New iPhone questions

[jhmulkey]

Originally Posted by Shades of Blue

The fact that carriers are now forcing me to finance a phone is just ridiculous, and phones are getting so expensive they are forcing the issue. It's like the incredible increase in car prices.

So I plan to use my phone until I can't charge it period. My wife used an iPhone 4 and just paid for a 6s last year. We paid $700 for the phone and if you think about what you are paying with the financing plan over 5-10 years, it's sickening.

Who's your carrier? I'm with AT&T and when I upgraded from the 6 to the 6s Plus, they offered an outright purchase or financing over 1 or more years at no interest.

[GCWaters]

Originally Posted by jhmulkey

Who's your carrier? I'm with AT&T and when I upgraded from the 6 to the 6s Plus, they offered an outright purchase or financing over 1 or more years at no interest.

Verizon offers 2 years, no interest...

[Puerto Player]

Your husband sounds like PITA, I'd dump him.

[Shades of Blue]

Originally Posted by jhmulkey

Who's your carrier? I'm with AT&T and when I upgraded from the 6 to the 6s Plus, they offered an outright purchase or financing over 1 or more years at no interest.

I'm with Sprint, and yes I can purchase outright, but there is no reason to purchase from Sprint if I'm paying full price. I can "lease" the phone but then I don't own the phone until I pay it off.

My point is that we are talking about phones, not automobiles and houses. It's getting ridiculous IMHO, YMMV. I'd rather put $800 towards a guitar.

[imwjl]

Originally Posted by Shades of Blue

I'm afraid I won't be of much help. I have a 6 and don't have great battery life, but I'm not wasting anymore money on phones than I have to.

The fact that carriers are now forcing me to finance a phone is just ridiculous, and phones are getting so expensive they are forcing the issue. It's like the incredible increase in car prices.

So I plan to use my phone until I can't charge it period. My wife used an iPhone 4 and just paid for a 6s last year. We paid $700 for the phone and if you think about what you are paying with the financing plan over 5-10 years, it's sickening.

No more for me. I'll use it until I can't:

Oh and I'm so freakin deep in the Apple ecosystem that the thought of changing to Android is mind boggling. Add to that the loss of a headphone jack and I'm content with what I have.

Maybe I don't fully understand that and can help. With 750+ employees I'm buying company items but also help staff a lot.

The purchase you describe doesn't make sense for popular US carriers. That seems logical for a phone purchase. You should only have your monthly carrier costs unless you did some sort of unusual financing to then buy a phone outright.

Forcing you to finance was the old world of plans and phone purchases tied together. Now you can buy a phone by itself and everything is transparent except for some promotions carriers will have. Even when carriers have a finance package truth in lending laws force your being able to know what you're getting.

The headphone jack is for the most part a non-issue that aids the water resistance and battery life. You get corded earphones with Lightening jack as well as an adapter.

The iPhone 6 battery replacement isn't expensive. I have done or had done too many to count. If you go to Apple Store it's a little more money but there are times when you might get a pleasant surprise such as replacement under warranty or if the repair is not done on time a new or refurbished phone.

I've never had an Apple Store replacement or repair not work out well so quite often I'll pay a little more than the independent places. It's too bad a lot more people don't live near the stores because they do such a good job.

[Nama Ensou]

Originally Posted by Shades of Blue

It's getting ridiculous IMHO, YMMV. I'd rather put $800 towards a guitar.

Fortunately you can spend your money on things you want, and others can do the same.

[Shades of Blue]

Originally Posted by Nama Ensou

Fortunately you can spend your money on things you want, and others can do the same.

That's why I said "I'd rather" and added YMMV....no need to be redundant

[Shades of Blue]

Originally Posted by imwjl

Maybe I don't fully understand that and can help. With 750+ employees I'm buying company items but also help staff a lot.



The purchase you describe doesn't make sense for popular US carriers. That seems logical for a phone purchase. You should only have your monthly carrier costs unless you did some sort of unusual financing to then buy a phone outright.



Forcing you to finance was the old world of plans and phone purchases tied together. Now you can buy a phone by itself and everything is transparent except for some promotions carriers will have. Even when carriers have a finance package truth in lending laws force your being able to know what you're getting.



The headphone jack is for the most part a non-issue that aids the water resistance and battery life. You get corded earphones with Lightening jack as well as an adapter.



The iPhone 6 battery replacement isn't expensive. I have done or had done too many to count. If you go to Apple Store it's a little more money but there are times when you might get a pleasant surprise such as replacement under warranty or if the repair is not done on time a new or refurbished phone.



I've never had an Apple Store replacement or repair not work out well so quite often I'll pay a little more than the independent places. It's too bad a lot more people don't live near the stores because they do such a good job.

Thanks and you are correct in your opinions. Mine is simply that rather than do all that and bend to my carrier, I'll keep my 6 until it dies. That's all I'm really getting at.

When I wanted a new phone in previous years with Sprint all I had to do was pay $200 and sign a two year contract. Simple as that. Now I've been told that they no longer offer at that option and I have to either pay $30 a month, or buy the phone out right. So I will be buying the phone out right from now on because I'll be darned if I'm going to pay monthly for iPhone when I'm already paying gobs of money for my plan.

Perhaps my beef is mainly with Sprint but I'm just so tired of the fact that everyone has to get a new phone every year just because they removed a headphone jack and increased the Megapixels on the camera. Woohoo.

My parents and family got along fine without cell phones and now I've got $200 out of my monthly check because we feel we have to have them. Just silly.

Anyways, enough of my old man opinions at the ripe old age of 31. I guess what I'm saying is I'm just out of touch if one of the determining factors in my choice of cell phone is whether or not it fits in my pants....

[AX17609]

Originally Posted by Shades of Blue

I guess what I'm saying is I'm just out of touch if one of the determining factors in my choice of cell phone is whether or not it fits in my pants....

I guess we'll just have to disagree on this point. I easily can think of 10 functional features of a cell phone that I could live without. But, if I can't conveniently carry it around, it's of no use to me at all. Portability is issue #1.

[Nama Ensou]

Originally Posted by Shades of Blue

...no need to be redundant

No need for you to come into the thread and be so down on people who want the newer products. We already know the naysayers abound, so redundancy kind of starts there I'd say.

[Nama Ensou]

Originally Posted by AX17609

I easily can think of 10 functional features of a cell phone that I could live without. But, if I can't conveniently carry it around, it's of no use to me at all. Portability is issue #1.

It seems that the whole focus on whether my older phone can run all the coolest apps is completely out of touch. I'm fully interested in a faster phone, but I'm also interested in a more portable option as well.

Just say no to desktops in your pocket.

[Shades of Blue]

Originally Posted by Nama Ensou

No need for you to come into the thread and be so down on people who want the newer products. We already know the naysayers abound, so redundancy kind of starts there I'd say.

I dunno, I thought I was griping about my carrier and I don't think I was down about anyone. I'm sorry you don't see my underlying point that cell phone makers and carriers are going the way of automobile manufacturers and are making products that are so expensive that financing will soon be the only way to afford a phone that has such minor upgrades over the "obsolete" models of last year.

The OP wants to spend hundreds of dollars on new phones when they already have iPhone 6. My opinion is to fix the battery issue and stop feeling like we have to have the latest and greatest phones. Someone else already said that swapping out batteries is easy and I can agree because I've done it.

Phone makers should be making their products more affordable as time goes on as technology gets better. Remember when a basic laptop cost well over $1000? Remember when the first digital cameras were outrageous? Remember when a blu ray player was $500? Remember when a 720p HDTV cost $1000?

But no, cell phone companies are increasing profit margins yearly without doing anything to really deserve it. My iPhone 6 was miles ahead of the HTC Evo I used for years. But even with iPhone X I see nothing that really is so revolutionary that makes me want to run and give Apple $1000. Sorry if that offends you.

And yes, if buying the latest cell phone technology is your thing, then do what makes you happy. (This is my YMMV disclaimer)

[AX17609]

Originally Posted by Shades of Blue

Phone makers should be making their products more affordable as time goes on as technology gets better. Remember when a basic laptop cost well over $1000? Remember when the first digital cameras were outrageous? Remember when a blu ray player was $500? Remember when a 720p HDTV cost $1000?

The iPhone SE has at least 10x the capability of the original iPhone at about 1/2 the cost. It's also smaller than a deck of cards, so transportability is not an issue. In fact, the original iPhone fit so neatly in pocket of a pair of jeans that I'm convinced its diminutive size was an important design criterion. Competing phones were more bulky.

More modern phones (including your iPhone 6) provide a larger screen, and it's the issues associated with that larger screen that is the focus of this thread. At some point cellular technology grows to a size that's too large to carry around, and the phone loses one of its essential features. So, the balance between size and essential features is the critical issue.

The X is an important step in returning the cell phone to its diminutive roots. For my money, if they put the full screen, home-buttonless design in an SE, they'd have a perfect product. I have little doubt that this is where they're going.

[Shades of Blue]

Originally Posted by AX17609

The iPhone SE has at least 10x the capability of the original iPhone at about 1/2 the cost. It's also smaller than a deck of cards, so transportability is not an issue. In fact, the original iPhone fit so neatly in pocket of a pair of jeans that I'm convinced its diminutive size was an important design criterion. Competing phones were more bulky.

More modern phones (including your iPhone 6) provide a larger screen, and it's the issues associated with that larger screen that is the focus of this thread. At some point cellular technology grows to a size that's too large to carry around, and the phone loses one of its essential features. So, the balance between size and essential features is the critical issue.

The X is an important step in returning the cell phone to its diminutive roots. For my money, if they put the full screen, home-buttonless design in an SE, they'd have a perfect product. I have little doubt that this is where they're going.

Good point. I've never had an issue with my 6 fitting into pockets. It's just a non issue with what I wear. I've borrowed my brothers 7+ just to see how it fits and it does get large for some of my dress pants, but he wears the belt clip.

Maybe my pants just have big pockets lol

[imwjl]

Originally Posted by Shades of Blue

But no, cell phone companies are increasing profit margins yearly without doing anything to really deserve it. My iPhone 6 was miles ahead of the HTC Evo I used for years. But even with iPhone X I see nothing that really is so revolutionary that makes me want to run and give Apple $1000. Sorry if that offends you.

And yes, if buying the latest cell phone technology is your thing, then do what makes you happy. (This is my YMMV disclaimer)

Margins is a different story but I watch that a bit because my Roth IRA happens to have the major TELCOs and tech platform companies. They're all under pressure in different ways. Just consider how this is all mature technology now.

The mobile carriers have done a lot to make the prices worth the bill but many are in circumstances where they might not realize or obviously see or feel that.

This morning's Wall St. Journal app and site has some good articles and data on the high level issues here. The first smile was reading Veblen goods.

Some stats in the article worth considering are smart phone market penetration or ownership. It's truly most people in the US and Europe and growing to be 80% in the rest of the world pretty soon. Even though price for two premium offerings (Samsung, Apple) has climbed the article points out the doubling of component costs for the new top tier phone from Apple.

I got another smile when a tech article said the top of the X phone is like a miniaturized Microsoft Kinect.

You don't have to have or like this stuff. My wife's attraction to the new LTE Apple Watch is telling. At end of this week some people will be ditching their phones for parts or much of their lives.

Maybe some don't see or feel the changes because they're not in the significant percentage who travel more than ever. That's not just travel for pleasure. Early in my career travel for work was much more a white collar if not truck driver or construction worker thing. Not any more. Vacation travel outside the US is not so elite anymore. Many including me are in the world of virtual office. The carriers and devices have improved a lot.