iPhone

Benny is getting a warning that his old iPhone storage is almost full. What can he do? Leo says you can back it up and then delete anything you don't really need. Older iPhones were woefully undersized for storage. So what Leo recommends is back them up to your computer. But also download the Google Photos app and then upload the photos to your Google Photos account. Once you do, you can delete everything automatically (it's in the settings). You can also do that with video.

Scott's USB lightning cable has stopped working in his car. Says there's no music available on the car screen. Leo says to try a new cable to eliminate the possibility that the cable is going bad. Also, there may have been an update to CarPlay that isn't supported by the car stereo head unit. Apple may have changed something in a recent iOS update. Another option is to turn the phone off completely and then turn it back on. That'll reset the network settings. Check the stereo's website under "support" to see if there's any technote on the issue.

Elizabeth calls in to talk about what new mobile phone to buy.  She's looking at the iPhone SE and Leo says it's an excellent choice for her. But she also heard Leo talk about Samsung's latest phone. Leo says that there are dozens of new phones out there now that could work, but Leo says that the iPhone SE is ideal for Elizabeth. It has the same processors and other features of the more expensive iPhone 11, but it's half the price.

Maverick's mom wants a good camera that can take better pictures than the iPhone. She wants images that will blur into the background. Leo says that's called "bokeh" and she will need that look with a fast, wide lens. Those are more expensive. The iPhone does it, but it does it computationally. For a few hundred dollars, Leo recommends Canon's Powershot models. Get one that can shoot at F1.8. He recommends going to DPReview for a list of the best point and shoots. The chatroom recommends the Panasonic FZ80.

Jim's wife has a 32GB iPhone and she keeps running out of space because iCloud keeps downloading the pictures back to her phone. Leo says to look in the Photo settings. Make sure that the "optimize phone storage" feature is enabled. It will keep the full rez photos in the cloud, and a lower rez version on your phone. The other option is to turn off automatic sync to iCloud. That will prevent iCloud from putting them back on the phone and once the user deletes them, they will stay deleted. Then use Google Photos to save photos to the cloud and delete them off the phone.

Ed wants to know if he can connect his iPad or iPhone to a monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Leo says he can get a lightning to HDMI adapter, and a lightning to digital AV adapter. He can then connect them that way, but the screen aspect ratio won't really fit the screen. But its an interesting idea. Samsung actually played with the idea with their Samsung DEX.