May 2020

Apple’s iPhone SE 2020 was built around one main goal: launching a new iPhone for less money than ever before. For just $399, it achieves that goal well.

The design of the phone will be familiar if you’ve recently owned another iPhone version, with a 4.7 inch frame, complete with a fingerprint scanner built into the home button. This model is now seen as a smaller phone that is both more lightweight and pocketable. The SE is water resistant but it does lack a common features anyone with a more recent model would be familiar with. This means no headphone jack at the bottom due to slightly dated display technology. Though the outward design might be considered older looking, the inner workings of the phone are improved. From an A13 Bionic chipset adding speed, to decent bright photo options, you’ll likely be happy with most aspects of performance.

Battery life might be the biggest complaint for the new SE, but given the price point, this version provides a solid option for someone just entering the world of Apple products, or someone on a budget. To learn more about the review, visit here.

Regardless of your level of fandom, everyone knows your favorite team has been sidelined due to COVID-19 regardless of the sport of your choice.  That’s where Microsoft comes in, believe it or not.

Microsoft has an offering called “Teams” as part of Office 365.  Although it is not related to sports, it is an application you probably already have as part of your email suite, and even if your email is hosted elsewhere, Microsoft is offering Teams for free for at least another few months.

So what is Teams.  At its most basic it is a collaboration tool.  Want to chat with another Teams user, just hit chat and put in the contact name and type.  Want to have an audio call with a Teams user, hit the Phone icon, select the person and call.  You can have video calls as well.  Scheduling calls is easy – pop open the calendar icon and schedule the meeting.  If you are integrated to Outlook your calendar will be shared.

But the real value of Teams is to collaborate with other team members, including using Channels for different conversations you may be holding with team members.  Establishing teams and assigning members is intuitive and quick, and in addition to chatting you can share files also.

Teams integrates with other Microsoft tools including OneDrive for personal file syncing and Sharepoint for sharing files across an organization and/or with vendors and clients.

With the Work From Home situation these tools can provide added flexibility and increased collaboration, extending your reach far beyond the office network.  If you haven’t begun to experiment with Teams please call the office for a demo.