Jared Wilder / Android Authority
â Good morning! Goodbye and thanks for all the fish, and for listening to me rave about coffee most mornings. (Hooray for coffee! It literally lowers the risk of early death! Of death!)
What I learned writing this newsletterâŚ
Okay! So first of all, The Daily Authority will continue and long may it reign. (From what Iâve seen thereâs a roster of new faces from AAâs news and features team ready to tackle the daily tech newsletter from different angles, so expect a lively newsletter ahead. And yep thatâs my face, saying bye on a TCL Plex from 2019!)
Before that, some farewell notes from me! A few things Iâve been thinking about that have come together as Iâve been thinking about the tech space in general.
Waiting for the next-gen:
- Itâs always so tempting to wait for the next thing. The next-generation smartphone with the next-gen chipset, the next laptop with a next-gen CPU, the next game console, the next update to TVs âŚwaiting for the next-gen is a habit.
- The newer thing is always more exciting, with 10% more speed, 8% better efficiency, 16% tougher glass⌠the truth is itâs usually overhyped and the older one is just as good and available now.
- Itâs almost never worth upgrading from one gen to another. But we always do it: weâre always convinced that the next big thing will be worth it.
- I think the wait is usually only worthwhile if itâs a major one; like the first major refresh to a MacBook Pro in years.
Buying advice:
- Never buy the base model of anything â always upgrade to the next level for more RAM, and more storage space.
- Why?
- The key here is that companies send devices to reviewers for thorough tests and, before you ask, at respected publications it is a fair, honest review process.
- But the catch is that the company will almost never send reviewers the base spec device. Itâs always the mid or top-level device.
- The base device is just there to help people say: âIt starts at $499,â but youâll want to go to the next tier up to get a device with more longevity baked in every time.
Sustainability:
- This one is tough, and Iâve struggled with it here in the newsletter. New things coming out all the time isnât exactly great for the environment. Doing the right thing and hanging on to a device a little longer, or buying something like a Fairphone is a good feeling.
- But youâll inevitably see figures like â1.43 billion smartphones were sold in 2021,â and it makes your small choice feel tiny.
- I donât have an answer here other than: We probably need to buy less stuff, and holding onto your old thing a little longer is about all you can do.
Finally, inside baseball on a newsletter:
- Plenty of people ask about writing a newsletter and how to make it work, and my answer is: above all else, consistency. Just being there is the first step.
- Best day for writing a newsletter: Monday, maybe? And thatâs because Sunday is the best day to be reading online.
- The cadence of the internet is to publish longer, more thoughtful pieces on a Sunday. So, youâre probably best off being outdoors and doing some gardening on your Sunday, but if you have time in the afternoon or evenings, thatâs when the best long-form think pieces and features go online.
Roundup
đľ Asus ROG Phone 6 images, specs appear online: Hereâs what we know about it ahead of the July 5 launch (Android Authority).
đ§ George RR Martin confirms rumors: âYes, there is a Jon Snow show in development.â It sounds cold, but also, Game Of Thrones fell so hard after the final season, itâll be interesting to see if it pans out (georgerrmartin.com).
Whatâs more fun than a rare five-planet alignment of 2022? That, with Venus joining a crescent moon!
Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn are all together in the early pre-dawn morning sky, in the same sequence as their respective orbits as well, which is handy.
- Space.com has a good guide to what youâll see if you do make the pre-crack-of-dawn wakeup time.
- And, with Venus joining a sliver of moon on Sunday morning, the night sky will be even more fun.
- NASA has you covered too, pointing you in the direction of southeast or south-southeast sky depending on your latitude/longitude.
- âPlanetary conjunctions traditionally have been more the stuff of astrology than serious astronomy,â said Mitzi Adams, a NASA astronomer and researcher in a blog on the same topic earlier in May, âbut they never fail to impress during observations, particularly when the gas giants are involved.â
Have a great life!
Tristan Rayner, former editor here, now just a guy.