Fighting the lock-in

I’ve been experimenting a little recently, in my tech life, with some of the products and services I use. With the way big tech are bending the knee to Musk and Trump et al I’m keen to avoid the ecosystem lock in that all of the big corporations strive for. 

Many years ago I made my big tech decision and jumped in bed with Apple. They were always considered the ‘good guys’ and, whilst they are still better than some, the writing’s on the wall for me and I can see the next four years eroding their good guy status at record speed. 

So, to this end, my experiment has begun. It turns out, however, that avoiding the big tech companies entirely isn’t all that easy, so my first step has been to look at products and services that interact with each other a little better, or can be used across ecosystems. I might write about some of these things in more detail as I progress, but for now I’m going to summarise some of the things I’m trying and my initial feelings so far. 

Apple Notes > Craft

Apple Notes was my first target, as this was a pretty simple one to tackle. I’m not a big note taker so I could give or take this one, but Craft looked very interesting and they offered a very good lifetime discount of their subscription over Black Friday / Christmas so I gave it a shot. So far I’ve been super impressed.

The ability to publish your notes is a fun addition, which I’m currently using for my /Now page and Reading Tracker and it seems to be an incredibly well put together service.

In terms of cross platform support, given that is the main focus here, it performs very well. The amount of functionality they support in the iOS app is extremely impressive and it features a lot of custom UI elements (which may be a negative to some). It also has an excellent web app and even the Windows app is very good. I think, because their web app is so robust, I believe the app is just a wrapper, but it seems very snappy so I can only assume their web version is massively optimised.

I’ve been using Craft a lot recently for work, but also writing up some blog posts (which I should really post at some point …) and it’s been an enjoyable experience.

Apple Watch > Fitbit Charge 6

This is an example of potentially replacing one tech giant for another one, but my interest here was more about how much I need an Apple Watch in particular. I love the look of the Apple Watch Ultra, but I really don’t use any other features of it. So, my thought process here was would something more basic do the job for the tracking, freeing me up to wear a more traditional watch (or nothing at all).

I had my eye on the lovely Garmin Instinct 2 Solar, which looks a bit like a G-Shock watch, but with health tracking functions. I knew a new model was due, however, and the price was quite high for an experiment so I picked up the Fitbit Charge 6 in their sale. So far, a week or so in, I am again impressed.

The device itself is extremely light and comfortable. I’ve still been wearing my Ultra, but having this on my other wrist is subtle and unassuming. I’ve turned off the always on screen so it just looks like a thin, black band on my wrist. The battery life blows even the Ultra out of the water, as you’d expect. I’ve been using it for just over a week at it has 60% battery left. That’s with 24 hour usage (for sleep tracking testing).

When it comes to the health tracking itself it compares very well with the Ultra in terms of the metrics it tracks. There is a slight variance between the two, but it’s very minute. Given I’m no athlete it’s more than good enough. Along with the usual steps and distance tracking it also measures breathing rate, heart rate, skin temperature and oxygen saturation so, I believe, essentially 1:1 with the Ultra. Given it’s about 1/7 the price the other 6/7 of the cost is going on looks and the Apple Tax.

The big benefit here, from the experiment point of view, is the Fitbit service. Despite the fact it’s not owned by Google, the app is available across iOS and Android so I can easily move my health info with me if I move to another mobile platform. Whilst there are some services to extract Apple Health data to port it over, I would imagine this is easier said than done.

My Ultra is, at the moment, constantly asking me for my Apple password, which is driving me mad. It’s almost asking to be replaced, so if this experiment goes well I may well be the proud owner of a Garmin Instinct 3 Solar very soon. This new model looks glorious.

Apple AirPods > Nothing Ear (2) / Nothing Ear (Open)

The AirPods Pro’s are really an amazing device and it’s actually one of my favourite Apple products I’ve bought in years. These are, also, not really a lock-in device. They work with Android and Windows just fine. Using them on a non-Apple device, and then trying to switch back to the iPhone however does seem to be a bit of a pain, at least for me. The AirPods seem to require completely removing from my iPhone and re-paired. It’s minor, but a ballache nonetheless.

I didn’t go out seeking a replacement for my AirPods, but in recent years I’ve been really impressed with the Nothing brand, mainly just because they are London based and have a really unique and interesting aesthetic. 

A few years ago I bought the Nothing Ear (2)’s which looked very cool, and sounded fine. The middle of 2024 they released another model, however, and again my interest was peaked just because of their interesting design. These were the Nothing Ear (Open).

As the name would suggest, these are ‘open’ headphones so they don’t go inside your ear, they just kind of hover over the top of them. They are the complete opposite, really, of the AirPods Pro and their fantastic noise cancellation. However fantastic the pass-through that the AirPods has it is still a bit restrictive and I found going for walks, or working in the office (when I don’t want to just block everyone out) is so much better to hear my surroundings. They are also insanely comfortable.