New iPhone questions

[imwjl]

Originally Posted by AX17609

That's a great recommendations...thanks!

Be careful if you have a teens. My stick with a theme or brand dressing can embarrass them.

[Chicago Sandy]

Well, I can hold out till Nov., but Bob can’t—his 6, circa 2014, is barely usable except as a pager, alarm clock, speaker phone or streaming radio (plugged in at that). Part of it is that stupid LifeProof case (which causes, alternately, muffled speech and screechy howling), but the other part is the hospital’s ultimatum to switch to Verizon. Silly to port a crummy phone over to a new carrier when he can get late-2017 tech that he doesn’t have to be afraid to wear in the rain.

Cases will still be necessary, however, for the 7, 8 or X line because of that glass back—and acc. to the NYTimes “Wirecutter” column, many of the slimmer ones didn’t protect the phone from being dropped less than even a 2 meter height on to a wooden floor. If a phone slips out of a pocket, it could be trashed (as kept happening to a succession of Samsung Galaxys Gordy owned—currently using a refurb S7 for which he had to pay a $200 deductible on the replacement insurance plan, because he’s not upgrade-eligible yet). Or fall out, get lost or stolen from a pants pocket. That’s why Bob likes to keep his phone in a shirt or jacket pocket. As I mentioned earlier, his idea of a leisure wardrobe is wearing a more colorful dress shirt, ditching the tie & opening the collar. Even his scrubs have shirt pockets.

I used to have an HTC One, and it was about the size of an iPhone Plus even without its Otterbox case (which was really fun whenever I had to yank the battery to reboot it when Android froze). And yeah, I was an early adopter on that one. Fool me once...

The NYTimes is speculating that the X will draw buyers to the store, but most will buy the 8 or 8+.

My experience with the MacBooks is just the opposite—I like the larger ones for home use (the 15” Pro) and the Air (11”) for travel. The latter fits in either my travel tote or the computer compartment of my Voyage-Air case and weighs less than half as much as the Pro (which I flew with once—my back still twinges when I think about walking through the Denver airport with my V-A on my back). But the Air has tiny fonts which get blurry if I enlarge them. What I may well do computer-wise is get the best MacBook or Pro—with multiple USB-C ports—that combines storage and small footprint, and use it as my one & only laptop. But we’re talking at least Christmas for that.

[imwjl]

Originally Posted by Chicago Sandy

Well, I can hold out till Nov., but Bob can’t—his 6, circa 2014, is barely usable except as a pager, alarm clock, speaker phone or streaming radio (plugged in at that). Part of it is that stupid LifeProof case (which causes, alternately, muffled speech and screechy howling), but the other part is the hospital’s ultimatum to switch to Verizon. Silly to port a crummy phone over to a new carrier when he can get late-2017 tech that he doesn’t have to be afraid to wear in the rain.

Cases will still be necessary, however, for the 7, 8 or X line because of that glass back—and acc. to the NYTimes “Wirecutter” column, many of the slimmer ones didn’t protect the phone from being dropped less than even a 2 meter height on to a wooden floor. If a phone slips out of a pocket, it could be trashed (as kept happening to a succession of Samsung Galaxys Gordy owned—currently using a refurb S7 for which he had to pay a $200 deductible on the replacement insurance plan, because he’s not upgrade-eligible yet). Or fall out, get lost or stolen from a pants pocket. That’s why Bob likes to keep his phone in a shirt or jacket pocket. As I mentioned earlier, his idea of a leisure wardrobe is wearing a more colorful dress shirt, ditching the tie & opening the collar. Even his scrubs have shirt pockets.

I used to have an HTC One, and it was about the size of an iPhone Plus even without its Otterbox case (which was really fun whenever I had to yank the battery to reboot it when Android froze). And yeah, I was an early adopter on that one. Fool me once...

The NYTimes is speculating that the X will draw buyers to the store, but most will buy the 8 or 8+.

My experience with the MacBooks is just the opposite—I like the larger ones for home use (the 15” Pro) and the Air (11”) for travel. The latter fits in either my travel tote or the computer compartment of my Voyage-Air case and weighs less than half as much as the Pro (which I flew with once—my back still twinges when I think about walking through the Denver airport with my V-A on my back). But the Air has tiny fonts which get blurry if I enlarge them. What I may well do computer-wise is get the best MacBook or Pro—with multiple USB-C ports—that combines storage and small footprint, and use it as my one & only laptop. But we’re talking at least Christmas for that.

We deploy mobile by the dozens to staff and have hundreds who use their devices with our cloud. I know well how silly the big fat cases are. I still see broken glass and don't like handling them. Cases like Incipio NGP are not too fat and easy to remove. I don't see those glass protectors saving phones much if any more than thin plastic ones that cost a few $. YMMV but I'm not buying cases that cost almost as much as a repair that make using the phone unpleasant.

[Herb Hunter]

Originally Posted by AmericanEagle

I just heard the latest iPhone coming out will be $999
Who in their right mind would spend a grand on a phone?

Those that realize that an iPhone is a computer with a built-in phone function.

The original iPhone cost $600 when introduced in 2007. That is the approximate equivalent of $716 in today’s dollars.

[seannx]

I'm staying with my 6s+. It works just fine for my needs, and the only advantage to getting a 7 or 8 would be water resistance.

[Chicago Sandy]

We had “the talk.” Bob decided he didn’t want to wait for the X (turns out we’ll both need to learn OS 11 whichever phone we buy) and didn’t see an appreciable difference in font and onscreen key sizes between the 8+ and his 6. He doesn’t need the extra battery life of the 8+ over the 8, since even the 8 has longer battery life than his 6 & my 6S. We talked about the difference in the cameras, and he said if we travel together, only one of us needs the gee-whiz photographic bells & whistles of the 8+, and that would be me. So he doesn’t care what color he gets, and I want the gold.

Sat down, credit card in hand—hey, it’s the 15th already—about to pull the trigger on the pair o’phones, two cases & screen protectors, and a set of AirPods…only to get the error message “we’re getting the Apple Store ready for you!” So just like Ticketmaster, gotta get up early before they sell out. Grrrrr….

[Silly Moustache]

Hi Sandy et al, (good to see you back again BTW) I'm sitting here at my desktop running Windows 7, with a wry smile on my face.

I'm so glad that I'm retired and don't need a smart phone, and haven't been sucked into this game of planned obsolescence.

I bought one, about three years - entry level Samsung which never wrked properly, and eventually had them disable ALL the back ground communications so that it just works to send /receive calls and texts, although I rarely use it for anything.

Anyway good luck with what a similarly primitive friend of mine still calls "Field telephones".

[imwjl]

Originally Posted by Chicago Sandy

We had “the talk.” Bob decided he didn’t want to wait for the X (turns out we’ll both need to learn OS 11 whichever phone we buy) and didn’t see an appreciable difference in font and onscreen key sizes between the 8+ and his 6. He doesn’t need the extra battery life of the 8+ over the 8, since even the 8 has longer battery life than his 6 & my 6S. We talked about the difference in the cameras, and he said if we travel together, only one of us needs the gee-whiz photographic bells & whistles of the 8+, and that would be me. So he doesn’t care what color he gets, and I want the gold.

Sat down, credit card in hand—hey, it’s the 15th already—about to pull the trigger on the pair o’phones, two cases & screen protectors, and a set of AirPods…only to get the error message “we’re getting the Apple Store ready for you!” So just like Ticketmaster, gotta get up early before they sell out. Grrrrr….

I'm sure you'll really like the dual camera setup. That is a really strong reason for 7 Plus or newer.

If you're not there already, consider some apps that go beyond the stock camera app. They bring features you might know from a high level dedicated camera. Some have editing capabilities such as very good at straightening edges in addition to features most apps have. There are some that are ideal for video.

ProCam and FILMIC Pro for video have been leaders but there are other greats. Camera+ was an early better than stock camera app that has always had good features. I don't use it but Microsoft's camera app has a great reputation for automating improvements and the latest version has added the scanning that Office 365 elements have. If you don't have a dedicated scanning app that would be a quality developer's app giving you multi-function. Some apps shoot or give you raw files so you have far more data there for editing photos.

How good for the dual camera setup is probably answered by how rare it is that I use my SLR bodies, lenses and flash units. I don't do any more professional photography but I have to do quality documentation all the time. I'll make a raw image if the light is poor. I'll use the straighten feature in ProCam. It used to be time saving to have DSLRs and Adobe Lightroom. It was dedicated staff and at times printers - printing businesses - before that. Now the iPhone prepares and prints a document I'll take to boardroom or city hall.

You might also appreciate a full cloud-integrated office suite with the upgrade. If your husband's job has 365 or G Suite set up the apps. You might appreciate one of the home and family licenses. At minimum consider a few shared notes with Apple's own notes app.

[AX17609]

I wonder how Steve Jobs would have come down on the size issue. He died about the time Siri was integrated into the iPhone 4S, so phones were still small. I'm having a hard time imaging him carrying a Plus-size phone in his jeans.

[imwjl]

Originally Posted by AX17609

I wonder how Steve Jobs would have come down on the size issue. He died about the time Siri was integrated into the iPhone 4S, so phones were still small. I'm having a hard time imaging him carrying a Plus-size phone in his jeans.

I don't know but I still handle 4S phones we use and are finally getting rid of for a vendor's retail app. They're more of a lump in your pocket just because they're thick and the glass backs require a case.

As soon as bigger screens were an option I saw our hundreds of employees going for or wanting them. As soon as better versions came there was more adoption. In the last year the 7 Plus showed up in greater numbers than I expected. I'm guilty of the latter. It wasn't just execs going for them. That dual camera bulge seemed as or more popular with student part-timers in the break rooms than the c suite.

My guess is Steve Jobs would not stop a major contributor to the bottom line of what is so some extent a one product company now.

Apple has almost always packaged and polished a lot of components that already existed and made great versions of things people liked or wanted. Having used early big screen Android phones I'll say that's what a Plus phone is.

[jhmulkey]

Originally Posted by AX17609

I wonder how Steve Jobs would have come down on the size issue. He died about the time Siri was integrated into the iPhone 4S, so phones were still small. I'm having a hard time imaging him carrying a Plus-size phone in his jeans.

I've owned the 3GS, 4s, 6, and 6s Plus (current phone), and as much as I like the size of the 6s+, the 6 size (4.7 in. screen) seemed just about the perfect balance between size and ease of pocket-carrying/using. But I'm still torn as to what I will get next...if I were forced to buy today, it would be the 8 Plus due to the more advanced camera than the 8.

[AX17609]

Originally Posted by AX17609

I wonder how Steve Jobs would have come down on the size issue. He died about the time Siri was integrated into the iPhone 4S, so phones were still small. I'm having a hard time imaging him carrying a Plus-size phone in his jeans.

I was just watching the video of the original 2007 iPhone release, and I was getting misty-eyed for the elegance of his vision. I have the sneaking suspicion he wouldn't have released the Plus models before he solved the Home button problem. When I look at the X, I see the artful simplicity that Jobs loved.

[Chicago Sandy]

Placed my online order (iPhone 8 Plus, Air Pods, and some accessories) at 2:30 am last night. (My credit card has been charged). The phone is to be picked up on 9/22 at my local brick & mortar Apple Store, the accessories to be shipped to me; and as to the Air Pods, it said “Available today for pickup.” At 3:25 am I got an e-mail from Apple headed “We’re processing your order number XXXXXXX.” Under “items to be picked up,” Air Pods listed as “Available Today.” and “we’ll notify you when these items are ready.”

Next e-mails were my receipt, my carrier’s confirmation of service plan, etc. No “come & get ‘em” texts or e-mails from Apple all day, but I set out at 5:30 pm for the Apple Store to pick up my Air Pods, figuring that I would arrive at 6. Surely, since the e-mail said as of 3:25 am they were “processing” my order, it would have been “processed” by fifteen freaking hours later, right?

Nope. Slogged 10 miles through rush hour traffic only to have a staff member say “we don’t have your order in the system.” I showed him the e-mail, and he confirmed “yes we have the Air Pods in stock.” He looked up the order number, and each item came up “we have received your order and payment information and will soon be processing your order.” I asked What (in politer language) is happening. He said “Maybe there’s something wrong with your credit card?” I replied that if that were the case, it would have been rejected and I wouldn’t have gotten a confirmation and an e-mail that my order was “being processed” as of 15 hrs. earlier. So I said, "OK, there’s a pair of Air Pods on the shelf—I reserved them & paid for them. and you have more in stock. Can’t I have them?” He replied no, they have to go by what’s in the system and have no way to get deeper into Apple’s records to determine what’s up.

So I said, “Fine. Sell me those Air Pods right now and I’ll cancel the ones I bought online.” He said that was what he was going to suggest. Simple, right? Not so fast—we got to the Order Status page only to find every single item in my order “cannot be edited or canceled.” I clicked the "Why?” link and got the “We received your order and payment information and will soon…and once we have processed your order you can cancel or edit it.” I couldn’t even theoretically cancel the order as a whole—because mousing over the “Cancel" link at the top of the page brought up the same message. I almost lost it, until the Sales “Genius” suggested I call Apple Customer Service.

After holding for 15 min. (during which time I was able to pick out a new computer & accessories) I got a live human being. I read him my order number and told him my address, and he confirmed my order & payment info was received but hadn’t even begun to be processed. (By now it was 16 hrs. after that e-mail). I asked if it was anything wrong with my credit card. He sighed and admitted that ever since midnight Apple's online ordering & processing servers have been “swamped” and he had no idea how long it would take to process my (or anyone else’s) order, regardless of what that e-mail said. It is entirely possible that nobody’s phones will be available by a week from now (and that my accessories will not have shipped to me).

I bought the AirPods and the MacBook Pro I was going to buy anyway…with the same credit card…and it was “Approved” on the spot. When (and if) the phone comes in next week (I had to make an appointment to pick it up), I will then “return” the Air Pods on the order for a refund.

Due to past history of major product rollout snafus, Apple should have anticipated this. There is no excuse. (And if there is an afterlife, Steve Jobs’ ghost is probably muttering “Idiots!”).

[Nama Ensou]

Originally Posted by JosephW

I'm taking my 5s and hiding in Obsolescenseville.

My 4s is still working everyday! Want to replace it soon, but you're still a year or two newer than my 3G CDMA dinosaurus!

[Nama Ensou]

Originally Posted by AmericanEagle

Who in their right mind would spend a grand on a phone?

Who in their right mind would tell others what to do, much less in a thread started for a particular product.