A supercheap Android phone with looks to spare

Jul 14, 2024 07:00 PM - 4 months ago 90859

Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 45, your guideline to nan champion and Verge-iest worldly successful nan world. (If you’re caller here, welcome, sorry I emotion productivity apps truthful much, and besides you tin publication each nan aged editions astatine nan Installer homepage.)

I’m backmost from a fewer days off, emotion rested and sunburned and fresh to rumble. Thanks to everyone who sent day wishes! This week, I’ve been reference Made for Love and stories astir AI gamers and AI musicians and Ferrari EVs, watching Turning Point, replacing my upwind app pinch Lazy Weather, raging astatine Ira Glass for listening to podcasts astatine 2x speed, and spilling each my feelings to nan Dot AI bot.

I besides person for you a caller phone, a caller smart ring, a caller / aged podcast reunion, a sci-fi show everyone seems to love, a bully update to a awesome look app, and a chaotic caller AI pod to cheque out. A batch going connected for nan mediate of July! Let’s excavation in.

(As always, nan champion portion of Installer is your ideas and tips. What are you into correct now? What should everyone other beryllium reference / watching / playing / eating / downloading / storing for winter? Tell maine everything: [email protected]. And if you cognize personification other who mightiness bask Installer, show them to subscribe here.)

The Drop

The CMF Phone 1. A nice-looking, long-lasting Android telephone for $200? With an OLED surface and interchangeable backplates and a bunch of really cool accessories, 1 of which is simply a kickstand? Yes. Please. In orange, of course.
The Samsung Galaxy Ring. I’m still a instrumentality of Samsung’s Fold and Flip phones, moreover though nan caller models are very same-y and moreover much expensive. But I’m astir excited astir nan Galaxy Ring, which seems to person beautiful overmuch nailed nan smart ringing hardware — and moreover has immoderate absorbing ideas astir motion control.
“The Diggnation Reunion Part 1.” If you’re a tech person of a definite age, there’s a beardown chance you grew up watching Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht portion and make jokes astir tech while sitting connected a couch. Watching nan guys get backmost together was a delightful blast from nan past. And there’s a portion two, too!
Delta 1.6. Delta’s crippled emulation is connected nan iPad! I’m really not judge really overmuch I’ll usage this fixed really overmuch of my retro gaming is connected an iPhone pinch a Backbone controller. But this update, pinch a bigger surface and support for aggregate games astatine once, does sound beautiful great.
Amazon’s caller Echo Spot. To me, this is nan exact correct equilibrium of things for an Alexa speaker. It’s small, it’s $45 (for now), it has a touchscreen but nary camera, and it’s nan correct size for a nightstand. I support promising to time off my telephone retired of my bedroom, and possibly this’ll switch it.
Sunny. A female loses her hubby but gets a robot from his tech institution to thief her done it. Strangeness ensues. Such a bully premise! And by each accounts, this show continues Apple TV Plus’ tally of awesome sci-fi stuff. I’ll decidedly drawback up earlier section 3 drops connected Wednesday.
Openvibe. Bluesky, Mastodon, Threads, and Nostr, each successful 1 timeline successful 1 app. This is fundamentally a clever hack, not nan interconnected societal beingness of my dreams, but it’s a beautiful bully hack! And I for illustration that it fundamentally hides which web group are using; it’s conscionable people, successful a timeline.
Pestle. I emotion a bully look app. I mostly usage Crouton and Mela, but Pestle’s caller expertise to import recipes from Instagram Reels is beautiful awesome. Just driblet successful nan link, springiness it a name, and it’ll move a video into a bunch of ingredients and steps.

Screen share

A cardinal years ago, I was an intern astatine Wired, and 1 of nan stories I sewage to thief activity connected was this chaotic point wherever a writer had decided to wholly vanish and spot if nan net could find him. The communicative turned retired awesome, and nan writer was Evan Ratliff, who has been 1 of my favourite journalists ever since. He cofounded The Atavist Magazine and did a ton of awesome activity there, created nan terrific Persona podcast, and until recently, was 1 of nan cohosts of Longform, nan publicity podcast I ever dreamed I mightiness 1 time get invited on. Alas.

Now Evan has a caller podcast out, called Shell Game, in which he uses an AI clone of his sound to origin each kinds of chaos successful his ain life. The first section is awesome, and I’m very excited for what’s next. I asked Evan to stock his homescreen pinch america to spot if he had immoderate podcasting tricks I mightiness bargain from him and to spot really AI-ified his life had become.

Here’s Evan’s homescreen, positive immoderate info connected nan apps he uses and why:

The phone: iPhone 13 Mini.

The wallpaper: The 1 I’ve sent present is my feline Henry, an 18-year-old icon who was erstwhile a mini-celebrity connected Vine and is nan sweetest animal connected earth. (Normally it’s my kids, but I don’t let photos of them connected nan unfastened internet.)

The apps: Google Maps, Photos, Apple Notes, Slack, Settings, Clock, Phone, WhatsApp, Signal, Freedom, Google Translate, CloudBeats, Scrivener, Instapaper, Spotify, TuneIn, Libby, Gmail, Google Calendar, Messages, Brave.

My homescreen rules are nary societal media, nary news. I’m a certified news junkie, but I astatine slightest want it a small retired of view. And nary Twitter app connected nan phone, ever. As for immoderate apps:

Kids [group]: A point they don’t show you astir parenting successful nan 2020s is really galore school, camp, and autobus apps you are forced to get and check.
Ships / planes: The only AR apps I’ve ever used. I consciousness for illustration a wizard conscionable pointing Flightradar24 astatine nan entity aliases MarineTraffic astatine nan oversea to spot wherever ships and planes are coming from and going to. My begetter studies logistics and instilled successful maine a curiosity astir really things get from spot to place.
CloudBeats: Essential for listening to podcast drafts while moving and stepping around; pinch Shell Game successful production, I’m connected this point for hours a time sometimes.
Libby: Any New Yorker who doesn’t person it is missing out. You tin drawback ebooks and audiobooks from nan room and perceive to them correct here!
Instapaper: Anyone other still utilizing Instapaper retired there? I don’t moreover cognize who owns this point anymore. But it’s still really I publication longform worldly I’ve saved.

I besides asked Evan to stock a fewer things he’s into correct now. Here’s what he shared:

Moss. Made a moss plot this twelvemonth and I’m into each things moss-related. Websites connected really to support it and its unthinkable properties, moss gurus (e.g., Mossin’ Annie). Moss!
The caller Charley Crockett album. Just a brilliant songwriter and singer, pinch an unthinkable story. Perfect perceive while stepping connected your moss (which you must).
Currently revisiting The Braindead Megaphone, George Saunders’ effort collection, parts of which consciousness very Shell Game-relevant to me.
My sister-in-law, who is 50x much culturally alert than I, turned america connected to this British comic crippled show, Taskmaster. The cleanable decompression aft a time moving alongside your AI doppelganger.

Crowdsourced

Here’s what nan Installer organization is into this week. I want to cognize what you’re into correct now arsenic well! Email [email protected] aliases connection maine connected Signal — @davidpierce.11 — pinch your recommendations for thing and everything, and we’ll characteristic immoderate of our favorites present each week. For moreover much awesome recommendations, cheque retired nan replies to this station connected Threads.

“I conscionable wanted to stock an app that (and it is simply a daze for me) nary 1 knows about. It’s called Slick Inbox. The thought is very simple: it allows you to create your ain inbox only for newsletters. I dislike reference newsletters successful my individual Gmail box, and this is simply a very convenient solution to my problem.” – Denis

“I conscionable binged each six episodes of Netflix’s Supacell. It’s for illustration Heroes but grimier, group successful South London, pinch an almost wholly Black formed and made by Rapman. It’s 1 of nan champion things I’ve seen this twelvemonth and specified a caller show successful a genre that is fundamentally monopolized by Marvel.” – Guilherme

“Currently reference The Singularity is Nearer by Ray Kurzweil. We are fortunate to spot quality improvement successful existent time.” – Matthew

“Best Ball drafts connected Underdog Fantasy. What was erstwhile a niche type of imagination shot is now an (absurdly?) celebrated sports betting format wherever players draught an full squad wrong an hr aliases little and past compete against strangers. It’s benignant of for illustration trying to triumph a March Madness bracket but you draught a imagination shot roster.” – Noah

“Using nan VR Exercise Tracker app created by nan VR Health Institute. They usage science-backed measurement of VR activity to thief you measurement your VR workouts. Connects pinch Apple Watch and different Bluetooth fittingness devices.” – Dan

“As a caller dad, Dungeons & Daddies resonates pinch maine successful a typical way. This (self-described non-BDSM) podcast puts a hilarious twist connected D&D, pursuing 4 dads navigating a fantastical realm to rescue their mislaid sons. It’s made maine laughter harder than I person successful a agelong clip and made maine outcry much than once. I’ve binged nan first play 3 times already (that’s much than 180 hours of listening) and americium relistening to nan 2nd play now.” – Mark

“Just bought a Boox Go 10.3 E Ink tablet and americium really enjoying it. Very slim, nicely designed, nary beforehand light, and reasonably awesome to constitute connected erstwhile needed. It’s meant much arsenic a competitor to nan Remarkable 2 (i.e., a note-taking device), but I’m enjoying it for reference articles via Omnivore.” – Patrick

“I’ve precocious started reference a book called Deep Work by Cal Newport connected nan merits of dedicating clip to attraction connected a task pinch minimal distractions. My attraction span, on pinch galore others successful caller years, has been obliterated, hence maine picking up this book to effort and rectify my expertise to attraction deeply.” – Dave

“Apple PenLite: The iPad Before nan iPad.” I person been watching Colin Holter’s transmission for a fewer years now and really emotion his stuff, but this video is really thing different for him. He interviewed respective erstwhile Apple employees, and I thought it was really good done. I was really young during nan clip play this is about, truthful I don’t retrieve immoderate news astir this stuff, but it was truthful absorbing to get this benignant of position from nan engineers and merchandise managers moving astatine Apple astatine nan time.” – Ian

Signing off

I sincerely judge that “Every Frame a Painting” is nan champion YouTube bid of each time. If you haven’t watched them, watch each of them. (If you only watch one, watch this 1 connected Edgar Wright. Or this 1 connected David Fincher. Or this 1 connected the sound of Marvel movies. Just watch them all!) So erstwhile nan transmission dropped its first video successful 7 years — a short trailer for a caller constricted bid and short movie — I instantly started refreshing nan page each 10 minutes and rewatching each azygous point connected nan transmission each complete again. It’s for illustration going to movie schoolhouse astatine warp speed, and I can’t urge it highly enough. Chairs, y’all! Chairs!

See you adjacent week!