Thoughts on Apple's new products?

AggieMike88 said:
A Business Insider article: http://www.businessinsider.com/is-the-iphone-x-worth-1000-2017-9

"...is the iPhone X worth $1,000?

Before I answer that, here's my general philosophy when buying a smartphone: You should always get the very best phone you can afford. Your phone is the only thing you use all day, every day, and it's one of the few things in life where you shouldn't be thrifty."​
Click to expand...

Depends on what you do all day. My phone is sitting on the desk next to me, charging. My wife or daughters may or may not text me as some point, most days they do not. Shortly before I leave I will text my wife that I am going running, and I have to call back an insurance adjuster. That's all the phone will get used for. If someone wants my attention here at work, they will either stop by, call my desk phone, send an email, or send me a Slack message. I have a three year old Moto X that cost $400 after rebate. I may replace it next year or I may not, it's working fine. My wife and daughters all have IPhones, they cost $750 each and I require that they keep them a minimum of three years. My wife will keep hers until the battery won't keep a charge, my daughters will probably want new phones after that three years is up.

I don't personally use Apple products, I think they're overpriced and I don't like their user interface, but they are good quality.
 
I bought an iPad pro to replace my Mini because Garmin Pilot has more features there. But I still find iOS clunky to use for simple things like downloading a PDF and wanting to be able to open it in either Acrobat or GoodReader depending on which one works best for that particular PDF, similarly with videos. So it's not going to become my phone of choice and apparently I'm still one of 3 people in the world who wants expandable storage(microSD) and a 3.5mm jack.
 
cowman said:
I wonder how the carriers will handle it- will it need it's own plan and phone number or can you share it with your phone?
Click to expand...

I think they specifically said the watch would use your same phone number. There's no SIM slot, but a virtual SIM in the watch. I think it was heavily implied that carriers might impose an additional charge.

As an aside, the event should be up on the Apple site if anyone still wants to check it out.
 
Gonna wait on the coming iPhone XXX, I hear it will have really cool features. ;)
 
Does the facial recognition require visible light? If so, what level? How will you unlock your phone in dark? Maybe it's IR?
 
I've got a 5S, and I only know its a 5S because I asked it. It is getting a bit slow with some of the programs I use, I might upgrade to a 7. I'm not getting an X since I don't feel like spending a grand on a phone. I was discussing this with Ms. Steingar. I think my phone is only two or three years old and cost a lot of money. That makes my phone budget something on the order of $200-300/year. But then I realized that I was spending quite a bit more than that on the plans to run the stupid things. I'm thinking about just bailing on the whole thing and gong back to a flip phone or something. If Mrs. Steingar wants a smartphone she can pay for it.

Problem is, the phone is the backup if the iPad dies in flight.
 
FormerHangie said:
Depends on what you do all day. My phone is sitting on the desk next to me, charging. My wife or daughters may or may not text me as some point, most days they do not. Shortly before I leave I will text my wife that I am going running, and I have to call back an insurance adjuster. That's all the phone will get used for. If someone wants my attention here at work, they will either stop by, call my desk phone, send an email, or send me a Slack message. I have a three year old Moto X that cost $400 after rebate. I may replace it next year or I may not, it's working fine. My wife and daughters all have IPhones, they cost $750 each and I require that they keep them a minimum of three years. My wife will keep hers until the battery won't keep a charge, my daughters will probably want new phones after that three years is up.

I don't personally use Apple products, I think they're overpriced and I don't like their user interface, but they are good quality.
Click to expand...

Speaking of phones, I just got a text from my wife: "I'm sick, you're in charge."
 
steingar said:
I've got a 5S, and I only know its a 5S because I asked it. It is getting a bit slow with some of the programs I use, I might upgrade to a 7. I'm not getting an X since I don't feel like spending a grand on a phone. I was discussing this with Ms. Steingar. I think my phone is only two or three years old and cost a lot of money. That makes my phone budget something on the order of $200-300/year. But then I realized that I was spending quite a bit more than that on the plans to run the stupid things. I'm thinking about just bailing on the whole thing and gong back to a flip phone or something. If Mrs. Steingar wants a smartphone she can pay for it.

Problem is, the phone is the backup if the iPad dies in flight.
Click to expand...

A cheap tablet or netbook would be more useful. Plus how many backups do you really need?

Tim
 
Meh. And this from someone who still has the 1984 Mac and many more that followed. My iPhone 5 is just fine.
 
Going to get an 8 only because my lease has been up for 2 months and I have been waiting for the new reveal as the buyout cost on my 6S is too high to me and won't come down any more than it has so I am losing money now by leasing it further.
 
Stewartb said:
Facial recognition in the 21st century is scary stuff. Now put it into a phone that offers to transfer money easily. Bad guy bonks you on the head, or worse. Holds your phone in front of your face to ooen it. Messages away your money. How is that a good thing?
Click to expand...
Apparently your eyes do have to be open for it to unlock.
 
I have a 6s and it still works fine. I only wish it was smaller. Too bad I didn't wait for the SE, but the 5 I had started to come from together, so I couldn't wait. The one thing that was a "meh" for me when I first got it was the fingerprint sensor. Now it's my favorite feature.
 
Nothing revolutionary. I am.ordering a X cuz my efb dont run on droid

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
 
Love the SE form factor. Zero desire to upgrade. $1000 for a phone?????

Cheers
 
X3 Skier said:
Love the SE form factor. Zero desire to upgrade. $1000 for a phone?????

Cheers
Click to expand...

To be fair, I think most of these devices spend most of their time doing things other than making calls. I know mine does.

They're probably best described as pocket computers.

Not so long ago you'd spend that much just for a camera as capable as these devices.
 
I'm still fond of my $39 motorola flip phone. Does everything I want. And if I drop or lose it, so what?
 
FastEddieB said:
To be fair, I think most of these devices spend most of their time doing things other than making calls. I know mine does.

They're probably best described as pocket computers.

Not so long ago you'd spend that much just for a camera as capable as these devices.
Click to expand...
They are pretty amazing pocket sized devices
  • Text communicator
  • Email client
  • 12 MP camera (x2) (Apple claims more pictures taken daily than all other cameras combined)
  • Pressure sensitive drawing tablet
  • Full GPS aviation navigation and planning tool
  • Scientific calculator (my dad paid something like $500 for an early non scientific model back in the 70's.
  • GPS mapping and navigation for autos (I think I paid over $200 for an early Garmin and the car built ins ran like $1,500)
  • Scanner
  • Fax machine
  • Internet browser
  • Gaming machine
  • Stud finder
  • Level
  • Compass
  • Word processor
  • And much more...
I don't find the iPhone X a big enough jump from my iPhone 7, but if the feature upgrade felt like it had enough value to me I would certainly pay $1,000 for a "phone".
 
Facial recognition to unlock. . .a 3D printer, a couple photos of the owner, from slightly diffrent angles. . .solves some law enforcement issues, if the bad guy is dumb enough to go that route. . .or cloning the phone, then (edited to remove felonious musings)
 
Sundancer said:
Facial recognition to unlock. . .a 3D printer, a couple photos of the owner, from slightly diffrent angles. . .solves some law enforcement issues, if the bad guy is dumb enough to go that route. . .or cloning the phone, then (edited to remove felonious musings)
Click to expand...
They claim it won't work, but will see in real life. More important question I got from a buddy of mine.... so with facial unlock can his wife hold the phone in front of his face while he is sleeping and it will unlock??? For his sake, I hope not. They did demo that if u aren't looking at it, it won't unlock, but donno if it can determine eyes open vs closed.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
 
John221us said:
They are pretty amazing pocket sized device...
  • GPS mapping and navigation for autos (I think I paid over $200 for an early Garmin and the car built ins ran like $1,500)
Click to expand...

An app like WAZE can save time and money by routing around traffic. At least once a warning at night about an object in the road caused me to slow down and then miss a huge bit of tire tread.

GLYMPSE can serve as a poor man's SPOT, keeping folk informed of your location and ETA.

And, like you said, so much more.

Of course, many cheaper devices can run these apps. But the roughly $1/day for the device still seems reasonable to me. But to imply "it's just a phone" is way misleading.
 
Whether it's worth it or not is up for debate but truth be told I will be getting the X most likely. I like that you get a larger screen on a phone the same size as the none plus models. I like the longer battery life and will probably get the max memory one. My phones tend to last me 3-4 years so it's a solid investment.
 
The memory thing is kind of a gotcha, given the big jump from 64gb to 256gb.

I think most would be wise to spring the extra $150(?) for the larger model, rather than regret it later.
 
Stewartb said:
Facial recognition in the 21st century is scary stuff. Now put it into a phone that offers to transfer money easily. Bad guy bonks you on the head, or worse. Holds your phone in front of your face to ooen it. Messages away your money. How is that a good thing?
Click to expand...
The fools who dream this stuff up never seem to think about the downside.
 
As with all the recent Apple product releases, this was another set of small incremental changes. Until Tim Cook leaves, it's going to continue to be this way. There will be no major, ground-breaking releases of anything.

Why? Remember Cook's background is manufacturing. His job was to produce the same product for cheaper. When you replace some small part with another cheaper part, you save millions of dollars at Apple's volumes. Think about their courageous (\s) removal of the headphone jack...they saved lots and lots of money.He was very, very good at that. He was never about bold new crazy stuff. That was Job's forte. Apple self-driving cars would have been something insane enough for Jobs to do. It terrified Cook, so it got killed off. He doesn't want to do something stupid, but with as much cash as Apple has, they should be regularly doing something crazy...a smart kind of crazy like Jobs specialized in.

Apple is a cash engine for shareholders now. That's part of why Jobs didn't pay out dividends...it wasn't about the shareholders, it was about customers and giving them insanely great products. Those days are gone.
 
I'm an Android guy, but I am very happy to see Apple adopting wireless charging, and using the industry standard vs their own proprietary system. This should make wireless charging more prevalent. Example, instead of having USB outlets at the airport, they will have wireless charging pads, so you don't need to drag your charger out of your bag. Same thing in hotel rooms.
 
FastEddieB said:
An app like WAZE can save time and money by routing around traffic. At least once a warning at night about an object in the road caused me to slow down and then miss a huge bit of tire tread.

GLYMPSE can serve as a poor man's SPOT, keeping folk informed of your location and ETA.

And, like you said, so much more.

Of course, many cheaper devices can run these apps. But the roughly $1/day for the device still seems reasonable to me. But to imply "it's just a phone" is way misleading.
Click to expand...
It's a crappy phone at that.
 
Not to mention the things are so fragile you have to buy an aftermarket case to prevent its destruction. So much for "elegant design".
 
Also, the market will decide if people will pay $1000+ for a phone. With the financing plans that all carries are offering these days, I will guess they will still sell plenty.
 
paflyer said:
Not to mention the things are so fragile you have to buy an aftermarket case to prevent its destruction. So much for "elegant design".
Click to expand...

I always thought Apple missed an opportunity to market a "Sport" edition, like Sony did with the Walkman.

My iPhones go right into an Otterbox Defender case. I'm rough enough on them that it's essential.
 
FastEddieB said:
Will wireless charging work through something like an Otterbox case?
Click to expand...

Maybe? If there is any metal in the Otterbox case, it won't work. If it is just plastic, it should work. I have a basic neoprene case on my Note 8, and it charges wirelessly with no issue.
 
Groundpounder said:
Maybe? If there is any metal in the Otterbox case, it won't work. If it is just plastic, it should work. I have a basic neoprene case on my Note 8, and it charges wirelessly with no issue.
Click to expand...
How did you get your 8 so early? I have to wait until tomorrow to get the best phone ever made. It's what the IPhone will be in about 3 years.
 
NJP_MAN said:
How did you get your 8 so early? I have to wait until tomorrow to get the best phone ever made. It's what the IPhone will be in about 3 years.
Click to expand...

I was a former Note 7 owner. Placed my order 8/26, got the phone on 9/12. But I have a friend that got one a week ago from VZW.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top