Smartphone Shake Up

Plus: Git Help, Touchscreen Origins, and more!

Author

David Thurman
March 27, 2025

Morning folks! This is Beyond Code - the newsletter designed to help developers build their careers, one Thursday at a time.

Note: This newsletter is not sponsored. Any websites/tools/apps we recommend are purely because we enjoy them personally

Did You Know…

Touchscreens Have Been Around Since the 1960s

Eric Johnson’s 1965 touch screen

The first finger-driven touch screen was invented by E.A. Johnson in 1965 at the Royal Radar Establishment in England.

And despite being 60+ years old, touchscreens still manage to confuse grandparents everywhere.

Handy Coding Tool

Visualize Git History - GitLens

GitLens

Navigating your Git history shouldn’t feel like deciphering hieroglyphs. GitLens is a powerful VS Code extension that makes exploring your repository’s history a breeze.

Key Features:

  • Annotates code with blame information.

  • Visualizes branch and file histories.

  • Supports Git and GitHub seamlessly.

Tech Highlights

Not All Smartphones Are the Same - Exploring Unique Innovations

Xiaomi’ Concept Modular Camera

Here are some standout smartphones that break the conventional mold:

  • Xiaomi 15 Modular Concept: A DSLR in Your Pocket - At this year’s MWC, Xiaomi showed off a new concept phone that allows you attach modular camera lenses, turning your phone into a pro photography tool. (The Verge)

  • BOOX Palma 2: The E-Ink Smartphone - This device blends a smartphone with an e-reader, featuring a 6.13-inch E Ink display for a paper-like reading experience, all running on Android. Perfect for distraction-free use. (BO

    OX)

  • Huawei Mate XT: A Phone That Folds Three Times - Huawei’s Mate XT Ultimate Design is the first tri-fold phone, unfolding to 10.2 inches for a tablet-sized screen that still fits in your pocket. (Huawei)

  • Nothing Phone (3a): Budget Phone, Premium Looks - The Nothing Phone (3a) and 3a Pro bring high-end design and AI features to the mid-range market, with a 120Hz AMOLED display and Snapdragon 7s Gen 3. (Wired)

But if this seems like too much change, don’t worry - Apple will continue releasing the same phone every year

Programming Tip

Version Control is Your Friend

Always use version control, even for personal projects. It’s like having a time machine for your code—you’ll thank yourself later.

Why It Helps:

  • Undo mistakes: Roll back to a previous state if something breaks.

  • Collaboration: Makes working with others seamless.

  • Documentation: Commit messages serve as a history of changes.

  • Safety Net: Never lose you entire project if your laptop randomly bricks

Ask the Experts

“What do you think are the most important qualities for a software development team to have in order to be successful?”

Trust is a big part of what makes developer teams successful. If team members can bring up problems and trust that they will be heard and addressed, the team is able to fix issues much more quickly.

Aubrey Rhodes, Chief Technology Officer @ Workful

Open Source Highlight

Manage Your Time Like an Overworked Developer - WakaTime

If you find yourself outside in the world too often, why not try making your coding time a competition? WakaTime is an open-source plugin that tracks how much time you spend coding. It gives you detailed reports on how you spend your time across projects, so you can improve productivity.

Why It’s Awesome:

  • Supports most popular IDEs.

  • Tracks coding languages and project activity.

  • Visualizes your progress with detailed charts.

What’s Open Source?
“Open sourced projects” refer to projects that have their code open to the public. They allow anyone to contribute to the project and help maintain it. Not only are they a great way to get hands on experience early on in your career, they also provide you a way to add bigger projects to your resume!

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Pop Quiz

What Prints When You Run This Python Code?

x = [1, 2, 3]
y = x
y.append(4)
print(x)

A) [1, 2, 3]
B) [1, 2, 3, 4]
C) [1, 2, 3] but y contains [1, 2, 3, 4]
D) An error occurs

Find the answer at the bottom of the newsletter!

Rate this weeks newsletter:

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Pop Quiz Answer: B) [1, 2, 3, 4] – y is just a reference to x, so modifying y also affects x.

If you want to copy x by value in Python, use: 

y = x.copy()