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February 25th, 2026

The Weekly Review 08-26

The Weekly Review

The Weekly Scribble 

If you focus on the hurt, you will continue to suffer.
If you focus on the lesson, you will continue to grow.

My Apple Store experience 

Finally! I got my iPhone 15 back after many months without. The unpleasant part was the £289.00 charge on collection. The screen needed replacing after I had smashed it. In my last weekly review, I mentioned I had an unfortunate accident with my phone. Well, now I have the phone back and it feels like getting a new phone altogether. I knew the iPhone 11 wasn’t the fastest phone but I did not realise the significance until I started comparing the two phones side by side.

My iPhone 15 is back!!!
My iPhone 15 is back!!!

I booked an appointment online to attend the closest Apple Store in Manchester. Oddly, the ics invite had the address but when I hit the Apple Maps link, it sent me to a complete different place many miles away. I made the logical decision to ignore this anomaly and headed to where I knew I should be heading. 

As usual, the Apple Store was busy and bustling with the usual Apple-looking customers. I’m not sure how I feel about the newer wooden aesthetics (very church like) over the minimal white space Apple Stores once had. I lined up in, what I now know, in the wrong queue. It must be a British thing to line up. Tom, the Apple Genius, was friendly and helpful as expected as well as clear on what needed to be actioned. 

After inspection from Tom, I was given the compliment of my iPhone being in great condition, albeit the serious crack in the screen. Each diagnostic passed, so I was relieved there were no additional hidden costs. 

I was possibly expecting to hear the repair would take a few days. However, I was pleasantly surprised to be told it would take an hour. One thing to note, you have to show ID on collection, so make sure you have ID if you want to collect your device. 

When I said I lined up in the wrong queue, I hadn’t realised this until an Apple employee came over to me to see what I wanted. I had been waiting in the wrong place for twelve whole minutes until being informed I was in a queue for paying Apple upfront from items (whatever that means). Any way, the collection process what quick and the staff were great. I have no complaints. There certainly was no upselling or marketing tricks like I have seen on YouTube. 

Yes. I know I could have gotten the screen repaired for cheaper. However, a past experience with a phone caused me a lot of bother. 

I might have lined up my next purchase in the process. I will wait ninety days before deciding to buy a new iPad Air. By then, there might be a newer version or my interest on it has diminished. My ninety day purchasing rule has helped me avoid many, many impulsive purchases during the past four years. Anything over £70 ($100) must have a ninety day ‘cool off’ period before the purchase

De-googling

Spreading my focus across my Apple, Google and Linux ecosystem has been a challenge. The original idea was to silo my focus into ‘zones’. What was I thinking? I recent scribbled I was having a digital declutter. Google drew the short straw. Other than using my Lenovo IdeaPad Pro for reading, I won’t be using the Google ecosystem moving forwards. 

The Rossen Report put out a video about Android and Google spying on users and selling off data. I don’t want to be part of this system. I know Apple are not saints in this business. Luckily, I don’t use any of the other services mentioned in the report - Facebook, Instagram, Amazon, LinkedIn and Uber. If I am accessing YouTube, it is done through a web browser using Wipr and through private mode. I don’t sign in. 

I have managed to delete all my Google Photos, Keep notes and emails. I am now working on Docs and Sheets.

Apple Page for iPhone

I have to say it - Apple Pages for iPhone is 🔥! Seriously, I’ve had lots of fun writing in the app on my (newly repaired) iPhone. Things like the screen scrolling side to side like a typewriter or the auto focus on different elements of the document like titles, subheadings and lists has me coming back for more. 

Also, the Liquid Glass effects in Pages are incredible. I’m now enjoying the experience of using Pages over Apple Notes. On the go, I am able to add to my blog ideas and produce posts like the one you are reading right now. 

The Media Shelf

The Link Log

As always, thank you so much for reading. The Weekly Review is simply a place to gather thoughts, ideas, links, and recommendations — the kind of things I would have once shared on social media.

Mark

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