 VII is the still undisputed king in this now-dead compact camera category. (The entire RX100 line has always ruled.) Every reviewer put the RX100 VII on the top of their list. And for my needs, it has an 8x zoom lens (24-200mm F2.8-4.5). That’s enough oomph.

It’s perfect. And Sony knows it.
So, it still costs $1,300 for this 2019 camera.

1,300 bucks?! Whoa.
I just couldn’t pull the trigger.

Risk/Reward Analysis
I’ll be taking a new camera into something of an adventure vacation that involves tons of outdoor time, rain or shine. I expect it to be a bit messy, and there might be some bumps and bruises along the way.

Sure, I don’t want to ruin any new (old) camera that I bring along. But the idea of accidentally dropping this gem off a cliff or running over it with my bike (I am a bit of a klutz) would worry me throughout our entire trip.

If I’m going to destroy my camera, I want it to cost less. (I accept there are flaws in that thinking.) Plus, I’d prefer to better invest $1,300 on a new lens for my Lumix GH5 II.

Panasonic Lumix DC-ZS200D
So, I regrouped and then gravitated to Panasonic for other options. I’m partial to the Lumix line as I already own an LX10 and my GH5 II. But even without that preexisting positive bias, I quickly realized that the Lumix DC-ZS200D (also known as the TZ200 outside of North America) could be the camera for me.

-It has a nice 1-inch image sensor like the Sony.

-It’s got a 15x optical zoom lens (24-260mm, F2.2-6.4)
That’s almost double the Sony’s reach even though the Lumix’s lens isn’t as fast. That said, I plan on taking most of my photos during the daylight hours. So, I don’t expect to need quite as bright a lens.

-It only $698, which I know is still a pretty penny. But it’s almost half the cost of the Sony, and its price has come down a hundred bucks since it was originally released. (That feels a little more respectful, acknowledging that this is older tech. Thank you, Panasonic.)

No, it doesn’t have a flip screen. (So, my iPhone or GoPro will have to do for selfies.)
No, it’s not weather sealed. (Neither is the Sony.) So, it won’t be taking photos in the rain. (My GoPro will handle that trick.)
But it has what I need…. the zoom.

The zoom. The zoom. The zoom.
It’s all about the zoom.

I made my decision.
Click.

Here’s a 3X zoom shot from my new Lumix ZS200D (72mm), which many mobile phones can also get you.

And here’s the 15x zoom from my Lumix ZS200D (360mm).
Same spot and distance. Big difference, right?

Other Nice Features
Yes, the ZS200D has 4K video at 30fps. Yes, it offers image stabilization. And yes, it has a flash (that could be useful for fill).

And it has the zoom I want.

The reviewers all said it’s a good camera. (No camera is perfect.)
And I think it’s still a good camera, even though it is a few years old.

Amazon sells it for $697.99.

A Few Not-So-Optional Accessories
I also picked up a case to help protect my new camera from the elements. I’ve been happy with my MegaGear case for my Lumix LX-10. So, I bought the version that fits the ZS200D for $39.99.

Of course, the camera doesn’t come with a memory card. I purchased a SanDisk 128GB Extreme PRO UHS-I SDXC Memory Card for $22.99.

Ready for Action
If you want the perfect travel camera with a bigger zoom that’s still really compact, and price is no object… the Sony DSC-RX100 VII is the camera to buy.

But if you’re going to the wilderness and uncharted waters and don’t want to bring such an expensive item along, I believe the Panasonic Lumix DC-ZS200D is the better all-around choice, especially for daytime photos.

It’s still a solid camera, and its extra zoom reach compared to the Sony is a nice plus.

Now, I’ve got my Lumix ZS200, and I’m ready to pack it along with my GoPro HERO11 Black.

I’m ready for our trip… to Alaska!

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