Pro17 – Review

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My old phone started showing some issues after five years. The battery was getting worse by the day. The charging cable no longer fit properly, and I had to patiently insert it the right way or otherwise, I’d end up with a dead phone. The memory was full, and I could only install new updates after clearing out all my photos. I definitely wasn’t having an optimal user experience, so it was time for an upgrade.

After some thought I decided to go for the top of the line, and I got myself a crisp new iPhone 17 Pro! I have been using my new phone for about a week, and I am quite happy with it. Here are the key highlights.

The positive points:

  • One hand: I can still operate it with one hand. Some corners are a bit hard to reach, but I can do it. The missing button, compared to my previous phone, is not really a problem.
  • Speed and battery life: The phone is really fast, and it works a long long time with its battery
  • Design: It looks pretty good, I’m happy with the phone’s aesthetics, and inside its cover it doesn’t tip over when it is lying on my desk and I click the screen.
  • Screen: A bit bigger so that is good, although I really did not mind the smaller screen and the button that I used to have.
  • At night: Pictures really capture a nighttime image as it looks to me, with all the light sources and details. The phone knows when you are making a shot at night, and it tells you to hold the phone still a couple of seconds. My old phone simply shot a black image, where you would see nothing, which was always quite disappointing.
  • Favorite new thing: I love the dual mode video option, where you get a video with the both the front and back camera. Great for small youtube clips.

What I did not like:

  • Overly flashy: The interface might look good, but for me it did not work. I turned off most animations and turned off the always-on option, which I was looking forward to, but eventually just ended up frustrating me because it seemed like the phone would not turn off.
  • Hiccups: Sometimes things are not working right away (or I am doing it wrong). They were not intuitive enough, and that is exactly what iOS should be. I had problems turning on the flashlight and turning on the camera, both buttons available on the very first screen, and this should be simple, but frustatingly I did not get it to work every time I wanted to.
  • Redoing old stuff: I had to re-add all my bank cards to my wallet, and re-authorize all my bank apps. Probably to make sure it was still really me, but it was a bit troublesome because I needed passwords I had not used in five years. Another pain was that all my time based authenticators stopped working and had to be recreated.
  • Imperfect fit: I normally carry my phone in my pant pocket

Overall I’m happy. I feel like for the next couple of years I will have a good phone. It’s really very fast, but I doubt I really need this speed. My old phone was clearly slower, but it was enough for me. The best point is the new battery, I went for charging my phone three times a day to a phone that just keeps working for two days, and a quick charge is enough to keep it working for a day more. I did have to turn off all the fancy graphical effects, and turn on low-power mode, but that gave me exactly what I wanted. A phone I can use when I need it.

Pel & Chimbroek

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The new Pel, who was originally called Lep but has since been renamed to Chimbroek, is a completely different hamster from our Pel. He’s the same color, but the differences between a male and a female have become quite clear. The differences:

  • Chimbroek weighs much more, almost three times as much as Pel
  • Chimbroek is significantly larger, about twice as big as Pel
  • Chimbroek has a pointier rear and big paws, while Pel has a rounder rear and small, delicate paws
  • Chimbroek truly hoards, he often walks around with enormous cheeks full of food, whereas Pel limits herself to maybe a few seeds
  • Chimbroek is a brute, he’s often dirty and occasionally pees on his own tail. He poops in his exercise wheel, in his house, basically everywhere. Pel is always clean, with a shiny coat, and all her things are spotless

Both are fairly used to living with us now. I only heard Pel once in the store, when she was picked up to be put in a box. Chimbroek made angry noises for a few weeks, even just when approached. Now they’re both super tame. We can pick them up and pet them without any problem. They take seeds from between our fingers and lie down relaxed when being stroked.

September ’25

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The month began with the final stretch of the holiday period. Fun, but also trying to keep increasingly bored children entertained. Godfather and honorary godfather Miguel came for a lovely visit, and we all went to Fuerteventura together. A really fun outing! After our short vacation, normal life resumed for the kids as well. Back to school every day. Extra English lessons, football, beach volleyball and tennis. A relief to have a steady rhythm again.

This month I also made some upgrades. A new backpack, because the old one was suffering from increasingly larger holes, and I pre-ordered new phone, because the old one was struggling with an increasingly poor battery. I switched from budget to expensive, just to see what that’s like. I’m not sure yet if it was the best choice, and it’ll probably be difficult to go back to a budget device in the future, but I’ll find out in the future.

17 Pro

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17pro!I started with my brother’s old iPhone 4 (2013), then switched to my first budget version, the SE (2016). After that, a slightly newer budget version, an SE from 2020. Now, five years later, the battery drains much faster. I can barely get a few hours out of it, especially when using navigation. Time for an upgrade, and I’ve thought about it for a long time, but I’m going for it. I’m moving from the budget model to the top of the line.

During the presentation of the new iPhone 17 Pro, a few things immediately caught my attention. First of all, it’s not available in black. Strange, and a pity, because that would have been my preference. Now I’ll go for white, hoping it has the advantage of heating up less quickly in the sun. I also noticed that a square sensor is now used for photography. The benefit is that it doesn’t matter how you hold the device, vertically or horizontally, for photos. Well, it sounded like part of the image is always unavailable now. The camera lenses stick out, so I can’t lay the phone flat on my desk… also a shame. And finally, unsurprisingly, the device is terribly expensive.

Do I really need it? No, of course not. Is it a waste of money? Probably. It is nice to have something good. This phone it for now the best there is, or really close. Lets see if I adapt as well to this change, as my speedy adaptation to my first smartphone years ago.

Fuerteventura

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The English used to send criminals and unwanted individuals to Australia. The Russians sent their troublesome people to Siberia. Spain also had its own place for unwanted residents and they were given a one-way ticket to Fuerteventura. It’s quite understandable that Fuerteventura was chosen as a destination for undesirable individuals. The entire island consists mainly of sand and rocks, with only the occasional plant and a clear lack of water. It’s bone dry everywhere.

Nowadays, people go to Fuerteventura voluntarily. We’ve actually been there twice before, and this time was just as enjoyable. We visited some of the enormous beaches, charming villages, and took a fun excursion to a small island (Isla de Lobos) to explore and discover it.

Blackout

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Blackout!Miguel told me this wild, but true story about his day during the Spanish blackout a couple of month ago (April 28, 2025) that took over 10 hours to fix.

Blackout
It hits without warning. In the middle of the day, sun blazing, and suddenly the city plunges into darkness. At first, you think it’s just a normal outage, you experienced one of those a couple of years ago, and it took only a few minutes for things to return to normal. Then an hour passes. Still no power. The head of your department walks in to tell everyone they can go home.

You step outside and into chaos. The blackout isn’t just in your building, it’s everywhere. Subways have stopped cold. People are spilling out of underground stations, using their phones like torches. Traffic lights are dead, intersections jammed with cars and confused pedestrians. Buses aren’t running. Trams are frozen. The city feels like it’s holding its breath.

You look at your phone. The flashlight works, but that’s about it. No calls. No messages. No maps. Anything that requires a signal or a connection is gone.

Luckily, you live in the city. A brisk walk should get you home. As you start moving, a strange realization creeps in: you don’t actually know how to get there. You’ve always relied on public transport and your navigation app. The streets blur together without it. You stare at an old paper map someone hands you, but it’s just lines and symbols. Useless.

Then, a stroke of luck. An older colleague from the office overhears you. You tell him your address, and he nods, pointing you in the right direction with the kind of confidence that only comes from decades of walking the city. You follow his directions, uncertain at first. But as you get closer, landmarks begin to look familiar, a corner café, a mural on a wall, the curve of a street you’ve passed a hundred times but never really noticed.

And then… home.

You take the stairs to your apartment, again using your phone as a flashlight. The fridge is silent. The freezer is holding on for now. You sit in the dark living room, surrounded by quiet, and realize how much you’ve depended on invisible systems, and how quickly they can vanish.

Pel: The great escape

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Pel!We love our hamster (Pel) and try to give her a good life. She seems quite happy, and lets us pet her. She allowes the kids to play with her, pick her up and move her about without any problems. We have her solve mazes, we give her special food puzzles, and we give her fun items to play with in her habitat. She has a small house, a half coconut, a running wheel, a sand bath, a small china cup with her food, a small plate for her vegetables, a water tube, a small ladder and a couple of hollow tree trunks.

The tree trunks were added because I thought it would be fun for her to explore them, add a new hiding spot, and they can be used for biting and improve her dental health. She liked them, and I went a bit overboard. Each time I added a small tree trunk Pel would come out and explore. She would smell it, run across it, run through it, and sometimes give it a little nibble. She seemed so happy that I kept adding trunks. They started creating a complex maze where she could run through. It seemed so fun.

But there was a small problem that I did not realise until it was to late. Pel played with all the tree trunks, but slowly the top of het habitat was coming into reach. One day she must have taken a leap of fortune, and she was suddenly gone. Her habitat was empty. At first we did not notice, and thought Pel was relaxing at one of her hiding spots. Alan told me once he had not seen Pel in some time, but I assured him she was simply hiding. After a quiet night it hit me, and I knew she was gone. Every night she would exercise and run like crazy in her wheel. Quite a noticable racket, but now the night was silent. A terrible feeling came over me, and after a thorough search of her habitat it was clear she was not there.

Luckily we kids were not at home. Alex was on a trip with his godfather, and Alan was staying with friends. I searched everywhere. Moved the couch, the cupboards, the beds. Everything I could think of. I investigated all the lower parts of the cupboards. Nothing. My instincts told me that Pel could have no desire to go anywhere, but my mind told me I looked everywhere. Then Ana started telling me it was kind of my fault. The effect it would have on Alan, and lots of talk about me loosing his favorite pet. There was also lots of talk about a dead Pel that we would find some day, because of the smell. I broke.

That afternoon we decided to replace Pel. We went and got another hamster. Similar, but clearly not the same. I was so sad, but we wanted to do the best we could to avoid the sad truth. Pel2 was placed in Pels old habitat, and we hoped Alan would not notice. That night Alan slept with some friends, so the new Pel2 had some time to adapt to the new surroundings, and hopefully it would not be to obvious that there quite a lot of small changes.

Our beloved Pel was still missing, and I decided to sleep in the living room, hoping for some sign or sound when she became active at night. All over our home, at strategic points, I had placed little stacks of sunflower seeds (her favorite food) so I could hopefully verify she was still around. I went across the appartment a few time in the dark, with a flashlight, hoping to see movement, but nothing. Ana was asleep, when I also started to get ready for bed. One last round of the appartment and I would call it a night. Once again I checked all the bedrooms, the bathrooms, the living room underneath all the furniture and finally the kitchen.

I could not believe my eyes. It felt magical. So strange. Pel was there, literarily sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor, looking right at me. She did not move at all, she just looked at me. I gently picked her up, and it felt like Pel had returned home. A massive weight lifted from my shoulders. I gave Pel a kiss, and woke up Ana. We quickly moved Pel2 to a different habitat and retuned Pel back to her home.

During the night I woke up a few times, but hearing Pel running in her wheel gave me a warm happy feeling that made me fall right back to sleep.

August ’25

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Volendam!The children started the month together with Ana at their holiday destination. Alex also celebrated his birthday a little early there, he’s turning 14. After the Spanish holiday park, Ana came to the Netherlands with the children for a week. Ana had to return after a week because her vacation days were over. The children stayed happily with me for a few more weeks.

I spent the whole month in the Netherlands. It was a very pleasant month, and despite the unfortunate reason (Grandma’s knee surgery), I still enjoyed it. We did quite a lot. Visit Leiden and the Hortus. Castle De Haar, Volendam and Marken, Gouda and the cheese market, visits to friends in Ermelo and Wassenaar. Beach walks with kroket and frikandel sandwiches. Getting a smoked paling. Eating a herring with onions. A visit to Space-expo / ESTEC, a zoo with fun red-butted monkeys, ice cream at Likkie, and of course, playing football with some kids from the neighborhood. As far as I’m concerned, it was a successful vacation.

July ’25

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It was a strange month. The first two weeks I had time off with the kids, which meant lots of activities. Some of the highlights were Agualand, Elder, Climbing World, Palmitos Park and Sioux City. After that, I went back to work, and the kids went on vacation with Ana to the Spanish mainland, for a month of sun, beach, and the swimming pool. During the weeks I spend working hard I was even able to find some time for enjoyment, like going for some quality meat at Don Chuleton and visiting the Soul Festival.

After a few weeks of work, I traveled to the Netherlands. The plan was to go sometime in early August, but plans changed. Grandmother Nel is getting a new knee, a major operation, so I decided to head to the Netherlands a bit earlier to lend a helping hand.

Another wants bites the dust

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Wants left!I used a simple spray of water mixed with garlic and onion to spay over the plant… and just like that, the problem was history. My coffee plant is thriving again and growing like crazy!

As for the beetle (in Dutch, the ‘wants’)? It packed its bags. Apparently, it couldn’t stand the stench anymore and the leaves didn’t taste nearly as good. Mission accomplished!