“WOW!”

—That’s what I keep saying. (And not “zow-eee, wow-eee.”)
Unholster new i11Pro, look at it, it looks at me, and BAM!
Instantaneous unlock.
Sometimes it unlocks without my looking at it.
This solves the most irksome problem I had with my i6. The fingerprint thingy no longer worked — it was probably my protective case, which made it erratic from the start.
Then I have to key in the unlock code on my i6’s virtual keyboard, which for a stroke-survivor is always a shot-in-the-dark. And of course what you typed is invisible. Figger two or more tries over a minute or more. I’m supposed to use Siri to find the nearest Taco-Bell, with my brother lunging the car all around?
With my new i11Pro all I gotta do is take it out.
Can you say facial recognition?
It that worth $1,009.42?
In a word: YES!
Fortunately I can afford 1,000 smackaroos.
No Corvette, no speedboat, no motor-home, no kids to put through college. All my wife and I ever did was save-save-save.
I may even be able to pay for it out of current funds.
I coulda bought an i11; that’s only two lenses instead of three.
That’s me, the aging photographer. The third lens is zoomable telephoto. The first two are normal and wide-angle. Don’t know if the zoomer is digital or actual.
That third lens cost 3-4 hundred more. I already was impressed by the camera in my i6. Resolution is only 72 pixels-per-inch, but picture-files are so big one can crop without getting jaggies. (“Jaggies” are when a picture “pixilates;” The pixels are made so large they become visible.)
I keep telling people my iPhone is the best camera I own. (I also own a Nikon D7000.)
All I hafta do is aim-and-shoot; everything is automatic.
“Robert-John, ya forgot yer flash!” (That’s my 89-year-old aunt.)
“Don’t need it!” I say. Given enough light my iPhone will shoot available-light indoors.
My i6 was great fun once I got it unlocked.
I wasn’t doing much with it. Just my grocery lists, photos, texting, and Siri commands. I used it to GPS too, but most times the GPS is already in-my-head, and that GPS-lady better agree.
(“What you been smokin’, girl?”)
The Apple-store was mayhem. It was Sunday afternoon, and the place was mobbed.
I was accosted by a greeter as soon as I walked in. He directed me to a far-away table. I was then accosted by number-two, also a greeter, as I walked toward the table. She led me to the table.
I was carrying this laptop. “What do you need? A data-transfer between computers?” —That was techie number-three, the girl running the table. (I guess that table was ‘pyooter-to-‘pyooter data transfer.)
Then came techie number-four: “Yer number-four,” I cried. Four techies within a minute, and none were who I was appointed to see.
“I’m switching from this i6 to an i11Pro,” I said.
“Wrong table,” said number-four, as I was led to another.
This ancient laptop, which I carried, weighs a ton; and I ain’t young.
“So what’s your laptop for?”
“I was told to bring it.”
“If everything is on the cloud we don’t need it.”
“Thought so,” I said.
“All we’re transferring is data from yer i6.”
Such transfers and setup take hours. During which time Techie Number-Four fiddled other customers.
I sat and waited: “Do I hit ‘continue?’” This was only occasional = lotta thumb-twiddling.
“I got a dog waiting at home,” I kept thinking.
At least four customers came-and-went during my setup. My e-mail wasn’t showing a number of folders, which meant Techie Number-Five, a guru specializing in ‘pyooter wisdom. We logged into my mail-server, and that solved that hairball.
“My grocery-lists have to be the same, and the ones I had weren’t on ‘the cloud.’” So we “clouded” ’em.
“Well,” I said; “I guess that’s everything.” I shook number-four’s hand, even though he was already helping someone else.
Earlier I said to him: “I’m 75 years old, and I ain’t dead yet.” Wife gone, as is my balance, plus I live in a house full of junk.
But I expect at least five-seven years out of this i11Pro.
More-than-likely it’ll be antique by 2025. —No icons by then, all voice-command. No “home” button on my i11.
“What I need more than anything is a bathroom.” Two-three hours with no bathroom is a bit much for one lacking a prostate.
At least I was sitting = “Get off yer feet!”

• I had a stroke October 26th, 1993 from an undiagnosed heart-defect since repaired. I pretty much recovered. Just tiny detriments; I can pass for never having had a stroke.
• “Siri” (“Sear-eee”) is Apple’s iPhone assistant. It works by voice-command. “I need a Taco-Bell in Altoona, PA.” “Here, check it out!”
• My beloved wife of over 44 years died of cancer April 17th, 2012. I still miss her. BEST friend I ever had, and after my childhood I needed one. She actually liked me.
• Perhaps 4-5 years ago my prostate was removed as cancerous.